Sanders welcomes new staff to Charlottesville

Two newcomers have joined the administration of Charlottesville City Manager Sam Sanders as part of a restructuring announced in the fall.

Sanders introduced the newcomers at the January 5 meeting of City Council. They are Abigail Matthew Wade as Economic Mobility Officer and Evan Pilachowski as Assistant City Manager.

Wade’s position is a new one for the city that is partially funded by the International City County Management Association.

“Charlottesville was selected based on our clearly identified equity priorities as a local government and Abigail will represent us in a cohort with peers from other cities doing this same work,” Sanders said. “She’s going to be out and about in the community helping us to build out what is a solid framework for how we build wealth in our communities that remain challenged in our community as a whole.”

According to an information release, Matthew Wade previously worked in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services including the U.S. Interagency Council on Economic Mobility.

“I have lived experience with poverty, which is what drew me to this work in the first place,” the release quotes Matthew Wade. “At its core, economic mobility is about ensuring that people who have experienced poverty or struggled to make ends meet at any point in their lives have real opportunities to thrive—especially here in Charlottesville.”

Matthew Wade earned a Master of Arts in Economics from the University of Virginia’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Williams College.

There are two assistant city managers in Sanders’ new line-up.

“Evan has moved here from Manatee, Florida,” Sanders said. “He takes on the responsibility of oversight of IT Parks and Rec, Public Works and Utilities departments.”

According to an information release from January 4, Pilachowski earned a Master of Civil Engineering degree from Norwich University and a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Vermont.

“The energy of the city and its people is what excites me most about Charlottesville, and I’m impressed by the level of public involvement here,” Pilachowski is quoted in the release.

Sam Roman will join the city on February 2 as the other assistant city manager. Roman served as the police chief in Roanoke before being named as that city’s assistant city manager in July 2023. The city’s website currently lists him as one of two deputy city managers.

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