A city manager’s travels abroad, a conversation with Peter Marshall

Posted by: on February 23rd, 2024

Today, I bring you Peter Marshall. Peter has a long and distinguished career as a city manager and consultant to local governments. Most notably, he was city manager at State College Pennsylvania for many years and before that, Newark, Delaware.

Peter and I have had many conversations over the years. He has so much to say about the field of city management, but today I bring you perhaps my favorite conversation and that is about his travels to other parts of the world to meet with other city managers and teach.

Marshall holds a Master’s Degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He has been a municipal manager in Michigan (6 years), Delaware (13 years), and Pennsylvania (22 years). In addition to municipal management, Marshall taught Public Administration, Labor Studies, Municipal Management, and Government at four universities. Marshall has also had extensive experience with local government officials in several foreign countries.

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Timestamps:

[00:00:22] Traveling during Northern Ireland troubles.

[00:08:25] Journey to Australia for work.

[00:19:05] Life in the Australian Outback.

[00:23:18] Experiences with Indigenous Australians

[00:25:38] Exchange with Christchurch, England

[00:26:15] International travels and conferences.

[00:31:20] A chance encounter.

[00:37:44] Japanese culture observations.

[00:39:12] Homestay with Japanese City Manager

[00:46:28] Teaching in Georgia (former Soviet Union).

[00:51:25] Academic exchange and learning.

[00:51:48] The Value of International Experiences for Managers

[00:53:42] Peter’s Takeaways from International Travels

About Nancy J. Hess

I help leaders pioneer extraordinary change through high engagement and whole systems approaches that focus on HR and People.