City of Greensboro                                                           Contact: Elaine Tricoli
For Immediate Release                                                     Phone: 373-2421

       
                                        City Hires Human Relations Director
            Native North Carolinian Brings More than 20 Years of Experience

GREENSBORO – (September 17, 2007) – Greensboro City Manager Mitch Johnson has announced the selection of Dr. Anthony W. Wade as the new director of the City’s Human Relations Department. Wade will assume his role effective September 24 at an annual salary of $96,000.

Wade was chosen following an extensive series of interviews with a search committee made up of community leaders and City department directors. The committee then made final recommendations to the City Manager and his staff, who ultimately hired Wade for the position.
“I am extremely pleased with the excellent work of our search committee,” Johnson said. “They brought forth several excellent options which allowed us to select the best of the best for this critical role. I believe our community will be very pleased with the tremendous skills, background and capacity of Dr. Wade as our new Human Relations Director.”

The City Manager will introduce Wade to the Greensboro City Council during its meeting on September 18.

Wade, a native North Carolinian, has extensive experience in human relations management, fair employment and fair housing issues, mediation and conflict resolution, and community outreach. Wade will return to North Carolina from Denver, CO, where he has served as the Manager of Employment, Compensation, Equal Opportunity and Community Outreach for Denver Water since 2001.

“I’m very excited about the opportunity to have this great relationship with the City of Greensboro, as well as the opportunity to serve the citizens of this fine community,” Wade said. As a former program chair for Leadership North Carolina and a graduate of the Center for Creative Leadership’s African American Leadership Institute, Wade has maintained his ties with his home state throughout the years.

“What really impresses me about Greensboro is its diversity, both demographic and economic,” he said. “Greensboro is a progressive community, and it’s great to be part of that progress.”

The selection of the new Human Relations Director began with a series of six community meetings, during which the City solicited residents’ input regarding the desired qualities and characteristics of the new director, as well as ideas for the future of the department. The City then advertised the position nationally, and more than 150 candidates applied. Eventually, after a multi-layered, highly-structured interview process, the City selected Wade for the role.

Assistant City Manager Ben Brown said he believes Wade is “the right person to lead this department forward and to oversee the City’s human relations activities and initiatives.”
Wade will replace Human Relations Director John Shaw, who has served in that capacity for the past 21 years and will retire at the end of this year. In the meantime, Shaw plans to work with Wade to acquaint him with significant community history, events and activities, and to introduce him to community leaders. In addition, Shaw will have an opportunity to share information gathered from his decades of experiences with the issues that are vital to Greensboro.

Prior to Wade’s tenure with Denver Water, he was the director of the New Hanover County Human Relations Commission in Wilmington, NC, from 1995-1999. Wade also served in the US Air Force, as director of the Equal Opportunity Treatment / Human Relations Education Section at Lowry Air Force Base in Denver.

Wade holds a PhD in Education and Human Resources Studies with a specialization in Organizational Performance and Change from Colorado State University, a master’s degree in Management from Webster University in St. Louis, MO, and a bachelor’s degree in Human Resources Administration from Saint Leo University in Saint Leo, FL.

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The City of Greensboro exists to partner with the community to build a better quality of life for Greensboro. Critical to the City of Greensboro’s success is building trust, maintaining employee commitment to public service, and making a difference in the lives of our citizens. The City of Greensboro has a dedicated professional staff of more than 2700 employees that work to deliver programs and policies that reflect its four core values of honesty, integrity, stewardship, and respect.