photo by: Courtesy of the City of Lawrence

Pictured are the five finalists for Lawrence's city manager job. Top row, left to right: David Vela, Joe Fivas, Joe Lessard. Bottom row, left to right: Majed Al-Ghafry, Michael Kovacs.

Five men – four of them with ties to Texas communities – have been named as finalists for Lawrence’s city manager position.

All five are scheduled to be in Lawrence next week for onsite interviews, which will include a community meet-and-greet at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, May 20, at the Carnegie Building, 200 W. Ninth St.

All of the candidates are new faces for Lawrence. All of them are currently working outside of Kansas, and none of them is an alumnus of the University of Kansas and its highly ranked school of public administration.

The five finalists vying to replace City Manager Craig Owens, who announced late last year that he would leave the position on May 1, are:

• David Vela. Vela most recently served as city manager for Odessa, Texas. His tenure in that west Texas oil town ended in October 2025, according to a press release from the city of Lawrence. Prior to his time in Odessa, he served as the city manager of Sweetwater, Texas, from 2016 to 2025.

He has also held government leadership positions in Abilene, Texas, and Alice, Texas. He has a master’s degree in public administration from Texas State University and an undergraduate degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

• Joe Fivas. Fivas is the city manager of Cleveland, Tennessee, a community of about 50,000 people that boasts a large industrial base of companies. The city is cited as having more than a dozen manufacturing sites for Fortune 500 companies.

Fivas has served as city manager in Cleveland since 2016. He has also held government leadership positions in North Carolina and Michigan, in addition to working in a political position in the Michigan state legislature. Fivas has a law degree from the University of Michigan and a master’s in public administration and an undergraduate degree from Central Michigan University.

• Joe Lessard. Lessard currently works as an independent consultant following a one-year tenure as the city manager of Ashland, Oregon. Lessard was the first city manager for that southern Oregon community of about 20,000 people. Lessard also has extensive experience as a city leader in a couple of Texas’ largest cities. From 1989 to 1998 he was an assistant city manager in Austin, and prior to that he held leadership roles in the 1980s with the City of Dallas.

Lessard also has private-sector experience with planning and land development firms. His consulting currently focuses on public-private partnerships for affordable housing. He has a master’s degree in public affairs from Indiana University and undergraduate degrees from Washington State University.

• Majed Al-Ghafry: Al-Ghafry is the city manager of DeSoto, Texas, a Dallas suburb of about 50,000 people. Al-Ghafry has held the DeSoto position since 2024, and came to the job after serving as an assistant city manager and chief economic development officer for the City of Dallas. He has also served as the director of public works for the City of Las Vegas and has worked in various city leadership roles in El Cajon, California, San Antonio, Texas, and Lemon Grove, Calif. Al-Ghafry has a master’s in public administration from the University of North Texas and a civil engineering degree from Northeastern University.

• Michael Kovacs: Kovacs is the city manager of Fate, Texas, a position he has held since 2014. Prior to serving in Fate — a community of about 23,000 people in north Texas — Kovacs was the city manager of Galveston, Texas, for two years. He has also held city leadership positions in Utah and South Carolina, in addition to multiple Texas communities. Kovacs has a master’s in public administration and an undergraduate degree from Texas A&M University.

The Lawrence City Commission plans to interview the finalists on Thursday, May 21, and to make a final decision in a special meeting on Friday, May 22.