Alex Milshteyn - Ann Arbor

Alex (Aleksandr) Milshteyn is a local real estate agent who is active on several boards for the city, nonprofits and educational institutions. He serves on the Ann Arbor planning commission, following city council approval of his appointment on Jan. 20, 2015 to fill the remainder of the term for Kirk Westphal, who was elected to city council in November 2014. Milshteyn's planning commission partial term runs through June 30, 2015.

Alex Milshteyn (Photo from his WCC campaign website)

Milshteyn was a candidate for a seat on the Washtenaw Community College board of trustees in the Nov. 4, 2014 general election. This was his first candidacy for elected office, and he came in sixth in a field of eight candidates for three positions on the board. The top vote-getters were Ruth Hatcher (38,595 votes), Christina Flemming (30,789 votes) and Dave DeVarti (19,973 votes). Milshteyn garnered 18,863 votes – almost 4,000 more than former Ann Arbor city councilmember Tony Derezinski, who came in seventh with 14,942 votes.

Milshteyn's family immigrated from the former Soviet Union in 1992, when he was 8 years old. He started working in real estate when he was in high school. He got his real estate license when he was 18, and is a Realtor with Howard Hanna (formerly Edward Surovell Realtors) in Ann Arbor. In 2011, when he was 28 years old, he was named one of Realtor Magazine’s 30 under 30. In 2012 he was on the Crain's Detroit Business 20 In Their 20s list.

In 2013 he was elected to the board of the Michigan Association of Realtors. He also serves on committees for the National Association of Realtors, and is past president of the Ann Arbor Area Board of Realtors. That group named him Realtor of the Year in 2012.

In addition to the planning commission, he is a member of the City of Ann Arbor Zoning Board of Appeals for a term ending Aug. 18, 2016 – his second three-year term on that board. He is a board member for the Washtenaw Technical Middle College, which operates on the WCC campus. Other community work includes serving on the board of directors for the Eastern Michigan University Hillel and the steering committee of the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor. He is a former board member of the Ann Arbor Art Center, and was president of the United Way of Washtenaw's Young Leaders Society.

Milshteyn is an alumnus of Washtenaw Technical Middle College, and has degrees in marketing and business administration from Washtenaw Community College and Eastern Michigan University.

Milshteyn lives with his partner in the Liberty Lofts condos on Ann Arbor's Old West Side.