Initial Screening Committee Announces City Manager Finalists

Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui and City of Cambridge Personnel Director Sheila Keady Rawson, co-chairs of the Cambridge City Manager Initial Screening Committee, have announced the names of the four finalist candidates being forwarded to the entire City Council for consideration.

The four finalists are:

Iram Farooq - Ms. Farooq is currently the Assistant City Manager for the Community Development Department (CDD) in the City of Cambridge since 2015. Prior to that, she served as Chief of Policy & Planning in CDD and as a Senior Project Manager for Land Use & Zoning starting in 1999. Ms. Farooq has a Master’s in Landscape Architecture with special emphasis on Land Planning from Harvard University.

Cheryl Watson Fisher - Ms. Fisher is currently the City Solicitor for the City of Chelsea, MA since 2003, and is a partner in the Cambridge based law firm Galluccio & Watson, LLP. She served as Assistant City Solicitor for the City of Cambridge from 1999-2003. Prior to that, she served as Assistant Regional Counsel II for the Department of Social Services for the Commonwealth of MA and a Field Attorney for the National Labor Relations Board in Boston. Ms. Fisher has her Juris Doctor (Law degree) from Boston College.

Yi-An Huang - Mr. Huang is currently the Executive Director of Boston Medical Center (BMC) Hospital Clinical Operations since 2021. Between 2018 and 2021 he served as Chief Transformation Officer and Senior Director - Population Health Analytics for the BMC Health Plan. From 2013 to 2018 he served as Senior Director of Clinical Operation, Director of Strategy and Senior Project Manager for the BMC Hospital. Mr. Huang has a Master’s in Business Administration from Harvard University.

Norman Khumalo - Mr. Khumalo is currently the Town Manager of Hopkinton, MA since 2009. He served as Assistant Town Manager of Westford, MA from 2002-2009, and served for 6 months as Interim Town Manager. Prior to that he served as a Town Planner, Planner and Transportation Project Manager in Massachusetts. He also served from 1993 to 1997 with Oxfam America in the Boston office, and served in the Planning Field in Zimbabwe. Mr. Khumalo has a Master’s in Public Administration from Carleton University, Canada and a Master’s in Regional & Urban Planning from the University of Zimbabwe.

A “Meet the Finalists” forum will be held on Tuesday, May 31st, 2022, from 6-9 p.m., in the Fitzgerald Auditorium at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, 459 Broadway, where members of the public will have an opportunity to hear from each finalist in person or on Channel 99 about their vision for the City and answer questions.

The City Council will conduct public interviews with the finalists on Wednesday, June 1st, beginning at 6:00 p.m., in the Sullivan Chamber, 2nd floor of Cambridge City Hall, which the public can view in person, on 22-CityView (the municipal cable channel), and live online via Zoom.

The City Council is expected to vote to appoint the next City Manager during a Special City Council Meeting on Monday, June 6th, which the public can view in person, on 22-CityView, and live online via Zoom.

The Initial Screening Committee was appointed by an ad-hoc committee of the City Council and was composed of 15 community members reflecting citywide constituencies, and four City Council members. Randi Frank, LLC, the Executive Search Firm hired to assist with the recruitment and hiring process, presented a diverse group of close to 30 candidates for the committee’s review. The Initial Screening Committee conducted an in-depth review of 10 candidates held on May 12th and 13th.

“I want to thank the 15 community members that spent three days reviewing and interviewing the candidates for City Manager,” said Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui. “I am grateful for their work and for helping to move the search process forward.”

The Initial Screening Committee members included resident representatives Kathleen Moore, Banti Gheneti, Brian Burke and Susan Fleischmann; large business representative B. Kimmerman; small business representative Jason Alves; Cambridge School Committee representative Rachel Weinstein; public safety representative Christine Elow; a person with demonstrated knowledge of municipal finance representative James Kaufman; health and human services/public health representative Mo Barbosa; person with knowledge of city planning/urban development representative Michael Monestime; public art and/or recreational representative Chris Cassa; affordable housing advocate Elaine DeRosa; nonprofit community representative Reverend Vernon Walker; Higher Education Representative Thomas Lucey; and City Councillors Dennis Carlone, Patty Nolan, E. Denise Simmons and Mayor Siddiqui.

The interviews performed by the Initial Screening Committee were preceded by close to 20 recorded community focus groups, feedback received through our dedicated City Manager search website, and resident and employee Town Hall meetings, all of which led to the development of a leadership profile used during the recruitment phase.

For additional information about the City Manager search process, please visit www.cambridgema.gov/CityManagerSearch.