Santa Fe's community development director to retire

May 3—Rich Brown came to Santa Fe to retire. Instead, he got a government job.

After 6 1/2 years with the city of Santa Fe, Brown will be retiring as director of the Community Development Department at the end of June. He announced the news last week at a budget hearing.

"As I approach my 65th birthday, I have made a decision to achieve my goal upon moving to Santa Fe and have announced to the city manager my retirement from the city effective June 30," Brown said April 23, adding he's "incredibly proud" of the work his team has accomplished.

Brown joined the city in 2018 as an economic development specialist and later was named economic development director. He has been the community development director since September of 2020. He came to Santa Fe from San Francisco, where he served as chapter executive at the city's Association for Corporate Growth and spent several decades working in the event marketing industry.

With most of his career in the private world, he said the transition to working in local government took some adjustment.

The private sector is "very driven by getting things done," Brown said. "The accountability committees and council reviews and policy reviews and legal reviews, that was very different for me."

Brown wears a lot of hats as director of the Community Development Department, which oversees the city's affordable housing, arts and culture, planning and land use, economic development and tourism departments.

Santa Fe's economy is heavily tourism-driven, a point that was brought up repeatedly during recent budget discussions. However, Brown is optimistic about the city's potential to become more diversified.

His work at the department was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which he said put some of the city's economic growth on a slower track. In the next several years, however, he expects to see the local outdoor, film and digital media, bioscience and health care industries continue to grow.

"There are a lot of industries that are here that are sort of incubating ... but we are definitely addressing those industry sectors so that we can balance and diversify the economy," he said.

One of the biggest hurdles is matching workforce development opportunities with the job market, Brown said, so Santa Fe residents have an opportunity to get good jobs in growing industries.

Housing and the rising cost of living are another challenge for the city's workforce, though Brown spoke optimistically about upcoming projects, such as affordable housing planned at the city-owned midtown campus on St. Michael's Drive and Las Estrellas, a northwest-side development.

"I think our responsibility and our first viewpoint [as the city] is how do we address the housing needs of citizens who live here, versus the ones who are coming here?" he said.

The biggest undertaking during Brown's tenure at the city has been the redevelopment of midtown, a former college campus. While he said it will be several more years before the development is "shovel ready," he said he's excited to see how things take shape.

"Midtown will come together," he said. "It's going to be a beautiful, amazing, innovative, great place."

Much of that work will be helmed by Karen Iverson, whom Brown hired in November to serve as the city's Midtown Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency director.

In an email, Iverson described Brown as "an inspirational leader" who empowers those he works for to find creative solutions.

"He skillfully guided the master planning process for Midtown based on a commitment to community engagement and equity," she wrote. "I wish I had the opportunity to work with him longer."

Alexandra Ladd, director of the city Office of Affordable Housing, also lauded Brown's work. She wrote in a email he "is a model of true professionalism, leading with level-headed thinking, tons of hard work, and quick recognition of his staff's accomplishments. His optimism shines brightly in all that he does."

Mayor Alan Webber said the city was "fortunate to get some extra years" out of Brown before he decided to retire for good. Webber praised Brown for his relationships with the local business community and for being a strong advocate for the city as a good economic partner.

"He's done as outstanding job," Webber said.

Brown said he's particularly proud of the work his team did during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to provide needed resources to people in Santa Fe. Looking to the future, he thinks the city has an opportunity to capitalize more on small businesses and the Hispanic immigrant community, as well as continued growth in industries primed for expansion.

"That's what I will be measuring my success on," he said. It's really not now, it's really in five years [from] now — will I see the things that I've been dreaming about, working on and staying up late and going to committee meetings about come to fruition?"

Following his departure from the city, Brown will split his time between Santa Fe and a second home in California, but he plans to spend most of his time here.

He said he will take about six months to decompress, but he's interested in exploring lots of pursuits.

"I've met so many people and worked with so many different people that the opportunity to continue that work as a volunteer or in a nonprofit or on my own terms is really exciting," he said.