It’s Been A Long Time Coming, But We Have Good News!
We’re happy to announce that the Initial Screening Committee has selected four finalists to move forward for consideration to become Cambridge’s next City Manager. To read more about the screening committee’s process, click here. After two days of interviews on May 12th and 13th, the committee is proud to present the following candidates:
Iram Farooq - Ms. Farooq is currently the Assistant City Manager for the Community Development Department (CDD) in the City of Cambridge since 2015. Prior to that, she served as Chief of Policy & Planning in CDD and as a Senior Project Manager for Land Use & Zoning starting in 1999. Ms. Farooq has a Master’s in Landscape Architecture with special emphasis on Land Planning from Harvard University.
Cheryl Watson Fisher - Ms. Fisher is currently the City Solicitor for the City of Chelsea, MA since 2003, and is a partner in the Cambridge based law firm Galluccio & Watson, LLP. She served as Assistant City Solicitor for the City of Cambridge from 1999-2003. Prior to that, she served as Assistant Regional Counsel II for the Department of Social Services for the Commonwealth of MA and a Field Attorney for the National Labor Relations Board in Boston. Ms. Fisher has her Juris Doctor (Law degree) from Boston College.
Yi-An Huang - Mr. Huang is currently the Executive Director of Boston Medical Center (BMC) Hospital Clinical Operations since 2021. Between 2018 and 2021 he served as Chief Transformation Officer and Senior Director - Population Health Analytics for the BMC Health Plan. From 2013 to 2018 he served as Senior Director of Clinical Operation, Director of Strategy and Senior Project Manager for the BMC Hospital. Mr. Huang has a Master’s in Business Administration from Harvard University.
Norman Khumalo - Mr. Khumalo is currently the Town Manager of Hopkinton, MA since 2009. He served as Assistant Town Manager of Westford, MA from 2002-2009, and served for 6 months as Interim Town Manager. Prior to that he served as a Town Planner, Planner and Transportation Project Manager in Massachusetts. He also served from 1993 to 1997 with Oxfam America in the Boston office, and served in the Planning Field in Zimbabwe. Mr. Khumalo has a Master’s in Public Administration from Carleton University, Canada and a Master’s in Regional & Urban Planning from the University of Zimbabwe.
Here’s Where You Come In:
On Tuesday, May 31st at 6 PM in the CRLS Fitzgerald Theater, we’ll be hosting a “Meet the Finalists” forum where you can listen to each candidate share their vision for Cambridge and why they should be our next City Manager. If there are specific questions you want answered, you can submit them to randi@randifrank.com by Thursday, May 26 at 12 noon. This is another great opportunity to get involved in the City Manager Search process, and to hear from the finalists directly.
You can attend the meeting in-person on the 31st at the Fitzgerald Theater, or you can watch from home on Channel 99, or live stream via the Open Meeting Portal.
Next Steps
After you have the chance to meet the candidates and hear what they have to say, they’ll be interviewed by the City Council on Wednesday, June 1st at 6:00 PM in the Sullivan Chamber. Although you won’t have the opportunity to ask questions at this stage, you can listen to their responses before the Council officially votes on their choice during the regular Council meeting on Monday, June 6th.
This meeting is open to the public for in-person attendance, and available from home on CityView Channel 22, on Zoom, or live stream on the web via the Open Meeting Portal.
