For decades, said Vera Orlandic-Hodak, she has been, “a leader, a doer, a grateful community member and a devoted mother.”

On Thursday, the Lakeland Hills resident announced her intention to add yet another title to her resumé: Auburn City Council member for Position 5.

Orlandic-Hodak said her goals are clear, and stem from a personal understanding that “politics is the art of the possible, and the practical.”

Her core intention, she said, is to help make Auburn “the most desirable local choice in which to start a business, maintain a business and raise a family.” She also pledges to work to reduce the tax burden on all residents and to improve the roads and transportation infrastructure and connectivity, for starters.

These are her only her initial goals.

Orlandic-Hodak has worked for the Boeing Company for 14 years, where she is a project manager. Before that, she owned and operated Tilia, a construction materials company in the Balkans, giving her entrepreneurial and major corporate experience.

She earned an MBA from the University of Phoenix in 2008, and has more than 12 graduate and professional certificates. She has led Veterans Day recognition events and is a four-time Diversity Change Agent Award winner at Boeing.

Orlandic-Hodak said such experience has given her “a clear, firm perspective on what can make a city and a community vibrant and great,” and shown her how to mobilize and win with diverse groups.

Orlandic-Hodak, a Lakeland Hills homeowner for eight years, has a son, a daughter-in-law and two grandchildren.

Position 5 incumbent John Holman has not yet formally announced whether he intends to seek reelection.

Orlandic-Hodak joins a field of candidates for City Council that to date includes Chris Stearns, James-Jeyaraj and Mike Kahler.