Executive management of a metropolitan county government of roughly 910,000 residents and a billion-dollar-plus consolidated budget across health, public works, corrections, the Sheriff's Office (administrative side), and many smaller departments.
Ability to negotiate and defend an annual budget before a 13-member County Commission.
Intergovernmental capacity: coordinating with the City of Memphis, six suburban municipalities, the State of Tennessee, and federal agencies, especially on shared services like MATA, MLGW, EDGE, and the Health Department.
Working familiarity with Tennessee county-government law, the Shelby County Charter, open-meetings, and procurement rules.
Public-facing communication and crisis-management skills for a large, diverse, news-attentive county.
Derived from the office's statutory duties and operational reality. Candidate summaries below map each candidate's documented experience to these requirements.