The person now responsible for making sure the county’s purchases are the best deal for taxpayers brings with her a lengthy private-sector resume.
Gail Roppo soon will take over as director of the county’s Purchasing Department from retiring director Kenneth Blankenship. She joined the county in September.
The Virginia native most recently worked at Unum in Chattanooga, but was laid off in 2009. Not wanting to leave the area, she applied at the county when she got a tip that Blankenship was retiring.
“When I was told about it, it sounded interesting,” Roppo said. “I’ve had a lot of good experiences in a number of larger corporations that bring operational effectiveness, ways of thinking about things, ways to enhance services.”
ABOUT GAIL ROPPO* Title: Hamilton County Purchasing Department director* Salary: $70,000* Age: 57* Education: Bachelor’s in math and economics, University of Mary Washington; master’s in industrial and systems engineering, Ohio University* Work experience: Unum, assistant vice president operations analysis, 1997-2009; Crawford & Co., assistant vice president research and development 1986-1997; Corning Inc., director of market research, 1979-1985* Family: Fred, husband; stepchildren, Linda, 46, Mark, 44