Memphis, Tennessee, United States
Senior public-sector leader focused on advancing libraries as platforms for civic innovation, workforce development, and cultural engagement. I currently serve as Senior Manager of Cossitt Library, the flagship downtown branch of Memphis Public Libraries, where I lead operations, partnerships, and strategic initiatives for one of Memphis’s most visible civic institutions. My work focuses on repositioning libraries as engines of opportunity and community connection. At Cossitt Library I oversee multidisciplinary operations spanning public services, youth programming, digital labs, events, and civic partnerships while stewarding a historic public asset with national civil-rights significance. Beyond operational leadership, I collaborate with civic leaders, nonprofits, foundations, and cultural institutions to expand the library’s role in Memphis’s economic and creative ecosystem. My work has helped bring national recognition to Memphis Public Libraries through innovative workforce development programs, media partnerships, and cultural programming. I am an Executive Program Fellow with Leadership Memphis and remain active in civic mentorship, literacy advocacy, and community leadership initiatives across Memphis.
• Provide executive leadership for a flagship urban library integrating public services, youth programming, digital labs, events, co-working, and facilities into a high-impact civic institution serving Memphis residents, entrepreneurs, artists, and students. • Launched and operationalized the nationally recognized Innovators-in-Residence program at Cossitt Library, expanding workforce development initiatives and supporting an effort that secured $300,000+ in grant funding for creative learning. • Expanded non-tax revenue streams through rentals, sponsorships, parking partnerships, and grants, strengthening the financial sustainability of library programs. • Direct modernization of a historic downtown library, coordinating capital improvements, technology upgrades, and infrastructure projects while maintaining uninterrupted public service. • Build and steward strategic partnerships with foundations, corporations, universities, and civic agencies, expanding resources and positioning the library as a driver of Memphis’s cultural and economic ecosystem. • Advise senior city leadership and library executives on strategy, policy, budgets, and operational priorities for one of Memphis’s most visible civic institutions. • Serve as a senior representative to city leadership, national partners, and funders, regularly briefing stakeholders on library operations, strategy, and community impact. • Pilot innovative service models, digital programs, and space monetization strategies later scaled across the Memphis Public Libraries system. • Led the Cossitt Library team to receive the City of Memphis Ovation Award for Team Excellence following the library’s reopening. • Conduct national benchmarking and site visits with leading systems including Chicago, Brooklyn, DC, Dallas, Cincinnati, Tulsa, and Chattanooga Public Libraries to identify best practices in civic space innovation.
• Directed multi-site operations across Memphis and the Mid-South, overseeing budgeting, staffing, compliance, and performance for high-volume public-facing facilities. • Served as final operational authority for customer experience, inventory, workforce management, and financial performance across multiple locations. • Built, supervised, and evaluated management teams, producing 24 internal leadership promotions and sustained performance excellence. • Designed and led a regional leadership development program to support succession planning, workforce sustainability, and organizational stability. • Managed more than $1 million in annual revenue and $500,000 in inventory with disciplined financial stewardship. • Led operations in a highly regulated environment, ensuring compliance with corporate governance, financial controls, and customer protection standards. • Oversaw physical retail assets, inventory, and technology investments across multiple facilities, aligning capital deployment with long-term service delivery and modernization goals. • Served as a senior representative of Verizon in high-visibility community, media, and corporate engagements across Memphis and the Mid-South. • On-air technology contributor for Fox 13 Memphis, providing live monthly segments to the public and representing Verizon as a trusted technology and digital-access voice.
Crisis Operations Leadership • Led Verizon’s COVID-19 service continuity response, directing a nationally distributed workforce and briefing senior leadership during a public health emergency.
Enterprise Process Improvement and Executive Advisory • Appointed to a national customer experience initiative to analyze end-to-end service performance and present data-driven operational reforms to C-Level executives.