Hopkinton Town Manager Not Offered Cambridge City Manager Position

HOPKINTON, MA - Hopkinton Town Manager Norman Khumalo was not selected by the Cambridge City Council to become Cambridge's next city manager after a 8-1 vote Monday night, meaning that he will retain his position in Hopkinton - at least for now.

This is the second municipal manager position for which Khumalo has been considered in about six weeks. He was one of three finalists for the position of City Manager in Watertown, but was not selected for that role last month.

He was bested for the Cambridge role in an 8-1 council vote by Yi-An Huang, a 15-year Cambridge resident who has three children in the Cambridge public school system, according to a release. Huang currently serves as the executive director of Boston Medical Center Hospital Clinical Operations.

Khumalo did not receive any votes from the nine Cambridge city councilors.

Also considered for the position were finalists Iram Farooq, who serves as assistant city manager for the Community Development Department in Cambridge, and Cheryl Watson Fisher, Chelsea’s city solicitor and a partner in the Cambridge based law firm Galluccio & Watson, LLP. Watson FIsher received a vote.

In a Harvard Crimson article, it was noted that his cover letter was "nearly identcial" to the one he submitted for the Watertown position, with slight changes in wording.

In his candidate questionnaire for Cambridge, Khumalo said he was “inspired by Cambridge’s commitment to addressing income inequality, social change, social justice, equity, and anti-racism.”

Khumalo is an Uxbridge resident who has served as Hopkinton's town manager since 2009. He previously worked as Westford's assistant town manager, where he also served as the interim town manager.

Khumalo also worked as the town planner in Wellesley and Walpole. He previously served as the transportation project manager at Elder Services of the Merrimack Valley and was Oxfam America's Africa regional manager and Southern Africa program coordinator in Boston. The native of Zimbabwe also was both the town planner and the senior town planner in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.