Carl is an Operations and Forecasting Manager at Spirit AeroSystems and was elected to the Wichita City Council in 2001.  He served as Vice Mayor in 2004 and has been a member of the Community and Economic Development Steering Committee of the National League of Cities since 2002. 

He was a member of the 1999 team that produced Wichita’s third “All America City” award from the National Civic League that recognizes cities in which citizens, government, business and voluntary organizations work together to address critical local issues. 

Carl is also a member of the GWEDC Steering Committee, the Bishop’s African American Catholic Council, the Wichita Weed and Seed Advisory Committee, the Board of Directors of the Kansas School for Effective Learning, and as a decorated retired Captain with the Kansas Army National Guard, remains a member of the Retired Officers and National Guard Association. 

Carl meets monthly with his First District neighborhood leaders and in his free time, enjoys barbequing with members of his Smokin’ & Chokin’ BBQ team and helping out on the ground with grassroots efforts to improve our quality of life.  He and his wife, Cathy, have four children and nine grandchildren.

Carlos Mayans was elected Mayor of the City of Wichita in April of 2003.  He escaped communist Cuba in 1962 at the age of 13.  He lived in a refugee camp in Florida before coming that same year to Wichita, where he lived in an orphanage and two foster homes for 5 years.

Mayans graduated from Chaplain Kapaun Memorial High School, received an undergraduate degree from Georgia State University, a master’s degree from Webster University, and completed both the Leadership in Minority Health program and the Mayor’s Leadership program at Harvard University’s JFK School of Government.

Mayans has led efforts to retain/expand Wichita’s job base; to revitalize the river corridor/downtown area; and increase the funding of Wichita’s arts and cultural resources.  He was instrumental in planning for the downtown sports arena and the surrounding neighborhood redevelopment plan.  Along with the Regional Economic Area Partnership, the private sector and government, he worked to secure funding for the Affordable Airfares initiative.

Before being elected to the Kansas House of Representatives in 1992, Mayans was an insurance and risk manager counselor for over 25 years.  He and his wife Linda have a daughter and two sons.