Chief of Staff - Dr. Leah Davis

Dr. G. H. Davis is the Chief of Staff and Advisor to CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson, DeKalb County, Georgia.  In this role, Leah is responsible for executing the vision, policies, and public priorities of the CEO. She also assists with departmental oversight, the execution of special projects, policy and legislation, constituent services, and oversees staff. She represents the CEO at internal and external meetings and events. Leah is the liaison to the Board of Commissioners, County departments, governmental agencies, constituents, and citizen groups. Leah was the Chief of Staff and Advisor to Lorraine Cochran-Johnson for over 5 years while she was Commissioner of Super District 7, serving over 375,000 constituents. As part of her responsibilities, Leah managed over $6 million in federal American Rescue Plan, CARES Act, and discretionary grant funds. She drafted policy and legislation, managed internal and external relationships and partnerships, and executed the Commissioner's strategies for economic development, transportation and infrastructure, affordable housing, and green initiatives.

Most recently, Leah was a federal program officer at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), U.S. Dept. of Commerce where she managed a portfolio of over $51 million dollars in federal funds. Prior to this role, she was a contractor and grant evaluator for the Connecting Minority Communities Pilot Program funded by NTIA. Leah was also a contractor with ASR Analytics on the federal evaluation of the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, also funded by NTIA. Leah was a senior analyst in the Office of Performance and Accountability (OPA) at the City of Atlanta's (COA) Dept. of Watershed Management (DWM). She was responsible for data collection and analysis, assisting with data analytics submitted to the COA Mayor, writing reports submitted to the OPA Director and DWM Commissioner, internal investigations, audit follow-up, as well as attending legislative meetings at City Hall. Leah led special projects, including the Workforce Policy Review, Damage Cost Recovery Review and process improvement for permitting in DWM. She received the Commissioner's Award for her hard work and service.

Awarded a Health Administration Fellowship through the National Association of Community Health Centers, Leah was placed at a mid-size healthcare system in Illinois. Upon completing her fellowship, she was hired as a healthcare executive and was responsible for directing the managed care department where she secured contracts with major insurance companies for the hospital, physician-hospital organization, and 12 health centers. Leah wrote and implemented organizational policies, trained physicians and staff, assisted in the acquisition of physician offices, served as an interim health center manager, served as the interim HR manager, and managed case management and transportation programs under a federal grant that she assisted in writing. Leah received her Ph.D. in Public Affairs from Indiana University Bloomington (IUB) where she completed majors in Public Management and Policy Analysis from the School of Public & Environmental Affairs (SPEA) and a minor in Information Science from the School of Library and Information Science (SUS). She was the first recipient of the Phillip E. Rutledge Fellowship in SPEA, awarded a GAANN Dissertation Fellowship in SUS, and recognized for her service with the Groups Scholars Program for first-generation students where she developed its first STEM program. She holds a M.P.A. with a concentration in Health Administration from Auburn University and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Georgia. Leah is a public servant and minister-in-training. She is a published scholar who maintains an active research agenda with a focus on public management networks, social networks, governance, federalism, and mixed methods."