Bio

Mike Hajek is currently the Director of Contracts & Marketing at NJPA. Mike has direct experience and a background in educational systems at the administrative level through 18 years of public service as a local K-12 school board member, as well as past experience serving on a regional Minnesota Technical College System board. This experience has given him a wide spectrum and inside view of the education system needs with regard to purchasing. The dimension of experience included district consolidations and excessive budget reductions at both levels.

Mike’s span of public service continued with several years as a member of the North Central Service Cooperative Board of Directors, now doing business as the National Joint Powers Alliance® (NJPA). For many of those years, he served as Chairman of the Board. It was during these years of service, and through 20 years as an employee of a municipal utility, that Mike established a unique understanding of the need for cooperation between all education and government agencies.

Responsibilities as the NJPA Director of Contracts & Marketing have allowed Mike to expand local purchasing concepts to national contract purchasing programs and create potential solutions that could be shared by all education and government agencies. This opportunity has presented an exciting challenge that has resulted in making a difference for municipals across the country.

The emphasis in his current position is to develop national contract purchasing solutions through contracted corporate business relationships to better serve the now over 35,000 municipal and non-profit Member agencies located throughout the United States. Mike also continues to guide the expanding need for a user friendly purchasing and distribution process and continuing need to develop unique municipal programs and national purchasing solutions.

Mike is a strong advocate for choice and ensuring the procurement “process wheel” is as round as possible, avoiding any efforts to re-create the wheel of progress. This emphasis and passion to serve public agencies has led Mike to work with the NJPA staff to develop programs that encourage municipal and non-profit agencies throughout the United States with common needs to take steps to be a part of the NJPA nationwide cooperative effort and to reach beyond their present purchasing process.

Looking forward, Mike notes that the national contract purchasing method is growing rapidly and he is excited to see a new level of embracement throughout government and education as well as on the business side of corporate America, as they see the value of serving and selling to NJPA members through NJPA awarded contracts. Mike’s passion outside of NJPA includes hunting, fishing and all outdoor activities.

Mike lives in Staples, MN with his wife and has three grown children and seven grandchildren.