Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian was born in Warwick and educated in the public schools of Warwick and Washington, DC.  He was graduated from Providence College, attended graduate classes at the University of Rhode Island, completed the State and Local program at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, is a graduate of Leadership Rhode Island and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from the New England Institute of Technology.  He was chosen in 2005 as one of 24 inaugural Aspen-Rodel fellows by the Aspen Institute.  This bi-partisan group of elected officials is charged with reclaiming the middle ground of American politics.

Avedisian was first elected, with 58% of the vote, in a five-way race in a special election in February 2000.  He was re-elected with nearly 70% of the vote that November.  He received 79% of the vote in his 2002 re-election campaign, and 65% in 2004.  In the five elections that he has run for Mayor, he has always carried all nine wards and has won every polling station in the city. Prior to his election as the 15th Mayor of the City of Warwick, Avedisian served five terms as a member of the Warwick City Council.

A liberal Republican, Avedisian has championed human services reform and environmental protection during his tenure as Mayor of the state’s second largest city.  Avedisian has publicly said that his most important accomplishment to date was the creation and establishment of the Everett Wilcox Family Health Center that provides health care for the uninsured and under-insured. Environmentally, during the Avedisian administration more than 180 acres of open space has been acquired or protected, the Conimicut Shoals Lighthouse was conveyed to the city, and tough new coastal regulations were enacted.  He was one of 40 Mayors invited to be part of the Sundance Summit that featured Robert Redford and former Vice President Al Gore discuss global warming.  He received the Senator Jack Reed Advocacy Award from the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless.

His biggest emphasis has been placed on children.  Creating the city’s Truancy Court, establishing a network of wrap-around services to treat the child as a whole, and empowering young people through community service have been the hallmarks of the Avedisian administration.  His first Executive Order held true to his mission statement, “all of our children will enter school ready to learn.  All of our children will leave school ready to work and lead productive lives.  All families and children will continue to live in safe and nurturing communities.”

Mayor Avedisian, who is currently the President of the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns, has a long history of public service.  Beginning in his high school days, Avedisian was a page to the late United States Senator John Chafee, a legislative aide for the Rhode Island Senate, Executive Director of the Rhode Island Republican Party, and Deputy Campaign Manager for Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Almond.

In 1995, Avedisian was tapped by Almond to join his State House staff where he served for more than five years.  He left his position as Deputy Director of Constituent Affairs, Community Relations, and Municipal Affairs to become the Administrator of Management Services for the Rhode Island Department of Human Services.  In this role he worked on health care reform, reform of the state’s welfare system, and planning for universal access to health coverage. 

Avedisian served as a member of the Board of Directors of St. Mary’s Home for Children for more than 14 years, and currently serves on the Board of Incorporators of Kent Hospital, Institute for Non-Violence, Trustee of Ocean State Charities Trust, State’s Information Management Board, Heritage Harbor’s Education Committee, Board of Advisors of Friends Way, and Trustee of the East Providence Boys and Girls Clubs. 

He is a member of the Ecclesiastical Trial Court of the Rhode Island Episcopal Diocese, is the Honorary Chairman of the Episcopal Charities Campaign – an annual fund drive that has twice exceeded its goal of $500,000, has served the maximum terms on the vestry of Trinity Episcopal Church, and represents Trinity at State Diocesan Convention.  He received the Bishop Higgins Award for meritorious service from Episcopal Charities.

He previously served as President of the Gaspee Days Committee and has been a member of the Board of the following groups: Neighborhood Health Plans of Rhode Island, Committee on Resolutions for the Rhode Island Episcopal Diocese, Urban League of Rhode Island, Westbay Community Action, Pawtuxet Village Association, and Elmwood Community Center.  He served two terms as the Vice Chairman of the Rhode Island Republican Party and has been elected to the last six Republican National Conventions.  He also has been a member of the Martin Luther King, Jr. State Holiday Commission, the Housing Appeals Board, State Internship Commission, and State Criminal Justice Steering Committee.

Avedisian has been named a Paul Harris Fellow by Rotary International and was chosen to lead a US delegation to the Asia-Pacific Conference of Young Leaders in The Philippines in 1996.  In 1997, he was chosen by the British government to be part of their European Union Series in Milan, Brussels, and London.  In 1999 he led the American Council of Young Political Leaders delegation to Brazil.  In 2006, he was one of eight US Mayors to be part of the Jerusalem Conference of Mayors in Israel.

Mayor Avedisian is the youngest person ever elected as Mayor and was the youngest person ever elected to the Warwick City Council.