Edi Ersalesi Birsan (also known as Ed Birsan) is a
Concord City councilmember currently serving as mayor[1] (vice mayor in 2017[2] & 2023[3] and mayor in 2018[4] & 2024[5]), a
game designer, an independent business owner in the maritime container inspection industry, and one of the best-known American players of the game
Diplomacy.[6] He was born in
Brooklyn in 1949, but has resided in the
San Francisco Bay Area since 1981. Birsan is married and has two children.[7]
Birsan voted in favor of Concord First Partners leading the Concord Naval Weapons Project, a housing and commercial development on a formal naval base. There was opposition from the public due in part to the selection of the Seeno/Discovery Builders company, described by Claycord News' Tony Hicks as having a "history of running afoul of environmental laws, having been fined millions of dollars over the years for destroying wildlife habitat while developing projects in East Contra Costa County."[10]