Joan McGilton was elected to a third four-year term on the City Council, Position 3, in November 2009. She was elected by fellow Councilmembers in January 2010 to serve as Mayor for a third two-year term.

Joan has lived in Burien for more than 20 years. Prior to her election to the City Council she retired from The Boeing Company, where she had worked as an environmental engineer and project manager. Her work history before Boeing included consulting with an international engineering firm and as part of the engineering staff of the City of Seattle Engineering Department, where she specialized in long-term planning for solid waste management, recycling and hazardous wastes control.

Joan completed her Master's Degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of Washington in 1984 and obtained her Bachelor’s degree in 1977 at the UW, majoring in the marine sciences in order to become a marine biologist at the Seattle Aquarium. As part of the education staff at the aquarium from 1978 through 1983, and in addition to her teaching responsibilities, she was the volunteer coordinator and the aquarium's research diving officer.

Mayor McGilton currently serves on the King County Council’s Regional Transit Committee and the King County Solid Waste Advisory Committee and on the National League of Cities Human Development Policy Committee. She was also appointed by the Governor to the Puget Sound Action Team and is current Chair of the Green/Duwamish Watershed Inventory Area (WRIA 9) Management Committee. She also served on Metro's Citizen's Water Quality Advisory Board from 1980 through 1984. Joan has a strong commitment to community participation and has served on numerous boards and commissions. She was one of the founding members of Burien's Planning Commission and was a member of the citizens group, Friends of Burien Parks, which founded the Burien Garden Tour, built the Arch at Lake Burien School Memorial Park and helped kick off the Skateboard Park. Joan has been a member of several environmental organizations, and is dedicated to bringing more women into science and technology. She headed the organization, Association of Women in Environmental Professions, for four years and continues to encourage young women to pursue math and science in high school and college.