Raleigh Names 'Smart City' Manager in Office of Strategy and Innovation
The City of Raleigh has named John Holden as its first Smart City Manager. In this newly created position, he will play a critical role in building the Smart Raleigh Program which will strategically utilize technology to bring efficiencies, enhance effectiveness of services for the public, and develop public/private pilot opportunities.
Holden will join the Office of Strategy and Innovation (OSI), created in December 2021. OSI leads citywide strategy and transformative projects by thinking boldly, working collaboratively, and empowering employees and community members to tackle the City of Raleigh’s biggest challenges.
“We are a team of bold thinkers who thrive on creating impact and Mr. Holden’s passion for utilizing technology for public good will be a great addition,” said Strategy and Innovation Manager Dr. Heather McDougall.
Holden has three decades of hands-on experience in local and regional economic development. Most recently he was the Director of Economic Development and Tourism in Stafford County, Va., where he helped implement the county’s economic and tourism strategy. He guided his department through the rebranding of their marketing strategy and helped encourage the investment of more than three million square feet of new industrial, distribution, and flex space. Holden was a founding member of the Virginia Smart Community Testbed that is focused on the deployment of smart-city technologies. He added an entrepreneurial angle which attracted two new technology companies to Stafford and deployed several new technologies across Virginia.
“I am eager and excited to join OSI, Heather, and her team, and the City of Raleigh to help implement and continually innovate the delivery of City services to its citizens,” said Holden. “My first order of importance will be to listen and understand the challenges and opportunities the City has and to infuse new technologies into what is already one of the best cities in the US to live and grow a business and then ask, ‘What’s next’ and help deliver it.”
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