I have mentored Zoe since she joined our team in June 2024. While I may be her primary mentor, she is also mentored by Assistant City Manager Ari Lenz as well as the members of our Executive Leadership Team.

Zoe is a gracious and warm coworker. She leads with empathy, always looking for ways that she can learn and grow. She is self aware and able to swim through the stress that seems to be omnipresent in local government today. At the same time, Zoe has been supportive of her peers in other Twin Cities communities through professional associations and networking. She did a great job this summer supervising a seasonal intern who is considering a future in city management.

Zoe’s experience in Edina has included her leadership of reforming our massage ordinance, by her participation in the management negotiating team for our collective bargaining groups, participating in weekly budget preparation meetings, merging the City’s tax assessing functions into the county government and assisting me directly with employee presentations about the results of the City’s biennial quality of life survey.

I enjoy working with Zoe on a daily basis. Everyone in my office would say the same. I recommend her strongly for this recognition. She’s got a bright future in our profession.