CONTACTS:
Dean Katerndahl, Government Innovations Forum Director, deank@marc.org, 816/474-4240
Jody Ladd Craig, Public Affairs Director, jcraig@marc.org, 816/701-8241

MARC hires Green Impact Zone director
The Mid-America Regional Council, MARC, has hired Anita Maltbia as director of the Green Impact Zone initiative. She will begin work Aug. 3. She will oversee a staff responsible for implementing and coordinating a number of different initiatives in the zone, working with neighborhood leadership to coordinate programs and outreach in the zone, building partnerships with a wide range of stakeholders, and fiscal and program monitoring, evaluation, and reporting.

Maltbia brings to the position many years of management and community experience, including eight years as Assistant City Manager for the city of Kansas City, Mo. Her background in building effective relationships, designing and developing new programs and services, strategic planning, effective resource management and effective communication will allow her to work with the community to serve this distressed part of Kansas City.

Since retiring from the city in 2003, she has conducted training across the country on management, communications and cultural diversity issues. She is actively involved in the community as a member of the boards of several organizations, including the Metropolitan Community College Foundation Board and its Scholarship Committee, Kansas City Young Audiences, and Ambassadors for the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. In November 2006, Anita was recruited by County Executive Mike Sanders to assist Jackson County as a senior transition advisor, including work to reorganize the COMBAT program. Anita is completing her work with Jackson County as she joins MARC.

Maltbia will have office space at 600 Broadway, but efforts are underway to open a facility in the Green Impact Zone and locate several staff members in the community.

Maltbia, a native of Kansas City, Mo., holds a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism from the University of Kansas and a Master of Arts degree in public administration from Central Michigan University.

Maltbia worked 26½ years for the city of Kansas City, Mo., beginning her career as a member of the administration division of the Public Works Department, ultimately becoming head of that division, where she served seven years. In 1993, she was asked to step in as interim director of the Convention and Entertainment Centers Department which included overseeing the planning and execution of the grand opening of the 500,000 square foot expansion of Bartle Hall.

She held that position until January 1995, at which time she was appointed Assistant City Manager. Enterprise resource planning, a strategic plan for the inclusion of a diverse workforce, employee education and development, telecommunications, facility space allocation and usage, women and minority construction contractor training and a city-wide anti-litter campaign were among her strategy issues in the last five years of her tenure. She also chaired the Administrative Services Ethics Committee and the Affirmative Action/Equal Employment Opportunity Committee.

Maltbia has worked with students and young adults on life skills and career options for over 30 years. She is past president of the Greater Kansas City Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration, and served on the national board and as vice-chair of the Strategic Planning Committee of the National Forum for Black Public Administrators. Currently, she is a board member of High Aspirations, a mentoring program for young African American men.

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