Jennifer Poirrier was appointed as the new assistant city manager, effective Oct. 1. Poirrier came to the city of Clearwater in August 2018 as human resources assistant director and quickly was promoted to human resources director. Prior to her time in Clearwater, she worked as human resources director at the city of Treasure Island for more than nine years.

Poirrier completed her Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Business/Human Resources at the University of South Florida and her Master of Business Administration in human resources at Florida Atlantic University. She is certified through the High Performance Leadership Academy, is a certified Professional in Human Resources, and is a member of the International City/County Management Association. In 2019, she was honored as a “2019 People First Honoree” by the Tampa Bay Business Journal.

Theron “TC” Colbert was appointed as the new Clearwater Gas System executive director and will begin employment Nov. 21. Colbert is a professional electrical engineer, licensed electrical contractor, and retired senior U.S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps Officer (Commander, O-5) with more than 30 years of experience in construction management and facilities maintenance and repair across the world. He comes to Clearwater from the Jacksonville area and has experience serving as founder and CEO of TRC Energy Engineering LLC, as an electric systems engineer for Jacksonville Electric Authorities, as commander of the Civil Engineer Corps of the U.S. Navy, among other roles.

Colbert completed a Master of Science degree in electrical and computer engineering, a Master of Engineering degree in civil engineering construction management, and a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering, all three from the University of Florida. He is a certified professional engineer (Florida and South Carolina), is a licensed electrical contractor by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulations, and is certified as a qualified commissioning process provider (QCxP) by the University of Wisconsin.

Billie Kirkpatrick was appointed as the new human resources director, effective Nov. 5. Kirkpatrick is a long-time city of Clearwater employee who moved up through the organization. She came to the Human Resources Department in May 2019, having served as Human Resources manager then promoting to assistant director. She has worked in the city’s information technology, parks and recreation, library and finance departments, serving in roles such as senior business system analyst, senior pension payroll analyst, administrative analyst, and others.

Kirkpatrick completed her Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from the University of South Florida. She is a certified Project Management Professional and a certified Professional in Human Resources.

Dr. Jaye Matthews was appointed as the new Community Redevelopment Agency director and will begin employment Dec. 5. In her previous role, Dr. Matthews served as operations officer and management director for the city of Baltimore’s Department of Housing and Community Development since 2019. Her previous experience includes serving as consultant and facilitator for XQ Institute in Oakland, Calif.; as executive director of OpenStreetMap in Washington, D.C.; as executive director of Stepping Stones Shelter in Rockville, Maryland; as a homelessness prevention rapid re-housing program administrator in Baltimore, Maryland, among other roles.

Dr. Matthews earned her Doctor of Business Administration in the field of Social Impact Management from Walden University in Minneapolis. She also completed her Master of Arts in Contemporary Communications with a focus on marketing and public relations from Notre Dame of Maryland University and a Bachelor of Science degree in biology/pre-med at the Morgan State University, both in Baltimore, Maryland. She holds an Executive Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy in Washington, D.C.