Orange County NC Website
RAFTELIS 4 <br /> <br />Catherine Tuck Parrish <br />PRACTICE LEADER/RECRUITER <br />Senior Vice President <br /> <br />PROFILE <br />Catherine leads our executive services practice area that addresses workforce <br />issues through executive recruitment, coaching for local government leaders, <br />and facilitating performance evaluations for council/board appointees. She <br />has over 30 years of management experience working for local governments <br />of all sizes and a nonprofit association. Catherine has conducted hundreds of <br />searches for manager/administrator, general manager/executive director, <br />deputy/assistant manager, police chief, fire chief, and directors of public <br />works, planning, economic development, finance, human resources, <br />information technology, human services, and other key positions in local <br />governments across the country. <br /> <br />In addition to executive recruitment, she has facilitated numerous governing <br />body workshops, staff retreats, and strategic planning sessions. Her work as a <br />consultant includes project management and contributions to several local <br />government projects, such as process improvement studies, departmental <br />assessments, planning and permitting process reviews, and policy <br />development. <br /> <br />Catherine’s most recent local government experience was as deputy city <br />manager in Rockville, Maryland, where she oversaw parks and recreation, <br />human resources, information technology, finance, neighborhood resources <br />(citizen engagement), communications, customer service, and <br />intergovernmental functions. She also served as acting city manager in <br />Rockville for nearly a year. Before joining Rockville, Catherine served as <br />assistant to the county executive in Fairfax County, Virginia, working on <br />change management issues, including a new pay system, employee <br />engagement, and internal communication improvements. Catherine has <br />served as an ethics advisor at the International City/County Management <br />Association (ICMA), counseling elected officials and citizen groups regarding <br />employment agreements, forms of government issues, and recruitment. She <br />also worked for the City of Denton, Texas. <br /> <br />Catherine chaired the ICMA’s Acting Manager Task Force, which produced <br />a handbook for interim managers. She also led the Maryland City/County <br />Management Association (MCCMA) as president and vice president. She served as president, vice president, and <br />secretary of the Metropolitan Association of Local Government Assistants in the Washington, D.C., metro area. <br />Catherine has spoken at national and state conferences on a variety of topics, including workforce and recruitment <br />trends, civility, effective councils, ethics, forms of government, human resources, strategic planning, budget <br />strategies, developing high-performing organizations, and leadership. She has also spoken at the National League of <br />Cities’ Leadership Training Institute on recruiting and evaluating the CEO. Catherine is a certified instructor of the <br />Myers-Briggs Type Indicator instrument. <br />Specialties <br />•Executive search <br />•Strategic planning <br />•Facilitation <br />•Strategy development and <br />implementation <br />•Facilitated evaluations <br />•Coaching <br />•Community and employee <br />engagement <br />Professional History <br />•Raftelis: Senior Vice President <br />(2025-present); Vice President <br />(2021-present); Senior Manager <br />(2020-2021); Executive Search <br />Practice Leader, The Novak <br />Consulting Group (2010-2020) <br />•Management Partners: Senior <br />Manager (2009-2010) <br />•City of Rockville, Maryland: Deputy <br />City Manager/Acting City Manager/ <br />Assistant City Manager (2001-2009) <br />•Fairfax County, Virginia: Assistant to <br />the County Executive (1998 -2001) <br />•ICMA: Ethics Advisor/ Senior Local <br />Government Programs Manager <br />(1994-1998) <br />•City of Denton, Texas: <br />Administrative Assistant to the City <br />Manager (1990-1994) <br />Education <br />•Master of Public Administration – <br />University of Kansas (1990) <br />•Bachelor of Arts in Communication <br />Studies/Personnel Administration – <br />University of Kansas (1988) <br />Professional Memberships <br />•International City/County <br />Management Association (ICMA) <br />•Engaging Local Government <br />Leaders (ELGL) <br />•Maryland City/County Management <br />Association (MCCMA) <br />Docusign Envelope ID: D4801E72-97C0-85C1-81EB-4799A225EC0B