Louisville Mayor-elect Greenberg unveils senior leadership team, including 4 deputies

Louisville Mayor-elect Craig Greenberg introduced Tuesday his senior leadership team as he prepares to take office in 2023, with several current and former Metro Council members among his chosen deputies.

They include:

• Barbara Sexton Smith, who will serve as deputy mayor and "oversee new offices focusing on some of the administration’s priorities."

• Nicole George, who will serve as deputy mayor for "Public Health and Services," overseeing Metro Public Health and Metro Public Works, among other departments.

• David James, who will serve as deputy mayor for emergency services, overseeing Louisville Fire, Metro Corrections and EMS, among other departments.

• Dana Mayton, who will serve as deputy mayor for "Operations and Budget," overseeing the Office of Management and Budget, Human Resources and several other departments.

• David Kaplan, chief of staff and general counsel.

• Keisha Dorsey, deputy chief of staff.

Greenberg already announced that Louisville Metro Police Chief Erika Shields said she will resign on Jan. 2, and last week he said Deputy Chief Jackie Gwinn-Villaroel - who joined the group during Tuesday's announcement - will serve as the department's interim leader before he picks a permanent LMPD chief.

“A new direction requires a new structure to more effectively and efficiently serve our community," Greenberg said Tuesday inside the Preston Pointe office building on Main Street while flanked by his leadership team. “... This diverse group of highly motivated and dedicated individuals will run the day-to-day operations of our city government. Together, they have the sense of urgency, commitment to transparency, and experience we need to make our city safer, stronger and healthier. We’re ready to get to work for the people of Louisville."

George decided before November's election to not run again for her Metro Council seat, while James and Dorsey will resign their council seats Jan. 4 and begin their new roles the next day, Greenberg said. New Metro Council members to replace the three Democrats will be appointed by the council within 30 days of the resignations following an application and interview process.

Sexton Smith is a former councilwoman for District 4 from 2017 to 2021 and was the Fund for the Arts president and CEO. She mulled a run for mayor before throwing her support behind Greenberg and serving on his campaign team. As for the new offices she will oversee, Greenberg replied Tuesday by saying, "stay tuned."

George, the outgoing District 21 representative for various South End neighborhoods who has been on Metro Council since 2018, has spent her career in child protection and child welfare administration "working with families to improve child safety and well-being," according to a release from Greenberg's administration.

James is a former Louisville police officer who announced this month he would give up his leadership post as president of Metro Council. James has represented District 6, which includes parts of downtown and surrounding neighborhoods, since 2010.

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Mayton has more than 30 years of experience as an attorney, public servant and public policy professional, according to the release. She has worked since August 2020 for outgoing U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth as his district director in Louisville. Prior to that, Mayton served in various roles with the University of Louisville, Kentucky Revenue Cabinet and Legislative Research Commission and as deputy attorney general.

Dorsey has represented District 3, including several West End neighborhoods and Shively, on Metro Council since 2018 and has a background in health care administration. She "used her time in corporate culture to refine leadership skills and establish collaborative networks," the release said.

Kaplan, who attended Harvard Law School with Greenberg, is a founding partner of his Louisville-based law firm Kaplan Johnson Abate and Bird LLP, handling cases involving breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, trade secrets, fraud, business torts and shareholder rights, among other areas. (Attorneys with the firm also represent The Courier Journal and other organizations in First Amendment, media law and open records cases.)

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Kaplan, like Greenberg, also previously worked at the Frost Brown Todd law firm and served as one of several chiefs of staff to Kentucky Speaker of the House Jody Richards, a Democrat whose 14-year term as speaker from 1994 to 2008 is the longest in the commonwealth's history. Additionally, Kaplan, a Lexington native, spent two years as an assistant attorney general under former Kentucky Attorney General Ben Chandler.

Several of the deputies already serve on Greenberg's 58-member transition team. Kaplan also served on Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear's transition committee related to the budget in 2019. Additionally, he is the annual campaign chair for the Jewish Community Federation of Louisville, a campaign cabinet member for the Legal Aid Society and Kentucky Bar Association Life Fellow.

Kaplan and James currently serve on the board for the West End Opportunity Partnership, the tax increment financing district that has received some scrutiny since its creation in 2021 due to concerns from residents in the predominantly Black neighborhoods of western Louisville that the TIF district could lead to gentrification and displacement.

James, the interim chair of the partnership, said he will step down from that role as he joins the Greenberg administration.

Greenberg takes office Jan. 2 and succeeds Mayor Greg Fischer.

The Fischer administration's governing structure included one deputy mayor and various agency "chiefs" was different than the model of the first mayor to lead Louisville after the early 2000s city-county merger, Jerry Abramson, who had four deputy mayors overseeing six cabinets.

Greenberg described Abramson as a "positive influence" in picking several deputies to join his administration, saying he thought a similar structure "would work best for our city."

"Given the challenges that we have in Louisville today, I thought that our administration could more effectively, efficiently and better serve the community and address these challenges that we have though this structure," Greenberg said. "We have an all-star team."

As for how the group of some familiar faces contribute to his oft-repeated goal to "move Louisville in a new direction," Greenberg said each of the deputies "has an incredible amount of energy, excitement and sense of urgency to get things done quickly," adding they "definitely have a diversity of experience, a diversity of thought."

Reach Billy Kobin at bkobin@courierjournal.com

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville Mayor-elect Craig Greenberg picks senior leadership team