In a special meeting on Thursday, April 26, the Las Cruces City Council voted unanimously to name William F. Studer, Jr. Interim City Manager to replace Stuart C. Ed who resigned on Monday. Studer served as Assistant City Manager/Chief Administrative Officer since April 3, 2017. Prior to beginning service with the City of Las Cruces, Studer served as Executive Director of the Economic Development Corporation for the Town of Horizon City, Texas and as the City Administrator of the newly incorporated City of San Elizario, Texas.
Other previous experience includes Deputy City Manager with the City of El Paso, Texas from November 2004 to May 2014, where he provided strategic oversight and management accountability for major operational groups and departments within the city organization, involving more than 2,000 employees and combined budgets exceeding $200 million. They included El Paso’s police, fire, financial services, budget, tax, human resources, internal audit, information technology, city clerk, fleet services, airport, community development, economic development, library, municipal court, museums, planning and inspections, zoo and parks departments. He worked with the city manager and budget office to reduce the city’s budget by $8 million to offset expected revenue shortfalls in the 2004/2005 budget.
Other professional experience includes:
- Deputy City Manager, City of Arlington, Texas from July 1988 to July 2003.
- Director, Management Services Department, City of Arlington, Texas from June 1983 to July 1988.
- Office of Budget and Research City of Dallas, Texas from October 1978 to June 1983.
Education
- University of Texas at El Paso El Paso, Texas May 1972
Bachelor of Arts, Political Science - University of North Texas Denton, Texas 1977-1979
Completed coursework requirements for Master of Public Administration - John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Graduate of Program for Senior Executives of State and Local Government. June 1989
Replacing Studer as Assistant City Manager/Chief Administrative Office on an interim basis is Barbara DeLeon. She joined the City of Las Cruces in 2010 with an extensive analytical background in both the technology and healthcare business sectors.
As Senior Management Analyst, she was successful in developing process improvements and evaluating program effectiveness for the City’s operating departments, in addition to administering the City’s strategic planning efforts. In 2016, DeLeon served as the Project Manager for the City-wide reimplementation of the Munis ERP system and in 2017 she was promoted to Chief of Staff with responsibility for policy development, performance management, system evaluation, and community outreach. She has also served as the Interim Deputy Finance Director.
DeLeon is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin with a BBA and MBA in Finance.