Michael Villa is the newest member of the Greater Amsterdam Board of Education. He was appointed this fall to fill the unexpired term of board member Deanna Mancini, who moved out of the school district.

The board seat will be up for re-election in May, 2022. Villa’s appointment to the board is effective until June 30, 2022.

Villa was born and raised in the City of Amsterdam and served as Mayor from 2016-2019. He is also the son of former Amsterdam Mayor Mario Villa. During his tenure as mayor he prided himself on improving city finances, investing in infrastructure and generating economic growth.

Prior to that he was a member of the Amsterdam Police Department, serving for approximately 20 years and retiring as a detective-sergeant. During his time in the department he served as both a union president and vice president. After that he worked for Montgomery County Social Services as a supervising welfare fraud investigator. In the early 1980’s he worked for Coleco in the customer service department and was promoted to production controller.

Villa is currently employed as an investigator with Innovative Claims Investigators, Inc. – a full service private investigation firm that has been in operation in New York since 1999. He has three grown children and seven grandchildren.