An apartment complex under construction at 2141 S. Broadway in Denver in September 2021. (BusinessDen file)
Seven months after taking office, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston has announced his pick to lead the city’s Community Planning and Development Department.
Johnston announced the nomination of Manish Kumar, who has a background in engineering and residential construction, on Thursday. He is expected to begin work in the new job in April, pending approval by the City Council.
The department’s previous executive director, Laura Aldrete, stepped down in August.
Community Planning and Development reviews plans for new developments and handles the permitting process, a regular source of ire for business owners that say reviews take too long and cause delays. It was one of the last department head jobs Johnston had yet to fill since becoming mayor in July.
“As a Denver local and veteran community planning expert with uniquely diverse experience, Manish understands what it takes to provide great customer service and deliver world-class projects for our city,” Johnston said in a statement.
Manish Kumar
The Mayor’s Office said in a news release and subsequent email that Kumar served as a U.S. diplomat assigned to the infrastructure backstop, “which focuses on building a foundation for economic growth and sustainable development.” He also worked as an engineer in training in the construction and traffic safety units of the Colorado Department of Transportation, and in a role related to the Regional Transportation District’s FasTracks initiative, which has brought light and commuter rail to the region and generally expanded public transportation.
“He worked on the team that was responsible for ensuring any issues that could potentially halt FastTracks was resolved asap as they had a $1.8m/day burn rate at that time,” mayoral spokeswoman Alex Rentaria said in an email. “This included permitting, zoning, working with other governmental agencies, etc.”
Kumar also runs LHI Development Group. The company was founded in 2006 and lists several single-family home construction and renovation projects among its portfolio on its website.
Manish has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder, a master’s degree in civil and environmental engineering with an emphasis in construction management from Stanford University and an executive MBA from the Kellogg–WHU program administered by Northwestern University and WHU–Otto Beisheim School of Management in Germany, according to the city.
An apartment complex under construction at 2141 S. Broadway in Denver in September 2021. (BusinessDen file)
Seven months after taking office, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston has announced his pick to lead the city’s Community Planning and Development Department.
Johnston announced the nomination of Manish Kumar, who has a background in engineering and residential construction, on Thursday. He is expected to begin work in the new job in April, pending approval by the City Council.
The department’s previous executive director, Laura Aldrete, stepped down in August.
Community Planning and Development reviews plans for new developments and handles the permitting process, a regular source of ire for business owners that say reviews take too long and cause delays. It was one of the last department head jobs Johnston had yet to fill since becoming mayor in July.
“As a Denver local and veteran community planning expert with uniquely diverse experience, Manish understands what it takes to provide great customer service and deliver world-class projects for our city,” Johnston said in a statement.
Manish Kumar
The Mayor’s Office said in a news release and subsequent email that Kumar served as a U.S. diplomat assigned to the infrastructure backstop, “which focuses on building a foundation for economic growth and sustainable development.” He also worked as an engineer in training in the construction and traffic safety units of the Colorado Department of Transportation, and in a role related to the Regional Transportation District’s FasTracks initiative, which has brought light and commuter rail to the region and generally expanded public transportation.
“He worked on the team that was responsible for ensuring any issues that could potentially halt FastTracks was resolved asap as they had a $1.8m/day burn rate at that time,” mayoral spokeswoman Alex Rentaria said in an email. “This included permitting, zoning, working with other governmental agencies, etc.”
Kumar also runs LHI Development Group. The company was founded in 2006 and lists several single-family home construction and renovation projects among its portfolio on its website.
Manish has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder, a master’s degree in civil and environmental engineering with an emphasis in construction management from Stanford University and an executive MBA from the Kellogg–WHU program administered by Northwestern University and WHU–Otto Beisheim School of Management in Germany, according to the city.
