Newport To Offer City Manager Job To Navy Commander

NEWPORT, RI — The Newport City Council has offered the open city manager job to Colin Kennedy, an active duty commander in the U.S. Navy, currently serving in Newport.

City officials said the council will hold a special meeting immediately following its regular monthly session at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, to disclose votes taken in executive session on the remaining candidates for city manager and the consideration and approval of the employment agreement for the appointment of Kennedy. The meeting, which is open to the public, will take place in the second floor city council chamber.

The vote is expected to conclude a months-long search process that attracted more than two dozen candidates from across the country interested in serving as Newport's top executive. Over the course of the recruitment process, which concluded in January, the city received 27 applicants from 13 states.

A screening committee made up of local and state officials, including Middletown Town Administrator Sean Brown, former Warren Town Manager Kate Michaud, and Ernie Almonte, the former Rhode Island auditor general and current executive director of the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns, were tasked with reviewing the applications before passing along 10 applicants to the Newport City Council for final review. Of that applicant pool, the council selected five top candidates for remote interviews held via Zoom in early April.

After the final interview on April 8, the council invited their two top candidates to a second round of in-person interviews held on April 20. On April 24, the council voted in an executive session to extend a formal offer to Kennedy.

A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy with a concentration in oceanography, Kennedy has over two decades of executive-level management expertise as an officer in the U.S. Navy, city officials said. Kennedy holds two master's degrees, one in public administration from the University of Oklahoma and another in national security and strategic strategies from the Naval War College in Newport.

City officials said Kenney's career accomplishments include a track record of spearheading large strategic initiatives, leading large, diverse teams, managing complex budgets, and fostering collaborative partnerships. He currently serves as the chief executive officer of the Navy Reserve Center Newport and, before that, was director of travel for the Navy Reserve Forces Command, where he had oversight of logistics for the activation and movement of 50,000 reservists.

In addition to his administrative service, Kennedy served on four warships and deployed five times in support of combat operations, United Nations Security Council resolutions, and theater security cooperation with allied navies.

Have a news tip? Email jimmy.bentley@patch.com.