The City Manager Innovation Council, a new, national program from Governing and the Center for Digital Government, is designed to help city managers deliver better outcomes for the communities they serve.

City managers occupy a uniquely powerful position in local government, responsible for overseeing departments, budgets, procurement, and staff to ensure that policy translates into services residents actually experience. Faced with challenges ranging from homelessness to the need to deliver services more efficiently, that role has never been more complex or more consequential. This Council was created to directly address those issues.

The City Manager Innovation Council provides city managers with a trusted space to collaborate on the intersection of policy, innovation, and community outcomes:

• Workforce development and retention in a changing environment
• Economic development, smart city programs, and long-term growth
• The role of artificial intelligence in city operations and constituent services
• Efficiency and procurement strategies that deliver measurable outcomes
• Cross-departmental collaboration and governance models 
• Data strategy, cybersecurity, and trusted digital infrastructure

The Council is open to city managers from municipalities across the nation. A limited number of Council Partner seats are available to private-sector organizations seeking to shape actionable strategies, inform best practices, and support smarter, more secure technology decisions across cities nationwide.

Designed as a robust, year-long peer networking program, the Council convenes in person at the City Manager Innovation Summit in Q4 2026. Throughout the year, four virtual Council meetings sustain the momentum and extend the conversation. The collective insights and emerging themes from those conversations are captured in a thought leadership paper published on governing.com and shared with city leaders nationwide.