Newly elected Syracuse Town Council president Nathan Scherer is always on the lookout for opportunities to grow his community. He is pictured at a council meeting with town clerk Virginia Cazier. Photo by Lauren Zeugner.

By Lilli Dwyer
InkFree News

Nathan Scherer, newly-elected president of the Syracuse Town Council, is a town native who got his first job at the now-closed South Shore Golf Course. After graduating from Wawasee High School in 1998, he had originally set his sights beyond his hometown.

“I left Syracuse to go to college thinking that I probably would never come back to live full time,” Scherer recalled.

He graduated from Purdue University with a degree in consumer science in 2002.

After college, Scherer worked for a while in Columbus, Ohio, but, “I figured out pretty quick that I didn’t really like large corporations that much,” he said.

When he got the opportunity to come back to Syracuse in 2004, he took it and started a business making boat parts. After selling his business in 2020, Scherer set his sights on getting more involved in the community around him.

“I’m not one to sit on the sidelines and not pitch in where I can,” he said.

Scherer was elected to the Syracuse Town Council in February 2023 after another member stepped down. This year, he will be presiding over the council as president.

“I thought it was a good opportunity to serve,” he said of his new position.

Some of his main goals as a member of town council is looking for opportunities to help the community of Syracuse grow and making it a desirable place to stay long term.

“To me, that means creating businesses. … I really feel we have all the other things we need right here. This county is strong and desirable, we just have to do a much better job of organizing and communicating what those assets and opportunities look like,” he explained. “I think there’s a lot that can be done in our area to draw people together and find people with similar interests, to do really neat things and help each other grow and thrive.”

When not attending to his town council duties, Scherer spends his days on a passion project: the South Shore Village, a vision he is working to bring to fruition with business partner, Jeff Dyson. The two plan to turn their 112-acre property, which used to house the South Shore Golf Course, into a community featuring housing, retail and activity spaces.

While Scherer is aware that he cannot please everybody, it’s still important to him to try and benefit as many people as possible with the work that he does.

“You’ve got to do the best that you can to do what you feel like is for the greater good. For me personally, it’s just pretty fulfilling to have an opportunity to help shape that and leave a legacy for the next generation that hopefully is better than what we have,” he elaborated.

Scherer and his wife, Lauren, have three sons and a daughter. Outside of his work and town council duties, he enjoys spending time with his family outdoors and on the lake.