Keith Snyder is a lifelong resident of Lincoln.  He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Political Studies from the University of Illinois at Springfield in 1981.  From 1981 to 1998 Keith served as a staff member for the Illinois State Senate Republicans.  He was initially a budget analyst for the Senate Appropriations Committee responsible for multi-billion dollar agencies such as the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Illinois State Board of Education.  During his last 11 years on staff he was responsible for the Senate Education Committee.  He was one of the authors of the Chicago School Reform legislation in 1995 and was the principal author of the comprehensive school reform package in 1997 that rewrote the $2 billion school aid formula and created a $4 billion school construction program that funded the renovation and construction of hundreds of school facilities across Illinois.

In 1998 then-Governor Jim Edgar appointed Keith to serve on the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board, a state agency that is responsible for overseeing the collective bargaining process between all public educational employees and employers.  That same year Keith was also appointed by Illinois Senate President James “Pate” Philip to serve as the Senate Republicans’ Ethics Officer.

In December 2000 Keith earned an M.B.A. from Illinois State University.

In 2005, he accepted a position with State Farm Insurance Companies at their corporate headquarters in Bloomington, IL as a procurement specialist.  During his three years with State Farm he was responsible for negotiating multi-million dollar contracts that secured software and professional services.  He also served on cross-functional review teams that analyzed company-wide spending and negotiated national contracts.

In January 2008, Keith joined Lincoln Christian University.  He serves as Associate Vice President of Development and Planned Gifts.  He is responsible for day-to-day management of the ten employee on-campus University Advancement office.

He has been involved in a variety of community activities.  He served on the Lincoln Elementary District 27 School Board for 9 years and was its Vice President when he left the Board in 1998.  He served on the Lincoln Community Theatre Board of Directors and as its Treasurer.  He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Lincoln Area YMCA for a number of years and served as its President.  While on the YMCA Board he was recognized by the National YMCA as a Key Leader and was named the Lincoln Y’s Volunteer of the Year.  He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Triangle Center, a nationally honored drug and alcohol treatment center in Springfield, IL.  He served as President of the Board and was twice honored for Outstanding Board Service.  He served as Vice President of the Lincoln Community High School District 404 Board of Education.  He was a member of the district’s Negotiating Committee and was chairman of the multi-district Consolidation Fact Finding Committee.

Keith was elected Mayor of the City of Lincoln in April 2009.  He won a three-way election with over 73% of the vote.  His community leadership skills were recognized when he was elected as a Vice President of the Illinois Municipal League, a statewide organization of municipal governments, in September 2011.

Keith has been married to his wife, Beth, for 28 years.  She is a reading teacher at Washington-Monroe Elementary School in Lincoln.  They have two daughters, Hannah and Hayley, and a golden retriever named Hoover.  Hannah is currently serving a ten-month fellowship as an IDEX Fellow in India.  Hayley is a sophomore at the University of Dayton.