Leadership Briefing: Dallas City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert
Dallas's Path to Global Excellence
Leadership Briefing | Event Date: June 23, 2025
Dallas City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert outlined a compelling vision for transforming Dallas into a model of urban governance during NDCC's Leadership Briefing on June 23. Her strategic priorities focus on infrastructure modernization, public safety expansion, and economic development transformation, designed to position Dallas as a global leader.
Tolbert emphasized that Dallas has the scale, talent, and foundation for inclusive growth, but achieving global excellence requires intentional actions and strong partnerships between the city and business community. Her approach centers on three core principles: better connection, collaboration, and communication across all city operations and stakeholder relationships.
Key Takeaways
Connected Community Vision: The city manager's primary goal focuses on creating stronger connections between Dallas neighborhoods and communities to build a unified, thriving city
Economic Development Shift: The city is transitioning from project-by-project economic development to place-based, people-centered approaches focused on workforce development
Public Safety Progress: The city has achieved its highest sworn police officer strength since the pandemic with over 3,200 officers, while violent crime has decreased for the fourth consecutive year by 14%
Priority-Based Budgeting: Dallas is implementing a new budgeting approach that aligns resources directly with resident priorities and measurable outcomes, moving away from incremental spending
Partnership Focus: Success requires collaboration between government, business, nonprofit, and philanthropic communities working toward shared objectives
Strategic Vision for Urban Excellence
Since taking on the permanent role in January 2025, Tolbert has focused on shifting the city's approach from bureaucratic processes to one with greater urgency and customer-centric service delivery. She outlined her commitment to being a service-first organization that prioritizes efficiency while maintaining the city's competitive advantage.
This transformation recognizes that many residents and businesses had lost hope because they didn't see City Hall working effectively for them. The city now has a unique opportunity to redefine trust through greater accountability and customer-focused service delivery.
Implementation Strategy: Infrastructure and Safety Foundation
Building on this strategic vision, Tolbert outlined how infrastructure modernization and public safety form the foundation for Dallas's transformation. The 2024 bond program addresses significant unmet needs, but future funding strategies must extend beyond traditional bond programs to meet growing demands.
Public safety remains central to this foundation, with Dallas currently maintaining its highest number of sworn officers since the pandemic began. The focus extends beyond hiring numbers to creating sustainable public safety careers through better support systems and community connections. This comprehensive approach has contributed to a decrease in violent crime for four consecutive years.
Specific Initiatives: Economic Development and Budget Reform
Tolbert outlined specific initiatives that will drive Dallas's transformation. The city is implementing a fundamental shift in its economic development approach, moving from a transaction-focused, project-by-project mindset to a place-based, people-centered strategy. This transformation emphasizes workforce development, talent pipeline growth, and small business ecosystem health alongside continued investment in historically under-championed areas.
The new strategy focuses on reducing disparities while building a comprehensive economic development ecosystem. Rather than competing for individual projects, the approach emphasizes creating conditions for sustained economic growth across all areas of the city.
Supporting these economic development efforts, priority-based budgeting represents a significant shift from traditional incremental budgeting approaches toward aligning resources with resident priorities and program effectiveness. This approach evaluates which programs deliver positive outcomes and meaningful impact, allowing programs that don't meet these standards to fall to lower priority levels.
Housing affordability represents another critical initiative that Tolbert positioned as workforce, business, and public safety issues rather than isolated housing concerns. The Streets to Home Initiative, launched in 2024, exemplifies the comprehensive, coordinated approach required to address complex urban challenges.
Partnership for Excellence
Tolbert concluded by emphasizing that the city will never have sufficient resources to accomplish its ambitious goals alone. The success of Dallas's transformation relies on partnerships among various governmental entities, the nonprofit community, philanthropic organizations, and business leaders working in alignment toward shared objectives.
The city manager welcomed feedback, ideas, and accountability from the business community while positioning Dallas to compete globally as it prepares for the FIFA 2026 World Cup. Her message resonated clearly: building a city that works for everyone requires collaborative effort from all stakeholders. The foundation exists, the vision is clear, and the opportunity to achieve transformational change is immediate.
Speaker Information
Kimberly Bizor Tolbert serves as Dallas City Manager, appointed to the permanent role in January 2025 after serving as interim city manager. She brings extensive experience in public administration and has been with the City of Dallas since 1993. Connect with her insights on municipal leadership through the City of Dallas official communications.
Event Sponsors
Haynes and Boone | Southwest Airlines | Cowles Thompson | Dallas College | DART