What Missoula’s Davis Learned at Harvard’s Program for New Mayors

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - New Missoula Mayor Andrea Davis spent most of last week at Harvard University attending the Program for New Mayors, the First 100 Days, where she interacted with government officials and new mayors from across the United States.

KGVO News caught up with Mayor Davis on Tuesday.

Mayor Andrea Davis Received Training for New Mayors at Harvard

“I was attending the program for new mayors The First 100 Days,” began Mayor Davis. “It is a program facilitated through the Bloomberg Center for Cities. Fortunately, it was entirely paid for; it was like a scholarship program.”

Davis described the topics the new mayors discussed as they navigated through the specialized training, facilitated by experts from Harvard and the Bloomberg Center for Cities.

The 'First 100 Days'  of Training Came at No Cost to the City of Missoula

“What are key challenges each of these incoming mayors are facing?” she asked. “What are the critical first moves of these mayors as they assume office and how would you evaluate these mayor's approach when building a team? What would you recommend them do or not do? These case studies varied quite a bit in terms of the particular situation that the new mayors came into. For instance, one person stepped into an absolute crisis management situation, whereas one person stepped into a very well run city and it was taking it from good to great for example,”

Davis said her circumstances were different from most of the other new mayors, as she is transitioning directly from the business world into being the chief executive of a city with a multi-million dollar budget.

Davis went Directly from the Business World into her New Role as Mayor

“Having transitioned so quickly, this was kind of an abnormal situation for us in Missoula since I started in November,” she said. “You know, I went right from the campaign and working in my career into the position of mayor. And like I said, it really is like stepping onto a moving train. I'm learning so much and that it’s essential to be hearing from our partners and our staff here about how things really operate and how things work.”

Davis was the CEO of Homeword in Missoula before being elected mayor of Missoula in November.

She succeeded the late John Engen, who served five terms as mayor before passing away at the age of 57 in his sixth term on August 15, 2022.