Congressional Forum Virtual featuring UG Interim County Administrator Cheryl Harrison-Lee

The Congressional Forum is a 54 year institution, and the Chamber's public policy series, which features local, state, and federal representatives to speak about issues relevant to the area's business community.

Representative Sharice Davids speaks to the group as often as she can, but other guest speakers are often featured at the monthly forums. 

This month's featured speaker is Unified Government of KCK and Wyandotte County Interim County Administrator Ms. Cheryl Harrison-Lee.

About Harrison-Lee:

Ms. Cheryl Harrison–Lee was appointed to the position of Interim County Administrator for the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, KS effective Friday, January 7, 2022. Harrison-Lee brings more than 35 years of professional experience as a nationally-recognized public and private sector executive at a time when the Unified Government anticipates making generational investments in the community while managing a public health response to a global pandemic. Throughout her career, Harrison-Lee has worked to bring a more data-driven, accountable approach to public agencies through a commitment to collecting, using and sharing performance data to enhance transparency and continually improve organizations and communities; all skillsets she will apply in her role as interim County Administrator. 

PRINCIPAL, HARRISON-LEE DEVELOPMENT CONSULTING

As Principal of Harrison-Lee Development Consulting, Harrison-Lee serves as a technical advisor on the City of Kansas City, Missouri Central City Sales Tax, a catalytic program to spur economic opportunity in disadvantaged urban neighborhoods.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, KANSAS OFFICE OF RECOVERY

Previously, Ms. Harrison-Lee served as the Executive Director for the Kansas Office of Recovery, where she developed strategic funding priorities, established management and financial systems for disbursing $1.034B CARES Act funds through the State of Kansas to address the impacts of COVID-19. She also spearheaded the implementation of strategies to provide guidance to all Kansas counties, including toolkits, webinars, templates, and financial reporting on ways to expend $1B in COVID-19 recovery funds.

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER FOR THE CITY OF GARDNER, KS

Ms. Harrison-Lee managed a leadership team tasked with municipal operations for a full-service city. She provided policy direction in areas such as economic development, quality of life, fiscal stewardship and infrastructure/asset management. She oversaw significant economic growth during her time in Gardner, positioning the city for more than $200 Million in economic development projects. These successes included a new Hilton Hotel, Justice Center, 700,000 square feet of industrial development plus more than 400 new single-family homes and more than 100 multi-family homes scheduled for construction.

Ms. Harrison-Lee developed a strategic plan resulting in the city receiving the Certificate of Excellence in Performance Management from the International City/County Management Association (ICMA). The ICMA awards this certificate to governmental entities that demonstrate a commitment to collecting, using, and sharing performance data to enhance transparency and continually improve their organizations and communities. This certificate is the highest level of recognition awarded.