Where Are They
Now?
Featured on our November 2002 cover
After Jane Campbell was elected mayor, she invited us in to meet her staff and share her plan for the city. During the visit, we noticed a clock on her desk that counted down until the end of her term — a reminder of how long she had to “make a difference.” It had 1,218 days left on it when we saw it, and, unfortunately for Campbell, she faced big challenges and only got one term, falling to Mayor Frank Jackson in 2005.
1} Jane Campbell, mayor
After a short time in the private sector, Jane Campbell is back in politics, albeit in a different role than you’re used to seeing her. Earlier this year, Campbell became chief of staff for Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu, a longtime friend. Campbell likes that she is still involved in public service and politics but without the bright spotlight. “I can walk down the street and nobody knows who I am,” Campbell says. Looking back, the former mayor thinks she was able to leave her mark on Cleveland, specifically through the people she hired. “Many of the people who I put into leadership are still there,” she says. She adds, though, that it was a difficult time to be mayor. She feels like she hit her goal of adding housing to the city but fell short regarding jobs and education. “I think it was a very tough time financially.”
2}Tim Mueller, chief development officer
Tim Mueller learned you don’t always get to cut your own ribbons in the public sector. He’s referring specifically to the Wolstein project in the Flats. “That was easily an eight- to 10-year project, ... and we initiated [it].” He is now the president and CEO of Phylogy, a company that sells technology that improves DSL broadband for telephone companies.
3} David McGuirk, chief operating officer
David McGuirk now serves as the village administrator of Fairport Harbor, Ohio. “The pace here is very nice,” he says. “It’s enough to keep me engaged and interested but not enough to make you lay awake at night.”
4} Craig Tame, chief of health and public safety
Craig Tame wouldn’t trade his time spent working for the city of Cleveland for anything. “That was the most difficult job I’ve ever had but also the most rewarding,” he says. Tame still works to improve Cleveland and other Northern Ohio cities and towns through his work with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Ohio, where he handles law enforcement management.
5} Robert Baker, chief financial officer
One of the hardest things Robert Baker says he’s ever dealt with was laying off city employees in order to balance the budget. “That was a very difficult process,” Baker says. “We dealt with a tremendous financial problem.” Baker continues to work, despite two retirements. He is now, for the second time, the chief financial officer for Shaker Heights.
6} Rodney Jenkins, chief of public affairs
Rodney Jenkins is most proud of the openness of the Campbell administration — creating committees that included citizens. “It allowed the entire community to get involved in city government,” he says. Today, Jenkins is involved in state government in Georgia. He is the marketing and communications director for the state’s Department of Administrative Services. “It’s not sexy,” he says. “But now that I see things on the other side, I think, Why did we stress ourselves out so much?”
| Here’s what some of the other members of Campbell’s staff featured in that November 2002 story are up to today: |
||||
| Subodh Chandra |
Chris Ronayne |
Lynnette Jackson |
Steve Sims |
Melodie Mayberry-Stewart |
| then} law director now} principal of The Chandra Law Firm in Cleveland |
then} planning director now} president of University Circle Inc. |
then} special assistant to the mayor now} a client adviser for National City, now a part of PNC |
then} economic-development director now} director of the office of business development for RTA |
then} chief technology officer now} New York state chief information officer and director of the New York State Office for Technology |
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