Hey Ladies

Webber administration brings four women to powerful positions at City Hall

The mayor's getting his hiring groove on. (Anson Stevens-Bollen)

By Matt Grubs

Alan Webber announced Thursday he's hired Erin McSherry as the next city attorney. It's the first big-ticket hire for Webber, who under the city's new governance structure gets to pick his own city manager and city clerk as well.

It's also the fourth woman hired for a senior city position in three days. On Tuesday, Webber and Erik Litzenberg, Santa Fe's acting city manager, announced they'd hired women to lead the Finance, Human Resources and Public Works departments.

When SFR ("Work To Do," June 6) analyzed the city's organizational chart earlier this month, the gender breakdown was not kind:  Men occupied top spots at a ratio of better than three-to-one.

Both Litzenberg and Webber told SFR it was too early to say whether they'd been faithful to the mayor's campaign promise that he'd bring more women to top administrative positions. Santa Fe would have to trust the mayor to make good.

SFR’s June 6 illustration. | Anson Stevens-Bollen

"Well, we haven't made a lot of formal hires, so it's a little premature to evaluate," Webber told SFR earlier this month.

McSherry, the new city attorney, comes from a job as general counsel for the state Department of Health. She's been active in northern New Mexico, sitting on the board of the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity, coaching a high school mock trial team in Pojoaque and holding a number of volunteer positions in the legal community, according to a city news release.

She'll join Mary McCoy, Bernadette Salazar and Regina Wheeler as new hires. McCoy will lead the Finance Department. She had been working for the city of Boston and notably helped write legislation for universal pre-kindergarten in the city. Salazar, who will head Human Resources, led Santa Fe County's HR division for years and is a Santa Fe native. Wheeler will helm the Public Works Department and has worked for the city before as director of the Environmental Services Division. She was the first CEO of Positive Energy Solar.

Most of the new hires will join the city next month. The City Council must approve McSherry as city attorney. Webber plans to present her for hire at the council's next meeting on June 27.

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