City of Sandy Springs

Purpose Driven Innovation in the Public Sector

Bringing private sector discipline to public service requires both a mindset shift and a clear sense of purpose. I joined the City of Sandy Springs in January 2025 after a career spent entirely in the private sector. Many of the challenges faced are the same – doing more with less, reducing technical debt, improving the customer experience, and modernizing services, but the outcomes are different. Residents do not care about EBITDA, they care if their streets are safe, the potholes are filled, or if they can get a permit quickly.

I see my role as a partnership in innovation. That might mean a small project, like helping Finance better mange vendor information, or a larger one, like using AI to create council meeting minutes, or deploying GovAI to all Staff. The goal is the same: manage change thoughtfully, make things easier through technology, and give people back time to better serve our residents.

That clarity of purpose also shapes how he thinks about the technology trends competing for attention in the public sector right now. There is a gap between the trend I wish we had and the trend we actually have. The trend is “AI, AI, AI”, everywhere. ‘They’re using AI over there! We should use AI for that! Can’t you just throw AI at it?’ Not a day goes by that I don’t get asked to check out some new AI tool, and most of them have been a waste of time.

What I wish were on trend is the boring stuff: process documentation, data quality, standardization over customization. “How you do anything is how you everything.” Those fundamentals are the real enablers of AI and analytics. Focus on these trends are the enablers of technology like AI. Sloppy data and ad-hoc processes are why all organizations struggle to realize meaningful value from AI.

“Sloppy data and adhoc processes are why all organizations struggle to realize meaningful value from AI.”

Trust, Transparency and the Leadership of Change

We’re about to launch a chatbot on our public website and it’s been a real balancing act between innovation, privacy, governance and public trust. Having a cross-functional team and clear leadership endorsement has been critical. With both in place, we could adapt quickly to testing results, refining behavior from the chatbot, and implement changes without losing sight of risk and trust.

Our governance policies were in place, but the chatbot has been a good stress test. It pushed us to further define a response plan if its behavior drifts or accuracy degrades, and to work closely with the vendor on monitoring and controls. The lessons we’ve learned here are now shaping how we design and govern future data-driven projects. That same principle of earned trust extends to how he leads teams through the uncertainty of digital transformation. Communication and transparency matter most to me. I can’t always tell the team everything, but I can be clear about why the change is necessary, the timeline, expectations, and why it matters to the organization and to them. That alone reduces uncertainty and cuts down on the rumor mill.

The same applies to larger cross-functional projects. The City is currently evaluating solutions to upgrade its Asset and Work Order Management platform and add a CRM. We interviewed stakeholders from every department; they have been involved in every step. The positive feedback I’ve received on how this project is being managed comes down that: that people feel informed and included rather than surprised. For those building careers in this space, the lessons from public sector leadership point to a clear and perhaps unexpected set of priorities. The technology changes fast and so do the skills you need as you take on more responsibility and visibility as a leader. Your technology expertise is what likely got you promoted, but what separates you as a leader is your willingness to learn the business more than the next tool. Understanding what a PCI score is, why matters to Public Works, how it degrades over time, and how that should shape an AI model is more important than knowing you’ll use Databricks to move data to Snowflake and run a recurrent neural network. No one above you cares how elegant the solution is, they care that it works and saves time or improves service.

My other advice is to challenge yourself constantly. Many of us in data and AI are introverts, you must push yourself to build relationships. Challenge yourself to keep learning, because AI is now part of the toolkit for the next generation of developers and leaders. Lastly, challenge yourself to be humble. Yes, you’re a leader, but treat those on your team as more important than yourself. Because if you do that, there are no limits to what you will accomplish.