A new year brings new opportunities.This year, the NextGen committee welcomes some fresh faces. This year’s new members are Drew Benson, Mike Greene, and Joe Frey. After a short absence, we welcomed back Tom Tanghe and Neil Rankin to our committee. The new makeup has brought a wealth of energy, experience, and connections that will help us push our mission further this year.
Currently, the committee is planning the 2019 Spring Professional Development event. The event is tentatively scheduled for May 31 at the MML Lansing offices – so save the date! The committee is also working to fill the MME Fellowship positions and planning to interview students in early April.
Over the course of the next few months, MME members will be contacting the various universities in our state and grow our relationships with them. It is our hope that this fall we will be bringing different managers into the universities to talk with students and show them the wonderful things that a career in local government can provide. I should note, we are not just planning on talking with graduate students. We need to get undergraduate students excited about working in local government as well. That way, they can enter their MPA programs with an idea of what they want to do.
Just recently, NextGen hosted a networking dinner during the MME Winter Institute. The event took place at the Cricket Club in Battle Creek and was extremely well attended. It is always great to see so many experienced and early-career managers having an opportunity to trade stories.
We are looking forward to a wonderful year. We hope to see you at a NextGen event this year!
James Krizan
Chair, NextGen Committee; Assistant to the City Manager, Royal Oak
James Krizan has served as assistant to the city manager in Royal Oak since 2016. Previously, he held the position of village manager in Decatur.