Acting City Manager Stephanie Cutter has promoted three city of Savannah employees to key leadership positions, spokesman Bret Bell said.
“The strength of our organization has always been with our 2,500 employees, and these individuals are three of our best,” Cutter said. “They bring unique talent and management skills, and have proven themselves deserving of promotion.”
* Chief Financial Officer Richard “Dick” Evans has been named Acting Assistant City Manager for Administrative and Community Services. As one of two assistant city managers, he will advise Cutter on citywide issues. He will also be responsible for two bureaus - Management Services and Community & Economic Development – which house a total of 28 departments.
Evans previously served as Assistant Town Manager of Upper St. Clair, Penn.; as a computer system consultant for ISR Inc.; and served in the U.S. Air Force. He holds a master’s degree in urban management from Carnegie-Mellon University, and a bachelor’s degree from Allegheny College.
* Community Planning and Development Director Taffanye Young has been promoted to Community and Economic Development Bureau Chief. In this capacity, she will oversee much of the city’s neighborhood development programs, including Housing, Community Planning and Development, Economic Development, the Citizen Office and Real Property Services. She will also oversee the administration of funds to a number of city-supported social service agencies.
Young began working for the city of Savannah in 1993 as a Neighborhood Services Coordinator. She was promoted in 1994 to Director of the Community Services Department, and in 2000 to the Director of Community Planning and Development, where she managed planning and revitalization activities, resident assistance programs, and administration of the City’s federal entitlement funds. She previously worked with the University of California at Davis and the Department of Army Overseas. She has a master’s degree in public administration and a bachelor’s degree from Georgia Southern University.
* Cam Mathis has been named director of information technology. Mathis has worked in the IT Department since 1995, serving as senior systems analyst; IT Administrator, where she managed Network Services and Application Services; as well as Acting Director since February 2011.
Mathis previously served as Environmental Coordinator in the Sanitation Bureau and GIS Coordinator in the Engineering Department. She earned her master’s degree in city planning from Georgia Institute of Technology, and bachelor’s degree from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn.