Adam Layne
2021 - Present
2024
3
Adam Layne (Democratic Party) is the St. Louis City Treasurer in Missouri. He assumed office on April 20, 2021. His current term ends in 2024.
Layne (Democratic Party) is running for re-election for St. Louis City Treasurer in Missouri. He is on the ballot in the Democratic primary on August 6, 2024.[source]
Layne completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones appointed Layne as treasurer on April 15, 2021, and he took office on April 20 of that year.[1]
Biography
Adam Layne was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He earned a high school diploma from the Roxbury Latin School, a bachelor's degree from George Washington University in 2011, and a graduate degree from the University of Missouri, St. Louis in 2013. His career experience includes working as a high school teacher, nonprofit director, and consultant. Layne also has career experience in government. As of 2024, he was affiliated with Teach for America, FOCUS St. Louis, and the National Association of Securities Professionals.[2]
Elections
2024
See also: City elections in St. Louis, Missouri (2024)
General election
The primary will occur on August 6, 2024. The general election will occur on November 5, 2024. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for St. Louis City Treasurer
Incumbent Adam Layne and Jimmie Matthews are running in the Democratic primary for St. Louis City Treasurer on August 6, 2024.
Candidate | ||
 | Adam Layne  | |
 | Jimmie Matthews | |
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| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for St. Louis City Treasurer
Jerry Vanderwier is running in the Republican primary for St. Louis City Treasurer on August 6, 2024.
Candidate | ||
| Jerry Vanderwier | |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Matthew Kotraba (R)
Green primary election
Green primary for St. Louis City Treasurer
Don De Vivo is running in the Green primary for St. Louis City Treasurer on August 6, 2024.
Candidate | ||
| Don De Vivo | |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Endorsements
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2019
See also: St. Louis Public Schools, Missouri, elections (2019)
General election
General election for St. Louis Public Schools Board of Education (2 seats)
The following candidates ran in the general election for St. Louis Public Schools Board of Education on April 2, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Adam Layne (Nonpartisan) | 21.7 | 7,182 |
| ✔ |  | Tracee Miller (Nonpartisan) | 19.1 | 6,299 |
| Barbara Anderson (Nonpartisan) | 18.3 | 6,042 | |
| David Merideth (Nonpartisan) | 15.9 | 5,256 | |
 | Bill Haas (Nonpartisan) | 11.1 | 3,661 | |
| Louis Clinton Cross III (Nonpartisan) | 7.7 | 2,558 | |
| Dan McCready (Nonpartisan) | 4.9 | 1,613 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 1.3 | 422 | ||
| Total votes: 33,033 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2018
See also: St. Louis Public Schools elections (2018)
General election
General election for St. Louis Public Schools Board of Education (2 seats)
The following candidates ran in the general election for St. Louis Public Schools Board of Education on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Joyce Roberts (Nonpartisan) | 29.4 | 48,501 |
| ✔ |  | Donna Jones (Nonpartisan) | 24.1 | 39,787 |
| Bill Haas (Nonpartisan) | 12.3 | 20,250 | |
| Adam Layne (Nonpartisan) | 11.8 | 19,495 | |
 | David Jackson (Nonpartisan) | 8.2 | 13,502 | |
 | Cydney Johnson (Nonpartisan) | 7.5 | 12,299 | |
| Jared Opsal (Nonpartisan) | 5.6 | 9,168 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 1.2 | 2,031 | ||
| Total votes: 165,033 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Adam Layne completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Layne's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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My name is Adam Layne, and I am the Treasurer for the City of St. Louis. I was born in Boston, Massachusetts, studied finance at The George Washington University in Washington, DC, and moved to St. Louis in 2011 to teach high school math with Teach for America. My plan was to complete my two-year teaching fellowship and then return to the east coast to continue my path in finance. However, I developed a deep love for this city and its potential, which made me decide to stay. Though I loved St. Louis, I noticed that the young minds I was helping to mold everyday did not love St. Louis the way I did. Most of them were wanting to get out of here as soon as they graduated. That's because they didn't feel like their city was invested in them or the neighborhoods they grew up in and so, they didn't see the potential success for themselves here. Since I left the classroom, that experience has been the north star guiding the work I choose to do in St. Louis. My vision is a city where everyone believes they can advance in their dreams and passions and enjoy access to the best quality of life. As Treasurer, I have committed myself and my office to working on new initiatives and our current operations to make sure all of St. Louis is thriving, working toward the St. Louis we know we can be.
- Financial Prosperity for Our City and Our Residents - The financial health of our city begins with its people. As Treasurer, I am committed to fighting hard to ensure that no one in St. Louis is unbanked or underbanked, that every family has access to financial literacy and planning programs free of charge, and that our children are offered an opportunity to begin investing in themselves from a young age. The Office of Financial Empowerment has made great strides in educating and assisting St. Louisans, and we can do more. Empowerment starts from within. Working with all of our city departments, I have been committed to reducing fees and financial waste, implementing efficiencies and maximizing investments that grow our financial portfolio.
- Empowering the Next Generation of St. Louis Leaders - As a former teacher and School Board Member, I have seen firsthand the need to strengthen relationships between our young people and our city government. That is why the Treasurer's Department has a number of programs to help students thrive and know that we are invested in them and their growth. Our College Kids program opens a savings account for every kindergartner in St. Louis Public Schools and seeds that account with $50. Students learn as they earn, completing financial education lessons for life. Connecting our financial education to leadership opportunities maximize student potential in our city and region.
- Sustainability Infrastructure Beginning with Parking- Not everyone knows this, but St. Louis's Parking Division is part of the Treasurer's Office, and I am always looking for ways to make parking more affordable, accessible, and safe for our residents. We don't have the most robust public transportation in the city, so having parking that works for everyone is important. In that same vein, as more and more people own electric vehicles, my office is looking into how we can be a regional leader in sustainability. That means installing EV charging stations, using solar panels on our parking garages, and transitioning our parking fleet to be made up completely of electric vehicles.
Financial Empowerment, Economic Prosperity, Education, Sustainability Infrastructure, Public Safety, Ethical Policy.
This office has a very strong and cohesive team, all oriented toward the idea that we are and work to be the best performing city office. Our spirit of collaboration and creativity allow us to be forward thinking, willing to try new things, and supportive in the collective goals of the office. We do all of this in service to the St. Louis community.
Someone I look up to is Huey P. Newton. After reading his book, Revolutionary Suicide, I learned more about how he thought about transformation change and what it takes out of an individual. I look up to him because people often see you in public and often see the results or your work, but rarely do people see the work that it takes behind the scenes and the toll that can take. I admire Huey P. Newton and the way he persevered through and endured so much with the goal of liberation.
The Alchemist is one of my favorite books and I think guides my mindset in this role. There is a long journey ahead, one that extends beyond even my time as Treasurer. However, there are resources and connections all around that will support in reaching the ultimate goals. I don't have to do this alone, and by continuing on the right path, there will be aligned resources and support to ensure the vision is realized.
Three principles that I feel are most important for an elected official are honesty, creativity, and humility. Honesty goes a long way toward building trust in and with community. If constituents can't trust you in a 1-on-1 conversation, they cannot trust that you're advocating for their best interests on a daily basis. I lead with honesty, which for me means being as transparent as possible. I give honest answers and often times that means saying "I don't know, but I will find out for you." It also means letting people know when there is something you can't do. I'd rather be honest in a "no" than dishonest and having someone expect something I can't deliver on. Creativity is also important because the world is always changing. Creativity is what I lead with to be able to bring fresh solutions, ideas, and thinking to the problem solving that needs to happen every day. If we are not thinking creatively, we will be stuck in trying to make what is familiar work even when what is familiar will not help us advance. I charge my team daily with thinking creatively to address new challenges that we face everyday. Lastly, an important principle is humility. I know that I do not have to always be right, I might not always have the best idea in the room, and I can make mistakes. Humility in this position ensures that the focus is not on me, but on the job I'm here to do for the people who are depending on me. That means that when I'm wrong I can admit that, when I make a mistake I can own up to that, and when the best idea in the room is not my own, I will give all my support to that idea because the best ideas will best serve the City of St. Louis.
Three qualities that rise to the top for me is my patience, my creativity, and my data-driven approach. Having a data-driven approach is critical in achieving and sustaining success. I love making sure we have data measures in place and making time to analyze that data to use for strategic decision-making. Strategic planning is so important because in the day-to-day of work, people get used to routines and soon you begin doing actions just because they are routine, even if they aren't accomplishing big goals. Being able to lead and put an emphasis on strategic planning ensures your office can take a moment to pause, reflect, assess, and strategize around what's needed to continue the advancement of the office. And last, patience is a must as an office holder. I know things won't always move at the speed I want, and I understand that sometimes progress won't look linear. However, I am a very patient person because I root that patience in what's important: reaching the ultimate goal of serving constituents they way they deserve to be served.
As Treasurer, there are three main duties. The first is managing treasury operations for the city and its departments. Being able to make smart decisions about account management, deposits, and investments is a must. Second is managing the parking division which requires managing over 15 garages and lots across the city as well as over 7,000 metered spaces. Ensuring safe, available, and modern parking is a huge responsibility for someone in this role. Lastly, managing the Office of Financial Empowerment which means creating and managing initiatives and programs that support individual and collective economic advancement.
I don't have a specific legacy I would like to leave, but two things I want to be true are that first - I always leave a space better than I found it. I want the work that I've done and office that I've help to advance and advance the mission of the community we serve. And second, I want people to feel like I deeply cared about them and made them feel important whether it was a 1 minute interaction or a 10 year collaboration.
The first historical event that happened in my lifetime was 9/11. I had just started at a brand new school in 7th grade that I was still getting familiar with. I remember standing in the hallway looking out the large windows listening to an announcement over the intercom saying we were going home early and to call our parents to come pick us up.
My first job was as a cashier at CVS. I started there when I was 16 and held the job until I was 18 before going off to college.
My favorite book is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. I love it because it's a journey of self-discovery by discovering the world around you and learning about the interconnectedness of the people around you. I love how it draws on our ultimate success being critically dependent on the success of others and how supporting others along their journey actually help us along our own.
I would be Iron Man. I would like the ability to put on a cool suit, fly around, help people, and think of new technology.
Sunbathe by Miguel.
Yes and no. I do believe experience is always a benefit to a leadership role. But I also understand that experience begets experience. Depending on the circumstance, I am always open to those pursuing leadership positions with limited direct experience, but the ability to demonstrate the passion, skillset, and commitment needed to be successful is a must.
There are so many skills that I believe are important to the role of City Treasurer. The three that rise to the top for me are the ability to collect and analyze data, strategic planning, and organizational development. Having a data-driven approach is critical in achieving and sustaining success. Being able to collect meaningful data and make decisions based on the analysis of that data is the difference in realizing amazing results. Strategic planning is so important because in the day-to-day of work, people get used to routines and soon you begin doing actions just because they are routine, even if they aren't accomplishing big goals. Being able to lead and put an emphasis on strategic planning ensures your office can take a moment to pause, reflect, assess, and strategize around what's needed to continue the advancement of the office. And last, an organization is only as good as its people. I make sure that I meet with my teams regularly to check in on successes, challenges, and needs, not just for the work that needs to be done, but also to make sure the individuals have everything they need to be successful in their roles. Whether that be new equipment or professional development, taking time to invest directly in our own people is what truly makes an office transformational.
Where do penguins go to vote? The North Poll.
AFL-CIO, United Auto Workers Region 4, Abortion Action Missouri, Alderwoman Anne Schweitzer, Alderman Shane Cohn, Alderwoman Daniela Velazquez, Alderwoman Alisha Sonnier, Alderman Michael Browning, Alderwoman Shameem Clark-Hubbard, Alderwoman Laura Keys, Alderman Rasheen Aldridge, Board of Alderman President Megan-Ellyia Green
As Treasurer, I am committed to continuing our office’s dedication to accountable, accessible, and transparent government. You should know where your city is investing your tax dollars, and have the opportunity to make your voice heard as part of that process. City services should be similarly open and accessible, and as Treasurer I will continue the process of modernizing the functions of our office, to offer you a government that is truly 21st-century.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
2019
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Adam Layne did not complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate St. Louis City Treasurer |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ The St. Louis American, "Adam Layne brings education experience to the Treasurer’s Office," April 30, 2021
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on June 25, 2024
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Tishaura Jones (D) |
St. Louis City Treasurer 2021-Present |
Succeeded by - |
| Preceded by - |
St. Louis Public Schools Board of Education 2019-2021 |
Succeeded by - |
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