GovLove - A Podcast About Local Government · Engaging Local Government Leaders (ELGL)

Leading ICMA and the Roots of Professional Government with Julia Novak, ICMA

·49 min·1 clip

Julian Novak just became ICMA CEO in February 2025, after 20 years in consulting and previous city manager roles.

Tampa gets things moving. Ben Kittleson opens from the 2025 ICMA conference with GovLove's usual mix of association updates, easy familiarity, and local government shop talk. Julia Novak is introduced as ICMA's CEO and executive director, and the conversation starts with the new role and the association's work. It does not rush past the leadership piece. It spends time on the nuts and bolts behind professional government support, which is where the episode gets interesting. Funding is the pressure point. ICMA's international work comes through as technical expertise in real operating settings, including civil society work and solid waste management in developing countries. Baghdad comes up directly. The example is not dressed up as a slogan. It is one part of a consulting model tied to USAID work. Then the cuts get specific. ICMA lost USAID-related and consulting revenue that had helped pay for overhead and member services, while also supporting people in country programs. More than 40 people in different countries were laid off, along with headquarters staff tied to those programs. The effects moved inward too. With fewer contracts, ICMA needed fewer people in finance, IT, HR, and other support functions. ICMA is down 21 people overall. That number sits next to more uncertainty around federal programs, including Department of Energy funds and veterans program funding from the Defense Department. Private foundation money still exists. Gates Foundation support, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation support, and other private foundation money come up, but the larger picture is still shaky. The local government comparison lands cleanly. A grant can start a useful program, but when it goes away, someone has to decide whether the work can survive on different money. ICMA closed a $3 million budget gap. The episode ends back in Tampa, with GovLove's 10-year milestone and hotline folded into the close.

As heard by us

A grounded look at how ICMA's leadership, international work, and funding pressures shape professional local government.

ICMA's CEO and Executive Director comes to the 2025 conference in Tampa with a practical question at the center of the conversation: how does professional local government work hold steady when its funding base changes?

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Why you'd press play

Want to hear ICMA's new CEO talk through a $3 million budget gap and the grant fallout behind it?

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