Tanisha Briley Appointed Gaithersburg City Manager

Gaithersburg, Md. (July 21, 2020)  At their meeting on Monday, July 20, 2020, the Mayor and City Council announced the appointment of Tanisha Briley as Gaithersburg’s new City Manager. She will assume the position as of September 14, 2020. Briley was selected following a national search, coordinated by The Novak Consulting Group, in which more than 90 applicants expressed interest in the position.

 

“By all measures, the Council and I thought Ms. Briley did an exceptional job of distinguishing herself during our search process,” said Gaithersburg Mayor Jud Ashman. “Many City staff and community members had a chance to meet Tanisha on a July 9 Zoom chat where, in addition to sharing her background and work history, she spoke about her leadership philosophy and management style. I think she’s going to be a great fit for our organization.”

 

“I am thrilled to be joining the Gaithersburg team. Gaithersburg is an incredible city with a history of solid leadership that has served the community well,” said Briley. “These unprecedented and challenging times will stretch us all in ways never imagined and it is comforting to know that I will be joining a team that is well positioned to take on whatever lies ahead to ensure the community remains a great place well into the future.”

 

Briley’s career in the public sector spans nearly two decades, with 14 years in city management. She most recently served as City Manager of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, a community with just over 46,000 residents, 560 municipal employees and a budget of $79 million. In that position since 2013, Briley lists among her accomplishments the increase of the City’s reserve fund from four to 16 percent of expenses, overseeing the reduction of crime by 55 percent, and spearheading a citywide energy efficiency project that resulted in a 25 percent energy consumption reduction and cost savings.

 

Prior to becoming City Manager of Cleveland Heights, Briley served as Management Analyst, Budget Manager, and eventually Assistant City Administrator for the City of Davenport, Iowa. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Ohio State University and a Master of Public Administration, with a Local Urban Management Certificate from Cleveland State University.

 

Briley is active in a number of professional and service organizations, including serving as Vice Chair of the ICMA-RC Retirement Corporation Board of Directors and Treasurer of the Heights-Hillcrest Communications Center Board of Directors. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency and the United Way of Greater Cleveland, and is an instructor with the Cleveland State University Public Administration Graduate Program.

 

Gaithersburg’s City Manager is appointed by the City Council and serves as the chief administrative officer for the City. Briley will manage Gaithersburg’s administrative operations in accordance with policies and procedures set forth by the City Council, with a professional staff of 425 full time equivalent positions and a City budget of $69.3 million. 

 

Acting City Manager Dennis Enslinger has been serving in the position since the May, 2020 retirement of Tony Tomasello. “This has been an extremely difficult time to be in the midst of a leadership transition,” said Mayor Ashman. “Dennis has done a rock solid job navigating the City’s response to the pandemic and working collaboratively with staff to ensure that critical operations continue, always with the safety of our employees and our residents as the top priority. The Council and I are indebted to him for keeping the staff motivated and for keeping the City moving forward.” Enslinger will return to his position as Deputy City Manager after September 14.

 

For more information please contact the Gaithersburg City Manager’s office at 301-258-6310 or visit the City’s website at www.gaithersburgmd.gov.