Upper management tune-ups don’t come cheap in Baltimore government. This morning the Board of Estimates committed $18,000 so that its Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Faith Leach can hone her leadership skills through one-on-one executive coaching sessions with a former boss.

That expenditure for ten monthly sessions – at a rate of $1,800 per hour – was part of a larger $125,000 contract approved by the board without comment.

Leach joined in today’s unanimous vote, subbing, as frequently the case, for an absent Mayor Brandon Scott.

In addition to helping Leach “map out professional development plans” and “build skills-supporting collaboration,” the contract handed to Elevated Development Concepts (EDC) will provide coaching sessions for two staff members at $500 an hour, or $20,000 total.

EDC will also stage future workshops and a group retreat for senior staff. That cost, $87,000, was built into the contract.

Worked Together

Leach and EDC’s owner, Rashad M. Young, are not strangers.

Young was Leach’s boss when they both worked for Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. As head of the Office of City Administrator, he took Leach, a young fiscal policy manager, under his wing in 2015. On LinkedIn, she says she developed a continuous improvement program for his office.

Young left D.C. government in 2020, but not before he was flagged for an ethics violation and fined $2,500 for his involvement in tax break negotiations with Howard University, his future employer, while still working for the D.C. government.

In 2021, he incorporated Elevated Development as a “leadership development and strategic advisory services firm,” while retaining his position as senior vice president at Howard.

He has accumulated a wide range of contacts and affiliations, including with the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), National Forum for Black Public Administrators (NFBPA) and National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA).

The consultant also kept his eye on Brandon Scott’s political career, contributing $1,000 to the mayor’s reelection campaign in 2024.

Leach took a somewhat different career path.

She left D.C. government in 2018 and joined the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, where, she says, she worked alongside senior executives to develop a firm-wide $30 billion racial equity commitment and helped distribute $350 million a year in foundation money.

In April 2021, Scott named her deputy mayor of equity, health and human services. Two years later, she assumed the CAO post following the departure of Christopher Shorter.

Starting off at $193,800 as deputy mayor, Leach is currently the highest-paid employee at City Hall, with a yearly salary of $275,940.

No Competitive Proposals

Leach reunited professionally with Young in 2024 when she hired EDC as a single-source vendor – meaning no other party could make a competitive offer – to coach her, according to a Waiver Request form reviewed by The Brew.

“CAO Leach chose them [EDC] as she took part in their Executive Coaching Sessions,” the form said. “The amount of the agreement did not exceed $25,000, so it did not go to the Board [of Estimates] for approval.”

CAO Leach is currently the highest-paid employee at City Hall, with a yearly salary of $275,940.

This year is different because “CAO Leach and 2 Senior Managers are participating in the Executive Coaching Sessions; there will also be a Retreat and Workshop.”

Because EDC’s contract was boosted from under $25,000 to $125,000, it now required Board of Estimates approval.

Statement by Mayor’s Office

The Brew sent a series of questions to Leach about the contract and especially about the executive coaching costs.

We asked about her past professional relationship with Young and whether it presented a conflict of interest. We also asked Leach if she had sought guidance from the City Board of Ethics before pre-signing the latest contract with EDC.

Leach did not respond to the questions and instead referred the matter to the mayor’s communications office, which also did not answer our questions.

Instead, it said that former CAO Shorter had negotiated the executive coaching contract and Leach was simply keeping it going.

Questions unanswered by the mayor’s office: did the contract present a potential conflict of interest and did Leach seek guidance from the City Ethics Board.

“This contract is a continuation of a service included as part of the employment contract negotiated by the previous city administrator who also received executive coaching through Elevated Concepts,” the communications office stated in an emailed statement.

Young did not return emails or a phone message.

He was lauded by the communications office as an experienced executive who “provides professional development to administrative officials in municipal governments across this country.”

His company’s new contract with the Scott administration, the statement said, “ensures that the city administrator and other cabinet officials have the best tools at their disposal to ensure optimal service delivery for residents and strengthens leadership across City government.”

The Five Dysfunctions

Below are the fees to be charged for the one-on-one coaching sessions as well as for the group workshops and retreat planned for next year.

In a proposal letter, Young says that the workshops and retreat will tackle “the five dysfunctions” that undermine Mayor Scott’s bold vision for a better Baltimore. Those dysfunctions and their remedies were listed as:

• Absence of trust. SOLUTION: Building vulnerability-based trust.

• Fear of Conflict. SOLUTION: Mastering productive conflict.

• Lack of commitment. SOLUTION: Achieving buy-in and commitment.

• Avoidance of accountability. SOLUTION: Embracing peer accountability.

• Inattention to results. SOLUTION: Focusing on collective results.

Fixing these problems, Young said, will create “unshakable alignment on priorities, roles [and] success metrics across the administration” and build “the collaborative culture, systems and processes that ensure consistent high-impact delivery.”‘