India Adams is a proud Mason alumna of the Schar School of Policy and Government, class of 2012. India matriculated at George Mason University in the fall of 2008 and was a student- athlete as a member of Mason’s Women’s Softball Team.
After graduating from George Mason with her B.S in Public Administration, she pursued her graduate studies at Virginia Tech. In 2014, she receivedher Master’s in Public Administration and a graduate certificate in local government management from Virginia Tech’s Center for Public Administration and Policy in 2015. During her time at Virginia Tech, she was selected to serve as Virginia Tech’s General Assembly Fellow with the President’s Office of Government Relations. The 1stAfrican-American to have served in this prestigious role. After answering the first call to public service with the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, India wanted to serve people at the closest level, which is local government. She was selected as the International City /County Manager Association (ICMA) Local Government Management Fellow. She then served as a Local Government Management Fellow in both Albemarle County, Virginia and the City of Tacoma, Washington.
During her tenure in the City Manager’s Office with the City of Tacoma, India led a number of community partnership and engagement efforts. To name a few, she successfully established the Tacoma Anchor Institutions initiative with the City’s higher education and medical institutions to increase collaboration among the city’s largest employers. She also established Tacoma’s Student Government Day program in collaboration with Tacoma Public Schools, which has now given hundreds of high school students the chance to visit City Hall, meet elected officials, city staff, learn about local government and most importantly showcase the vast opportunities to serve their communities through careers in local government. She also served as project manager for the City’s first T-Town City Services Expo, which showcased services from all 17 departments and engaged over 2,000 residents to learn more about city services and give their input on the biennial budgeting process.
India found her calling in local government administration, with a focus on economic development, performance management, and strategic planning. While her work has been varied, she primarily focused on special projects to overhaul the City’s Community and Economic Development Department’s web presence, integrate site selection tools, and establish performance measures as part of the City’s Results 253 performance dashboard. India successfully served as project manager leading the implementation of site selection and business analytics tools, to bring real-time accurate data to developers and the business community.
She also led a project in collaboration with The University of Washington’s Livable City Year initiative. For many years, the community, elected officials and city staff have asked, “what are we doing to attract millennials?”. Being a millennial herself, sought to offer some tangible solutions to answer this question. India’s proposal project titled: Business & Amenities Recruitment: A Millennial Perspective was selected by the University of Washington’s faculty and City Manager to study. In collaboration with the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Policy and Governance, her and the academic team worked to answer this question. The work culminated in a report to provide recommendations to the City. This study served as a guide for the Community and Economic Development Department to begin targeting these amenities and strategies in the short- and long-term recruitment and retention efforts.
Through her leadership and passion for local government, she quickly rose as a Management Analyst with the City Manager’s Office and Community and Economic Development. Due to her vast experience serving the third largest city in the State of Washington, she amassed the qualifications and experience necessary to be prepared to serve in City Management. In 2018, she accepted a position with the City of Delray Beach, Florida as an Assistant to the City Manager and became an Assistant City Manager at the age of 28. Seeking to make additional impact, she now serves as Director of Economic Opportunity and Strategic Planning at Thrive Delray, a community wealth building nonprofit. A proven leader, with higher education, state, and local government experience in the states of Florida, Washington and Virginia. As an Assistant City Manager, she has proven to be a high-performing, visionary, strategic, pro-active, and enthusiastic leader. After nearly five years away from the Commonwealth of Virginia, India is bringing her talents home to serve and make an impact in another community, serving as the Assistant to the City Manager with the City of Petersburg, Virginia.
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