Paul Ferguson

Paul Ferguson was elected to serve as Clerk of the Circuit Court of Arlington County and the City of Falls Church beginning January 1, 2008.

He is a 1992 graduate of George Mason Law School. In 2006, Mr. Ferguson was awarded the President's Award by the Arlington County Bar Association for Outstanding effort, participation, and involvement in the Association.

As Clerk of the Circuit Court, Mr. Ferguson is striving to continue the high level of service that his predecessor, David Bell provided. New initiatives have focused on technology improvements and to the juror process.

Mr. Ferguson served as a Member of the Arlington County Board from 1996-2007, serving as Chairman in 1999, 2003 and 2007. During his 12 years on the Board, Ferguson worked to ensure full funding for education and public safety. In addition, he worked to improve pedestrian safety and neighborhood conservation. Mr. Ferguson is known as a leader on environmental issues.

He is continuing to provide leadership on issues he worked on as a County Board Member. In 2008 he served on the Governor's Commission on Climate Change. He is the Board Chairman for EarthCraft Virginia, a non-profit organization providing consulting and certification for energy efficient homes. He recently served as Arlington's representative on the Washington Metropolitan Council of Government's Task Force on Climate Change. He was appointed by the Arlington County Board to serve on the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority Board of Directors.

In 2007, he championed Fresh AIRE - Arlington Initiative to Reduce Emissions - a five year initiative to reduce Arlington County government's greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent by 2012, with annual progress reports.

Under the initiative, the County distributed thousands of compact fluorescent lights; provided free energy audits, instituted tax breaks for hybrid vehicles, made investments in energy efficiency, and increased its purchase of wind-generated electricity.

In 1999, Mr. Ferguson led the County Board in adopting a pilot project designed to create incentives for "green technology" in building designs as defined by the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System. He worked to form a partnership with the Northern Virginia Conservation Trust, a private non-profit land trust, to preserve open space in Arlington.

Mr. Ferguson is the former Chairman of the National Association of Counties' (NACo) Green Government Committee and is a member of NACo's Environment, Energy and Land Use Steering Committee.

He served as Chairman of the Virginia Municipal League Environmental Committee and represented Arlington on the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments Air Quality Committee. In 2000, he served as Chairman of Clean Air Partners.

Mr. Ferguson has served as First Vice President of the Virginia Association of Counties. He is a former civic association president, a past member of the Virginia Board of Dentistry and former Chairman of the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission.

Mr. Ferguson is a member of the Arlington Kiwanis Club and is a member of Leadership Arlington's Class of 1999.

Mr. Ferguson is a graduate of George Mason Law School, James Madison University and Wakefield High School in Arlington. He and his wife, Karen Keyes, have two sons, Timothy and Daniel, and are residents of Fairlington.

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