
Brian Platt
City Manager
Kansas City, MO
As City Manager of Kansas City, Brian Platt leads 4,500 employees who deliver essential city services to KCMO’s 509,000 residents.
When Platt started working in December 2020, he was immediately faced with the challenge of fighting a pandemic while still delivering basic services with a shrinking budget. He tackled that challenge by finding solutions that worked for Kansas City and its residents.
Platt’s successes so far include:
Crafted four balanced budgets that avoided pandemic layoffs, maintained essential services, and invested in critical areas such as housing, homelessness, snow removal, and equity.
Created a more aggressive, 24-hour snow removal strategy, adding plows for residential streets and increasing salting.
Developed a new street maintenance plan that doubles funding for street resurfacing, uses better technology, and holds contractors accountable when they dig into streets.
Launched the Vision Zero Campaign, with the goal of eliminating traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2030 by improving high-risk intersections and adding 30 miles of protected bike lanes.
Creating programs to produce more affordable housing and to address homelessness including Zero KC.
Building a more inclusive workplace by creating the Chief Equity Officer position, installing all-gender bathrooms, negotiating a new KCFD union contract that works to end past discriminatory practices, and investing in staff training, recruitment, and development.
Negotiating contracts to build the largest city-owned solar farm in the country.
Continually developing new sustainability initiatives to reduce waste, energy usage, and dependence on fossil fuels.
Finding new ways to leverage technology to improve city services.
Opened the new Kansas City International Airport terminal on time and on budget.
Platt previously served as City Manager for Jersey City, New Jersey. He has served as Jersey City's first Chief Innovation Officer and established the City's Office of Innovation in 2015. His previous work experience includes management consulting with McKinsey & Company and serving as a kindergarten teacher with Teach for America. Mr. Platt earned his Master of Public Administration Degree at Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy at Emory University.
You can follow the City Manager on Twitter and Instagram @BrianDavidPlatt.