Tony Malevenda is one of the founding board members of Central Current, Inc.

He is supporting Central Current because he wants to see a change in how issues are covered. He believes that the best public policies come from an open and honest debate of ideas. He is an advocate for transparency in local government, and believes that all citizens and political perspectives need to be heard and understood. Malavenda has also traveled around the country, and loves living in Central New York. He wants to see local news coverage do more to acknowledge and celebrate the opportunities we have by living in the region.

Malavenda is a lifelong Onondaga County resident and has been an active member of the Central New York community as a business leader, volunteer and advocate. Malavenda and his partner, Kevin Duke, co-owned and operated Dukes Root Control, a nationwide leader in working with local governments to maintain thousands of sewer systems across the country. They sold the business and retired in 2019.

As the son of an immigrant, Malavenda originally intended to be a diplomat and attended Onondaga Community College before completing his bachelor’s degree at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. He also attended graduate school at the London School of Economics.

While growing his business and traveling across the country, Malavenda remained interested in public policy and economics and has been active in local politics and community issues. He has served on a number of nonprofit boards and initiatives including The Redhouse, Syracuse 20/20 and the Onondaga Citizens League. Malavenda was the Democratic nominee for Onondaga County Executive in 2019, and currently serves on the boards of the Everson Museum and Syracuse Stage.

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Eric Persons is an independent consultant. He helped the Central Current, Inc. founders launch the nonprofit.