Mayor's office announces more director-level hires

Mayor Freddie O'Connell on Friday announced two more director-level hires as his new administration continues to grow.

Watechia Lawless is joining the mayor's office as director of child and youth initiatives. For the past year-and-a-half, Lawless has been a community superintendent for Hamilton County Schools.

Prior to moving to Chattanooga she was executive principal at Napier Elementary School, where she oversaw the school's turnaround from among the state's lowest-performing to a "reward school." Napier was in O'Connell's Metro Council district prior to his election as mayor earlier this year.

Lawless has a bachelor's degree from Spelman College, an MBA from Belmont University, an M.Ed. from Vanderbilt University and an Ed.D. from Lipscomb University.

O'Connell also announced the appointment of Clifton Peay as director of performance management. Peay has spent the past seven years working for the state of Tennessee, most recently as director of customer-focused government, the state's internal consulting office.

He has previously worked for KPMG, McCalla Raymer Pierce and Bear Stearns & Company and was senior finance manager for the city of Atlanta.

Peay has a bachelor's degree from Morehouse College, a master's in information systems from Virginia Commonwealth University and and MBA from Georgia Tech.

This story was first published by our sister publication Nashville Post.