Brenda Eivens has served the city of Cedar Park for 20 years in various roles. She joined the city as the human resources coordinator in 1996, and in 2006 she was appointed city manager. In that time, she has seen the city’s population nearly quadruple, and Eivens has led city staff and worked with Cedar Park City Council to oversee the city’s response to its growth. She also teaches a graduate-level course in urban management each spring at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas. Due to her commitment to developing a new generation of public servants, Terrell Blodgett, a Mike Hogg professor emeritus in urban management in the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, nominated Eivens for the International City Management Association Award for Career Development. She was named in October as the recipient of the award, which honors a government manager contributing to the career development of public service talent.

Since you started working for the city 20 years ago, what qualities about the community have encouraged you to stay here? When I first came to the community it was at the beginning of Cedar Park’s first really big time experiencing a tremendous amount of growth. I really got to experience a lot of different elements of city organization. I came into the role as a human resources director, but because we were in a tremendous growth stage, a lot of times you’re wearing different hats. I would say definitely what keeps somebody engaged—whether it’s  [engaged in] the organization or the community itself—so much of it comes down to people. 

Cedar Park’s population has nearly quadrupled since 1996. What challenges has Cedar Park had to tackle, and what opportunities have risen because of that growth? I think the challenges at times have been the pace [of growth]—the growth has been tremendous, and it has really been constant. We’re having to keep up with services and provide services to the influx of people that are coming in, yet at the same time [we] really want to continue building that sense and feel of who you are as a community.

How do you see the next decade progressing? I think we’ll see more commercial development, and I also think, for Cedar Park, we’ll see more job opportunities in our community. ... I think we’ll continue working on who Cedar Park is and defining Cedar Park in our region, in our state, maybe even in our country. I say that because I think I’ve gotten to be part of an organization and a community that really does like to think big.

You were recently awarded for making a contribution to the career development of new public service talent. What was your reaction when you found out about the award? I was very surprised; I did not know that I had been nominated. It’s very humbling, because the ICMA is a very large organization, and it’s not only in the United States, but they’ve got presence from around the world. It’s really a great honor to be recognized out of all these people who are doing really great things in their communities. The fact that it was Terrell [who nominated me], that’s a really great honor.

According to the ICMA, only about 20 percent of professional local government managers are women. What has it been like for you to serve in this profession as a woman? Like other professions that were predominantly male professions, I don’t think it was uncommon to walk into a room for a big meeting, and you might be the only female in the room. I never felt uneasy about that. I think what was also interesting when I was appointed [as city manager], the city managers in the largest cities in Texas were all women. El Paso, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin—they all had female city managers when I was appointed, so when I hear the statistic later, I’m not sure my perception in that moment really [reflected] what the statistics were saying. ... But in terms of being in this role as female, I think what I have found that’s been sort of fun is other women in our community who didn’t know that the city manager was female; we would meet, and it’d be like, “Oh, great to know we’ve got a female in this role.” ... There was a camaraderie that would occur based on that, and I think being able to grow a network from that has been really rewarding and I’ve met a lot of really incredible people along the way.

You teach a graduate-level course in urban management each spring at UT. What are some lessons you hope to impart on students? Besides just exposing people to local government, [I hope to] expose them to the whole range of what we do as an organization and how the council-manager form of government works. Hopefully what they get from that is a respect and hopefully a passion for local government and what its impact is in communities. We like to tell people sometimes you get to celebrate, even indirectly, people’s best days. They got their certificate of occupancy to open their business, and that’s their dream. ... And sometimes people call you and it’s their worst day, and they’re calling because they need help. [It’s about] being in people’s lives, in some ways on a really personal level, and in some ways it’s just making the community a good place to be.