Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly has announced appointments to fill four city roles in his administration.
Shadrina Booker, Chris Sands, Richard Beeland and Phil Noblett have been appointed to fill the roles of director of community engagement, executive director of community safety and gun violence prevention, administrator of economic development and city attorney, respectively, according to a news release.
Booker will serve as the city's director of community engagement, where she will facilitate communication between the city and the neighborhoods it serves. She will report to the chief equity officer, a position that is currently open after Tamara Steward stepped down last month.
Booker previously served as the chief development and marketing officer at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Chattanooga and is the co-founder of Vityl Media, a creative agency.
Sands, the executive director of community safety and gun violence prevention, will work with community organizations, internal departments and the city's partners at Trajectory Changing Solutions in an effort to stop gun violence before it starts.
Sands served as a youth pastor and assistant to Bishop Kevin Adams at Mt. Olivet Baptist Church and is also a founder of the Lighthouse Collective, which provides mentoring and life skills to teens and young adults. He was also formerly the director of community engagement and eventually began working in the Office of Community Health to help coordinate a curriculum to draw youth away from violence.
As the administrator of economic development, Beeland will oversee the city's economic development efforts, including partnerships with Hamilton County and the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce. He will report to the mayor's senior advisor for economic opportunity.
Beeland has served as a city employee for nearly 17 years in various roles, including assistant director of the Chattanooga Public Library, deputy administrator for the Department of Economic and Community Development, human resources deputy director and communications director. He holds bachelor's degrees in communication and political science, a master's degree in public administration and has been an adjunct instructor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Noblett, who has served in the city attorney's office since 2009, will represent both the Chattanooga City Council and the Kelly administration as city attorney. He will also oversee the legal staff who work across the city's dozens of boards and commissions and will report to the mayor.
A licensed attorney in Tennessee since 1982, Noblett previously was a member of the firm of Nelson, McMahan & Noblett from 1990 until 2009. He has twice served as interim city attorney and has represented the city in major cases, negotiations and settlements.
"A key part of building a better local government is getting the right people into positions where we can do the most good, and these appointments do just that," Kelly said in the release. "Public safety, community engagement, economic development -- these are huge opportunities for the city to touch the lives of every resident in a lasting, equitable way, and I know we're ready to meet that challenge."
— Compiled by Kim Sebring