Shirley Ford
Current position: Chief Financial Officer
Birthplace: Crossville, Tennessee
Previous Employment: Memphis Development Foundation
Favorite thing to do in Memphis: Garden
Before serving as the city’s CFO, Shirley Ford was the city comptroller for two years. Now, she’s responsible for “all things financial in the city.” That includes debt management, capital improvement plans, and cash investments, as well as the budget, treasury, and business diversity and compliance offices.
One of the challenges in managing the city’s budget, Ford says, is balancing limited resources. “We’re all fighting for the same pennies,” she explains. “What can we do in innovative and creative ways to stretch every penny across as many citizens as we can?”
Moving forward, Ford hopes to continue to look for new ways to take advantage of tax credits and grants, while focusing on being more efficient internally. “You never know what the market is going to do,” Ford says. “What we have to do is be poised to take advantage of opportunities when they’re here and to tighten our belt to be more efficient.”
Ursula Madden
Current position: Chief Communications Officer
Birthplace: Oakland, California
Previous Employment: WMC News
Favorite thing to do in Memphis: Sit by the river
When Mayor Strickland asked her to serve on his administration, 17 years into her career as a reporter for Channel 5, Madden was flattered. And though the offer was surprising, she felt like it would be the “ultimate way to serve the city.”
“It was an actual shock to me,” Madden says. “If someone had told me that I would be working for the city of Memphis, I probably would have fallen out laughing.”
Before Madden came along, there had never been a centralized communications team for the city of Memphis, which she says is “unheard of in the modern era.” Madden built her communications team from the ground up, and it’s still an ongoing process, she says.
“For the first time in 200 years, there is a communications team that helps every division with how they communicate to the public and internally.” That team is responsible for advising the mayor and division directors on messaging and marketing, as well as overseeing the city’s website and social media sites.
Madden says she never has a typical day, but most of her time is composed of decision-making about marketing, crisis communication, and answering media questions. “I make plans and they get crushed,” Madden says. “You never know what’s going to happen.”
Doug McGowen
Current position: Chief Operating Officer/Chief Administrative Officer
Birthplace: Meadville, Pennsylvania
Previous Employment: U.S. Navy, Innovate Memphis
Favorite thing to do in Memphis: People-watch downtown
As both COO and CAO, Doug McGowen is responsible for overseeing the city’s operating divisions.
“I make sure that the mayor’s vision is translated into action,” McGowen says. “My job is to make sure that we improve the quality of life for all Memphians every day.”
He sees that all employees know what is expected of them, and that they have the resources to meet those expectations, all while “relentlessly measuring, managing, and making sure we’re all accountable for results.”
Apart from improving public safety, creating jobs, and strengthening youth programs, McGowen says the Strickland administration is heavily focused on increasing the city’s density, by “growing up and not out,” to attract more businesses and people in order to grow the city’s tax rates.
“There is quite a bit more work to do, though,” McGowen adds.
Bruce McMullen
Current position: Chief Legal Officer
Birthplace: Atlanta, Georgia
Previous Employment: The Baker Donelson law firm
Favorite thing to do in Memphis: Attend sports games with my kids
Any time the city gets sued — about 1,000 times a year — Bruce McMullen, the city’s chief legal officer, and his department have to respond. “Twenty-five percent of my day is spent putting out fires and the other 75 percent is routine,” McMullen says.
Recent fires he’s dealt with include the legal battle surrounding the removal of Confederate monuments displayed and housed downtown, an accomplishment McMullen says he is most proud of since taking over the city’s legal department.
“That took a lot,” McMullen says. “That was not a routine project that you do every day. But there are lots of legal issues that don’t necessarily make the front page that also have to be handled.”
The department also reviews contracts, issues permits for public assemblies, assesses claims, vets legal decisions, and advises each city division.
Michael Rallings
Current position: Memphis Police Department Director
Birthplace: Memphis
Previous Employment: U.S. Army
Favorite thing to do in Memphis: Spend time with my family
Twenty-eight years ago, Michael Rallings was a patrol officer, working undercover in narcotics. Today, he’s head of the Memphis Police Department.
Being in charge of a police force in one of the country’s poorest cities is no easy task. “Other chiefs say I have the hardest job in the nation,” Rallings explains. “And I usually say, ‘Yep, I know.’”
One of the key challenges he faces is maintaining enough staff to serve the community. To his credit, Rallings and his 1,955 officers were able to keep the peace in Memphis over the past year during events like MLK50 and the removal of Confederate statues, when other American cities were dealing with riots and violence.
Moving forward, Rallings says the department is focusing on recruitment, retention, gang intervention, and improving community policing initiatives. “Our crime is a symptom of socio-economic conditions, poor educational outcomes, and poor healthcare,” Rallings asserts. “Too often we treat crime and not the root causes.”
Alex Smith
Current position: Human Resources Director
Birthplace: Gary, Indiana
Previous Employment: Microsoft, Brightstar, Target Corporate
Favorite thing to do in Memphis: Getting to know different Memphians
Though she calls herself a “bread and butter HR person,” Alex Smith says that Mayor Jim Strickland took a chance when he hired her, as she had no previous public-sector experience. Smith says Strickland trusted her to bring a fresh perspective to tackling the challenges the city was facing to attract and retain talent.
“I was able to bring my wealth of experience from corporate companies into city government to make a difference in critical areas, like attracting and retaining talent, building the point of engagement, and building up the HR function so it can be more of a strategic partner to the city,” Smith says.
Smith’s policies and procedures now govern the acquisition, training, development, and performance analytics of the city’s roughly 8,000 employees. One of those policies is a student-loan repayment program for city employees, which Smith helped launch last year. Smith says Memphis was one of the first American cities to implement this type of incentive. She believes it’s important to strengthen the financial wellness of each employee: “I’m looking to make investments in those areas to help our employees be wholistically healthy.”
Gina Sweat
Current position: Memphis Fire Department Director
Birthplace: Middleton, Tennessee
Previous Employment: LEDIC Management Group
Favorite thing to do in Memphis: “Playing tour guide” when family and friends come to town
Sweat says she doesn’t always like the attention that can come from being the city’s first woman fire chief, a position she took over in 2016, after 24 years with the department. She’s one of only a handful of female chiefs in urban fire departments across America.
“I have educated and prepared myself for this moment,” Sweat says. “What I wasn’t prepared for is all of the attention I would get. Sometimes I’m a little embarrassed by that, but I don’t let it distract me.”
As chief, Sweat now oversees a fire-fighting force of more than 1,700. “As a batallion chief, I got to know [firefighters’] families. I maintain those relationships to this day. You have to care about people to lead them, and they have to know you care about them.”
Paul Young
Current Position: Housing Community Development Director
Birthplace: Memphis
Previous Employment: Legislative Affairs for Shelby County, Memphis and Shelby County Office of Sustainability
Favorite thing to do in Memphis: Run in Shelby Farms
Paul Young finds it hard to describe the HCD division because it’s so “wide-ranging.” As director, he’s responsible for managing about $14 million in federal funds and overseeing roughly 80 staffers. Large-scale major development projects like the Fairgrounds and the Riverfront Development Corporation could have a large economic impact, Young says, but he wants the smaller housing development projects within communities to be “equally elevated and appreciated.”
A large portion of the division’s time is spent working to provide better housing for residents, through projects like Mason Village, a new 76-unit affordable housing complex near Crump Blvd. “Projects in the neighborhoods give families safer and better-quality houses to live in,” Young says. “We have to find enough suitable housing units for families to be able to thrive, and we don’t have enough of those. I think that’s what I take the most pride in.”