Over the last few years, the City of High Point has seen major changes in its leadership from the High Point City Council to top-ranking city staff.

This week, High Point City Manager Tasha Logan Ford – who’s still fairly new in that position herself – announced two new hires for the city: Damon Dequenne (on the left above), who’s accepted the assistant city manager position and will start that job on Tuesday, June 21 and Sushil Nepal (above right), the city’s new planning services director will start on Tuesday, July 5.

Logan Ford says she welcomes both men to the city’s government and added that “Their skills and experiences will be welcomed additions to our team and to the High Point community.”

Both of the new hires have long resumes with plenty of local government experience listed.

Dequenne also has a military background. He’s a ten-year veteran of the United States Navy, where he served in both the enlisted and officer ranks.

According to a Tuesday, May 31  press release from the city, “His local government experience includes time in roles that span a wide variety of municipal services and cross-departmental management. Dequenne joined the City of Winston-Salem in 2011, assumed the position of assistant city manager in 2018 and most recently served as a private-sector consultant with WithersRavenel. As a member of the Winston-Salem City/County Utilities Division, he served in several roles, including utilities services coordinator, GIS coordinator/systems engineer, construction and maintenance engineer, field operations manager and deputy director for the Winston-Salem City/County Utilities Division.”

Before joining Winston-Salem, Dequenne was the water resources director and assistant public works director for the City of Buckeye, Arizona.

He has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and holds an NC Wastewater Collections System Operator certification as well as an NC A-Distribution Water Operator certification.

As for the new planning director, Nepal was most recently the planning and economic development director for the Town of Harrisburg, North Carolina. He helped that town with its long-range transportation planning and was seen as a significant force there for economic development.

Before that, Nepal was the principal planner for the Huntersville, NC.

The May 31 press release from the city states that Nepal has had “a progressive career in planning, spanning over a decade, from entry-level planning in Cedar Rapids, Michigan, to overseeing a multi-county regional growth project during his time with Centralina Council of Governments.”

Nepal earned his Master of Science degree in urban and regional planning from the University of Iowa and he also holds a Master of Science and Bachelor of Science degree in environmental management from Pokhara University in Nepal – quite a long way from High Point.

In addition, he has an American Institute of Certified Planners Certification through American Planning Association.