Washoe News

City of Reno officials today announced six employee promotions spanning the organization from the Finance, Fire and Public Works departments to the City Manager’s Office and the newly created Regional Infrastructure Department.

John Flansberg will serve in a newly created role as the City of Reno’s Regional Infrastructure Administrator where he’ll focus on regional water projects with an emphasis on long-range planning and regional collaboration. Flansberg has served as the Director of Public Works since 2009. He began working for the City as the Deputy Director of Public Works over Maintenance and Operations in 2005. Flansberg came to Reno after working for Carson City for nine years in positions of increasing responsibility, planning, constructing, and managing infrastructure. He began his career in 1990 working for Granite Construction Company, managing and constructing projects primarily for federal, state and local governments.

Cindy Green will serve as the Division Chief overseeing Emergency Medical Services for the City of Reno, making her the highest-ranking female officer in the City of Reno. Cindy has spent 22 years serving our region in the healthcare field, including as a local paramedic, EMS Supervisor and Manager of EMS Education and Community Outreach. She also served as a firefighter for Central Lyon County.

JW Hodge has been promoted to Assistant City Manager. In his new role, he’ll maintain oversight of Policy and Strategy and add long-range planning, business intelligence, boards and commissions, agenda management, Dispatch, and organizational security to his list of responsibilities. Hodge comes to the City of Reno from Renown Health, where he was Administrative Director and, before that, Area Practice Manager of Primary and Urgent Care. Before his tenure with Renown, Hodge spent 13 years with REMSA as the Chief Operating Officer, Director of Public and Government Affairs, and Manager of Education and Community Engagement.

Kerrie Koski has been promoted to Director of Public Works/City Engineer where she’ll focus on capital projects, right-of-way management, engineering standards and support, infrastructure mapping, property management and traffic engineering. She was hired by the City of Reno as an assistant engineer in 2004 and promoted to Street Program Manager and Engineering Manager in 2007 and 2017, respectively. Koski was later promoted to Assistant Director of Public Works/City Engineer in October of 2019. Prior to her experience at the City of Reno, she spent 17 years at a local private civil engineering consulting firm, working her way up from an engineering technician to Construction Services Manager.

Vicki Van Buren has been named the Director of Finance at the City of Reno. Van Buren has been serving as the City’s Interim Finance Director since March of 2022 and has been with the City of Reno's Finance Department since October of 2016. Prior to joining the City of Reno, she served four years as the Chief Fiscal Officer for the Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District and seven years as the Deputy Finance Director for the City of Hanford, California.

Calli Wilsey has been named the Director of Policy and Strategy where she’ll build strategic roadmaps and work with other government entities to support the policy needs of our growing community. Wilsey started at the City of Reno in April of 2015, initially serving as a community liaison. She’s since held the titles of management analyst and government affairs and strategic initiatives administrator. Wilsey brings a strong background in communications, in both the public and private sectors, and intergovernmental relations to her new role.

“I’m proud to promote from within our incredibly talented pool of individuals at the City of Reno and see John, Cindy, JW, Kerrie, Vicki and Calli take their careers to the next level,” said Reno City Manager Doug Thornley. “Each of these individuals works hard to create a place people are proud to call home and treats people with kindness and respect. I look forward to everything they will accomplish in their new roles.”

The City of Reno was recently recognized as one of the Best Places to Work in Northern Nevada. The organization is currently looking for talented individuals who want to make a difference in our community. To view available employment opportunities, visit Reno.gov/Jobs.

Original source can be found here.