Hanna Pickering will be Portland’s next director of IT while Lena Geraghty will be its first-ever director of innovation and performance management, the latter pending a city council vote on Monday. Both will be part of Portland’s leadership team. City Manager Jon Jennings made the announcements via press release early Friday, and both new hires are expected to start work on March 25.
“I’m delighted to welcome Hanna and Lena to the City of Portland team,” Jennings said in a statement. “We performed an extensive search to find the right people for these positions because they will play such a critical role in our work to make government more efficient and to ensure our outcomes lead to improved quality of life. I’m impressed with the level of expertise we were able to attract with Hanna and Lena. They will work closely with our Director of Communications, and across all departments, to finalize and achieve our innovation agenda.”
Pickering, who will manage the entirety of the IT department while also planning new IT initiatives, has a background in IT consulting for private companies and county governments. She has previously held IT leadership positions with Cerner and Systems Engineering, Central Maine Healthcare and Stone Coast Fund Services. She holds a master’s degree from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.
Geraghty’s role as Portland’s first director of innovation and performance management will see her leading and executing ongoing and new smart city work, as well as other projects. Her most recent position was with Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Government Excellence (GovEx). In that capacity, Geraghty has experience working with more than 30 municipal governments across the globe, supporting their efforts as part of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ What Works Cities initiative. She holds a master’s degree in public administration from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
