MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) – Mayor Paul Young announced sweeping changes Friday to his top cabinet, replacing the City’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer two years into his four-year term.
The announcements came after this year’s budget session concluded.
Departures
Chief Operating Officer Antonio Adams and Chief Financial Officer Walter Person — both of whom served under former Mayor Jim Strickland — are leaving the administration.
Adams has served in multiple roles during his 17-year tenure at the City of Memphis, including EEO/Labor Relations and ADA Compliance Coordinator, Deputy Director of General Services, General Services Director, Interim Total Rewards Officer, and Deputy Chief Operating Officer before being elevated to Interim COO.
Person holds a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University and a Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a certified Master Black Belt in Six Sigma methodology, a graduate of the Leadership Memphis Executive Class of 2011, and a Certified Municipal Finance Officer in 2023.
Person was appointed Interim Chief Financial Officer for the City of Memphis in January 2024. He previously was appointed Deputy Chief Financial Officer for the City of Memphis in November 2021.
As Deputy Chief Financial Officer, he was responsible for the financial management of the organization, which includes budget analysis and management, debt management, financial modeling and reporting, cost-benefit analysis, forecasting needs, accounting and treasury operations, and investment strategies.
While in this role as Deputy Chief Financial Officer, he also served as Interim Comptroller as well as Interim Budget Manager. He served as a member of the City’s Pension Investment Committee.
Manny Belen, the current City Engineer is retiring. Mayor Young named Greg Dotson as the Interim City Engineer. He’s a licensed Professional Engineer in six states and brings more than 27 years of civil engineering and transportation infrastructure experience. Most recently, he served as State Transportation Leader for West Tennessee at Gresham Smith.
And finally, John Zeanah, Chief of Development & Infrastructure, is transitioning from his role in the administration and will act as a consultant for the City of Memphis.
Prior to this position, John served as the Director of the Memphis and Shelby County Division of Planning and Development for over seven years. Among his accomplishments, John led the development and adoption of the Memphis 3.0 Comprehensive Plan, the City’s first comprehensive plan in 40 years and winner of the American Planning Association’s Daniel Burnham Award of Excellence for a Comprehensive Plan in 2020 and a Charter Award from the Congress for the New Urbanism in 2021.
John has also led the city and county’s housing policy plan, climate action and resilience plans, smart city plan, oversaw investments in placemaking and community infrastructure through the $200 million Accelerate Memphis initiative, and made significant improvements to development review and permitting.
If you want to read more, you can view Mayor Young’s statement.
New appointments
Chris Winton, an executive with 25 years of human resources experience at FedEx, Tesla and Comcast, has been named the City’s new Chief Operating Officer. At FedEx, Winton worked his way up from an internship in the IT department to Chief People Officer, at a company employing more than 510,000 workers. The City of Memphis employs about 8,000 people.
Art Davis has been named the City’s new Chief Financial Officer. Davis currently serves as Deputy Chief Financial Officer of the Treasury for the City. Davis previously served as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Memphis River Parks Partnership, the nonprofit that rebuilt Tom Lee Park. He managed more than $85 million in construction projects and secured millions in federal and state grants.
Mayor Young said in a statement:
“Together, the appointments strengthen the City’s executive leadership team as the administration enters its next phase of delivering results for Memphis residents.
We’ve built a strong foundation for Memphis. Now it’s about delivering at a higher level. These appointments ring the experience and leadership we need to execute major initiatives and projects, strengthen City operations, and continue earning the trust of the people we serve. That’s how we’ll keep moving Memphis forward.”
Council reaction
Memphis City Councilman JB Smiley provided the following statement to Action News 5:
“I want to thank each of them for their service to the City of Memphis and wish them nothing but the best moving forward. Public service is never easy, and I appreciate the work they’ve done on behalf of the community.
As it relates to the changes, staffing changes are the mayor’s prerogative. My hope is simply that these changes ultimately strengthen city government and lead to better outcomes for the people of Memphis.”
And Councilwoman Jerri Green, a candidate for Tennessee Governor, told Action News 5:
“Personnel changes are a standard and expected part of municipal government, occurring for a wide variety of reasons. John Zeanah has been an incredible asset to the City and to my work on the Council, and I am sad to see him leave.
That said, I am very optimistic about the future, including the appointment of Art Davis, whom I know to be an excellent choice. I look forward to connecting with the rest of the new appointees and building productive working relationships to keep our city moving forward.”
Economic backdrop
The changes at the top follow a disappointing report from economic think tank the Milken Institute which ranked Memphis 205 out of 206 cities on its Best Performing Cities Index. The index measures economic growth, job creation and neighborhood well-being.
Mayor Young’s appointments must be confirmed by city council.
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