Greensboro, N.C. -- Greensboro's City Council unanimously selected Denise Turner Roth to be the city's first female City Manager. Roth had served as Interim City Manager since December 2011.
Roth told WFMY News 2, "I feel very excited to have this opportunity and to be in this role to serve the community and to work with council and the team here at the city. I think the first thing we will do is to look internally at our structures and ensure that we have the capacity and the team in place to really continue to focus on where the city is going next."
In addition to being the city's new City Manager, Roth is also a wife and a mother. Her son, C.J. is three-years-old.
"I enjoy living here in this community. I certainly have had opportunities to move to other areas, to move back to D.C. But, we chose Greensboro. We choose it over and over again. The reason is because there is a lot of things here to be excited about. We have great restaurants. We have a great quality of life. The way people treat each other here...Our parks are just beautiful and available and open to everyone," Roth said.
In addition, Roth told WFMY News 2 that she plans to work the city's 2800 employees to develop strategies to improve Greensboro.
Roth said, "The people that work for the city are very excited about the work they do. They love to be in service to the community. And, I really want to capitalize on that. I appreciate everyone getting up on a daily basis, coming to work and thinking about...'How do I deliver this service today? How do I improve what we're doing?' I really want to capitalize and reach out to employees as much as possible to get their input and to get their direction and buy inabout ... What does our city need to look like and how do we do better at what we do?"
Roth will earn a $175,000 annual salary, plus an $850/month supplemental benefit. The supplemental benefit covers travel expenses, mileage, etc.
Before serving as Interim City Manager, Roth led the City's human relations, information technology, libraries, parks and recreation and public affairs departments as an assistant city manager.
Roth also previously served asvice president for governmental affairs at the Greensboro Partnership. While at the Partnership, she lobbied the state for $60 million to help establish the North Carolina A&T State and UNC Greensboro Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering.
Prior to moving to Greensboro, Roth worked in her hometown of Washington, D.C. She began her public service career as a special assistant for legislative affairs in the office of Mayor Anthony Williams.
