City of Charlottesville names Joshua Barr to chief prosperity officer post

Charlottesville City Manager Sam Sanders reshuffled his leadership team last year, recasting Ashley Marshall from having the job title deputy city manager for racial equity, diversity, and inclusion to being the city government’s chief prosperity officer.

Marshall left city government in February; on Tuesday, the city announced in a release that it has a new person in the prosperity post – Joshua Barr, the founder of a business consultancy that focused on the development of inclusive corporate, government and community cultures, and the former executive director of the Des Moines Civil & Human Rights Department.

Barr, a former attorney with a law degree from the University of South Carolina and an MBA from Penn State, will collaborate with the Office of Police Civilian Oversight Board, the Office of Human Rights, the ADA Coordinator’s Office and Home to Hope on city initiatives in the area of health and wellness, access and opportunity, and culture and history.

“I’m excited to join Charlottesville and get to know the community,” Barr said in a statement highlighted in the city release announcing his hiring.

“I’m looking forward to listening, learning, and working alongside residents and city staff to tackle the issues that affect people’s ability to move up the socioeconomic ladder and experience a greater quality of life. I’m particularly interested in understanding Charlottesville’s history and connecting that history to the opportunities and challenges we face today,” Barr said.

Sanders, who was named city manager in 2023 after having served for two years as the deputy city manager for operations, said Barr “brings the kind of experience and perspective we need as we continue looking for new ways to solve longstanding challenges in Charlottesville.”

“This role is about being willing to look at how we do things, ask hard questions, and try new approaches that create better outcomes for people. Joshua has a track record of taking big conversations and turning them into real action, and that is exactly what I want this work to be about. I’m excited to have him on the team and see where we can take this together,” Sanders said.