Today, Mayor G.T. Bynum announced James Wagner will serve as the Director of the City’s Working In Neighborhoods (WIN) Department effective immediately.
Wagner, the current Finance Director for the City of Tulsa, is assuming the WIN role following the passing of longtime City of Tulsa employee and former WIN Director Dwain Midget. Wagner will also serve as the interim Finance Director while the City follows its process to fill the Finance Director position.
“James Wagner is one of the finest public servants I have ever had the good fortune to work with, and I am excited for the future of the Working In Neighborhoods Department with him at the helm. James served as the City’s Finance Director through some of the greatest challenges the Tulsa municipal government has ever faced in its 124-year history, and he leaves that role with the City government enjoying unprecedented cash reserves, a balanced budget, and a well-funded pension program in place.
“And while he has been a strong leader in the world of high finance, James has always been uniquely passionate about community building at the grassroots level. He will be able to combine those areas of expertise in this new role as the Director of Working In Neighborhoods. I am grateful for his desire to serve in this new capacity, and for Chief Administrative Officer Keri Fothergill’s service as Interim Director since the passing of a legendary public servant, Dwain Midget,” Mayor Bynum said.
As director, Wagner will continue WIN’s focus on housing, neighborhood investigations, and the strategic management and operations of the City’s Tulsa Animal Welfare shelter. The WIN Department has 83 employees and handles approximately 22,000 code enforcement cases annually.
“I am honored to have the opportunity to serve Tulsans in a more direct way by improving neighborhoods with a team of dedicated public servants,” Wagner said. “Working in Neighborhoods plays an important role in creating and maintaining neighborhoods we all want to live in and belong to. In the coming years we’ll have an opportunity to build a new animal shelter and renew a vision for supporting flourishing neighborhoods that make Tulsa one of the best places in America to call home.”
Prior to serving as the City’s Finance Director since February of 2019, Wagner served as the City’s Chief of Performance, Strategy and Innovation, proving instrumental in creating Tulsa’s first performance management system and TulStat (a data focused program to improve services). Wagner created a program called the Civic Innovation Fellowship focused on improving effectiveness of addressing nuisance code violations and received international recognition for his role in creating Urban Data Pioneers, a program focused on partnering with residents to perform data analysis.
Prior to his role with the City of Tulsa, Wagner worked for the Indian Nations Council of Governments (INCOG) as a Principal Planner and was responsible for planning the AERO Peoria Bus Rapid Transit line operated by Tulsa Transit. Wagner also served as an Adjunct Professor for the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa’s urban design program.
Wagner currently participates in the Bloomberg City Data Alliance and Harvard City Leadership Initiative focused on improving the use of data to inform decisions in local government and reform procurement practices to achieve better results. He was also a participant in the Results for America Local Government Fellows Program.
Wagner is a Tulsa native and holds a Master of Civil Engineering and Master of City & Regional Planning from Georgia Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Science in Finance, Magna Cum Laude, from Oklahoma State University. He also holds a professional certification with the American Institute of Certified Planners.
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