Nelson Peters was re-elected to another term as 1st District Allen County Commissioner in November 2020.
Peters was previously named "Outstanding First Term Commissioner" by the Indiana Association of County Commissioners. The award recognized his work on several projects, including the merging of Allen County and Fort Wayne Homeland Security functions, consolidation of the City-County 911/Communications Center, the creation of the City-County joint land use department, passage of an ethics policy for county employees and elected officials, reducing the number of county-owned vehicles, drafting a community-wide comprehensive land use and development plan, establishing an early retirement benefit program for county employees and expanding the public's access to county government through “County Night Out” town hall meetings. In addition, Peters led efforts to establish an employee health clinic and the first County strategic plan in the state which resulted in Allen County's receipt of County Achievement awards from the Association of Indiana Counties for both initiatives.
Peters was instrumental in other key economic development projects like LaFarga/SDI, Greatbatch, the Walmart milk processing plant, General Mills, Franklin Electric, Delphi and XPO Logistics and played a role in the expansion of General Motors. Peters also led efforts to create Greater Ft. Wayne, Inc.
Peters holds a Master's Degree in Public Administration and a Bachelor's Degree in Public Affairs, both from Indiana University.
Prior to becoming an Allen County Commissioner, Peters served in both the public and private sectors. Peters most recently served as Director of Human Resources for Taylor Made Systems, Inc., headquartered in Gloversville, N.Y. He formerly served as Vice President, Human Resources, for Connor Corp. in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Prior to that, Peters served as Director of Human Resources for the City of Fort Wayne, and as Allen County Human Resources Director. He has also held ownership stakes in both Calico Precision Molding and Summit Human Resource Specialists located in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Peters has extensive experience in Allen County government. He has served as an At-Large member of the Allen County Council. During that time, he was the Council’s Vice President and he was recognized by Who's Who in Governmental Services in America.
As a council member, he chaired the Criminal Justice Task Force, which developed a long-term strategic approach to make Allen County's criminal justice system more efficient and cost effective. He also championed the improvement of county government's openness and accessibility through increased use of television and the Internet, as well as assisting in the development of the county's current tax abatement program.
As Commissioner, Peters has served as President of the Northeast Indiana Mayors and Commissioners Caucus, Board member of the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership, a member of the Allen County Plan Commission, the Allen County Community Corrections Board, the Maumee River Basin Commission, the Convention and Visitor's Bureau, the Fort Wayne/Allen County Economic Development Alliance Board, the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center, the City-County 911/Communications Board, the Greater Fort Wayne, Inc. Board, Board member of the Drug and Alcohol Consortium and as President of the Allen County Emergency Management Advisory Board.
His community involvement has included memberships on the Salvation Army Board of Directors, board of the Chandler's Landing Association, the Faith Baptist Church Board of Managers, the Northeast Indiana Easter Seals Board of Directors, the United Way of Allen County, Northeast Indiana American Red Cross, United Hispanic-Americans and the board of Park Center, Inc. Peters is a member of the Northeast Indiana Human Resources Association and has received Senior Professional Human Resources (SPHR) and Senior Certified Professional (SCP) designations. He has also served as an associate faculty member at Concordia University and the IPFW School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Peters has also been recognized as the Purdue University- Ft. Wayne Distinguished Alumni.
Peters enjoys spending time with his family, ham radio, coin and baseball card collecting, cars, swimming, boating and sports. He lives in the Chandler's Landing addition in St. Joseph Township with his wife, Tammy.