It’s been quite a year for the City of Boston. Emerging from the mammoth shadow of Mayor Tom Menino, Mayor Marty Walsh began making his own imprint on the Hub immediately, much in part by shaping his administration with cabinet chiefs, officers and staffers of his choosing.

Some appointments came swiftly after Mayor Walsh was sworn into office while others were made as recently as mid-December. Each person was chosen with calculated thought and precision, bringing with each of them an impressive skill set and modern vision for the city.

There’s still work to be done, though and the mayor hopes to parlay the potential success of his first-year appointments into zeroing in on a Boston Public Schools Superintendent. At a recent address to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, Mayor Walsh expressed his desire to hire one in early 2015.

And while he continues to vet candidates to lead the BPS system, let’s take a look at some of his most prominent hires of 2014.

Joyce Linehan, Chief of Policy

A Dorchester native like Mayor Walsh, Linehan has spent much of her professional career in public relations for arts and music. She joined the Walsh camp where she served as his campaign’s policy director. She was one of Mayor Walsh’s first hires, taking on the role of Chief of Policy.

 

Dan Koh, Chief of Staff

Koh was tapped as Mayor Walsh’s chief of staff just prior to the swearing in ceremony. A former advisor to Mayor Menino, recipient of a Harvard undergraduate degree and MBTA, and former general manager of HuffPost Live, Koh is turning just 30 years old on New Year’s Day. He oversees and Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics and, perhaps most importantly, has injected an air of vigor and youth into city operations.

 

Bill Evans, Commissioner of the Boston Police Department

The departure of former Commissioner Ed Davis was a tough pill for Boston to swallow. One of the guiding lights through the Boston Marathon bombings and aftermath, Davis stepped down shortly afterward. But Bill Evans, a 31-year patrolman whose brother also served as commissioner, brings experience and street savvy to the role. An avid marathoner in his own right, he made sure the 2014 Boston Marathon went off without so much as a hiccup.

 

Jascha Franklin-Hodge, Chief Information Officer

One of the mayor’s most substantial plans for Boston was to make it even more high-tech than it currently is. To that end, he hired Jascha Franklin-Hodge, who pioneered political campaigning through social media under Howard Dean, to lead the charge. A Brookline native and self-proclaimed nerd since he was six years old, Franklin-Hodge’s ultimate goal is to leverage technology to make a positive societal impact.

 

Jerome Smith, Chief of Civic Engagement

The position of Chief of Civic Engagement was created just for Jerome Smith. After all, who would know more about civic engagement than the Director of the Office of Neighborhood Services? One of the major initiatives his office is working on is called the Neighborhood Engagement Walks, where he and his staffers walk every single Boston street to catalogue and tend to public upgrades. That’s 850-miles of roadways.

 

Julie Burros, Chief of Arts and Culture

This role was revived after 20 years for Burros, who worked for the City of Chicago in cultural planning. Mayor Walsh hopes to ride the resurgent wave of public art and a renewed sense of creative expression. In the Windy City she outlined 10 initiatives to bolster a vibrancy which the city hadn’t seen in some 25 years.

 

Lauren Lockwood, Chief Digital Officer

Working in tandem with Franklin-Hodge will be Lauren Lockwood, former project manager at Hourly Nerd. She’s a data fanatic and puzzle solver, and wants to put Boston’s underutilized digital assets to good use. In that respect, she thinks the City of Boston website is due for a much-needed facelift.

 

Brian Golden, Director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority

Shaking up the Boston Redevelopment Authority and making its operations more transparent were top priorities for the Walsh administration upon assuming office. He began by reorganizing it, placing it under the oversight of Chief of Economic Development John Barros. And earlier in December, he placed interim director Brian Golden in the full-time role.

.@marty_walsh: “I’m pleased to announce I’m appointing Brian Golden to be the permanent director of the BRA.” pic.twitter.com/4RxtVx1SiJ

— BRA (@BostonRedevelop) December 10, 2014

 

Austin Blackmon, Chief of Environment and Energy

Boston is a nationwide leader when it comes to clean energy and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. But climate change and rising sea levels are threatening the city, its buildings and its people. Blackmon, who recognizes that even something as small as walking to work can help make a difference, will contribute on policy changes and grassroots campaigns to help combat these threats.