Town of Chapel Hill Appoints First Ombuds

The North Carolina town has named two full-time Ombuds: Faith Thompson and Jim Huegerich. Both are already municipal employees and will initially serve only employees before working with the community beginning in fall 2013.

Thompson is the town's Community Outreach Coordinator and recently led the town's public outreach campaign for the 2020 plan. she gradauted from Mills College, earned a JD from the University of San Francisco, and a master’s in Local Government from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Thompson also worked as the Assistant Dean for Development at UNC Chapel Hill. Jim Huegerich has served as Police Department’s crisis human services manager for 37 years. He graduated from Lawrence University and earned a master’s degree in education from UNC Chapel Hill.

Wayne Blair, the Ombuds at UNC had been serving as the town Ombuds for the past year.  (Raleigh News & Observer; LinkedIn; Town of Chapel Hill Press Release.)

Related posts: Town of Chapel Hill Explores Ombuds for Employees; Town of Chapel Hill Will Involve UNC Ombuds in Creating New Office;  Radio Interview of Ombuds at University of North Carolina.