It’s not often in local government that you have the chance to define an entirely new role for a City. This is exactly what Chris Shorter is doing in Baltimore as its first ever City Administrator. Working closely with Mayor Brandon Scott, Chris is responsible for turning vision into reality and figuring out the nuts and bolts of creating a world-class city.

Making this even more challenging is the history of Baltimore itself - having a checkered history of under-investment and mismanagement.

To begin, Chris is listening - to both employees and residents. At the same time, he and Mayor Scott have a concrete Action Plan they’re implementing, refusing to accept the status quo as good enough.

Please enjoy my conversation with Chris Shorter.

Mayor Michael Hancock is one of the US’ most known Mayors. Having served Denver as an elected official for almost two decades, Mayor Hancock has seen perhaps the greatest transformation of any American city this century, with Denver exploding in growth, business and opportunity.

Yet with that opportunity has come real challenges - housing, transit, public safety. Yet while Mayor Hancock is the Chief Executive, he is under no illusion that these are his challenges to tackle alone.

In this episode we discuss the difference between a visionary and implementer leader, the most surprising aspects of being a major city Mayor, and his thought process before using his veto powers for the first time.

Please enjoy my conversation with Mayor Michael Hancock.

Robert Clark recently returned from an illustrious FBI career in Los Angeles back home to Ohio, specifically to lead the City of Columbus’ public safety efforts.

Like all other major cities in the US, the past two years has seen a worrying trend of increasing gun violence and homicides, undoing a decade plus of hard work in this area. But to Robert, the solution can’t be found in targeting these metrics alone or just putting cops on dots.

It comes with a broader understanding of what a quality life means, and the deeper social ills that are manifesting in these outcomes. I lost count of the number of times trust and transparency were mentioned, while at the same time Robert emphasized the uniquely difficult job law enforcement officials have, that many of us often forget.

Please enjoy my conversation with Robert Clark.