Ramsey County selects Ling Becker as next county manager
Following an extensive national search, the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners has selected Ling Becker to be the next county manager.
“We are thrilled to announce Ling Becker as the next county manager,” said Board Chair Trista Martinson. “Her passion, commitment, and clear vision for the future were unmatched throughout the hiring process. It was clear to the entire board that Ling is exactly what the county needs in this next chapter to ensure that we are supporting staff and providing the highest quality of services to community.”
While Ramsey County is the smallest county geographically in Minnesota, encompassing 170 square miles, it is the most densely and diversely populated county in the state with 536,000 people. The county manager is the chief administrative officer of the county responsible to the county board. The county manager is responsible for implementing policy and overseeing daily operations of the county and county staff. The county operates on a bi-annual budget of over $800,000,000. County work is divided into service teams with over 4,000 employees ensuring residents receive county programs and services.
Becker first joined the county in 2019 as the Director of Ramsey County Workforce Solutions and the Executive Director of the Workforce Innovation Board providing innovative employment and training services to job seekers and businesses for Ramsey County.
Prior to joining the county, she served in a variety of leadership roles including the Executive Director for the Vadnais Heights Economic Development Corporation and Project Administrator for the Metropolitan Council, Transportation and Transit Development Office. Becker also ran her own successful consulting company for over a decade focused on providing non-profit and public sector support services and has served on countless community boards and commissions throughout the Ramsey County community. She holds a Master of Public Administration from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Minnesota Morris.
An innovative thinker focused on meeting people’s current and future needs, Becker is always analyzing current and future systems and the interconnectedness of all systems to make improvements. During the COVID-19 response, she led the implementation of nearly $30 million of relief funding investing in workforce development in partnership with the city of Saint Paul to support job seekers. As part of those investments, Becker worked with impacted community to develop groundbreaking training programs like the paid job training program Learn and Earn which went on to gain attention from the White House.
Ling is dedicated to working with community and is well known for her collaborative partner work. Hearing about the lack of employer resources in inclusive hiring, she worked to developed a new portfolio of inclusive employer hiring toolkit to support employers to meet their talent needs.
Becker’s work has been recognized locally and nationally including recently receiving multiple National Association of County Achievement Awards.
“Counties are vital in improving the lives and well-being of our residents. This is at the very core of my being as an immigrant who relied on government support when my family first established itself here and as a long-time public servant,” said Ling Becker. “These past few years have been challenging and Ramsey County has stepped up in unprecedented ways. I am honored and excited to energize our amazing employees for this next chapter by highlighting the importance of their work and empowering them to make a meaningful difference in collaboration with our community. Only together can we harness our collective potential to build a more prosperous Ramsey County, where everyone is valued and has the opportunity to thrive.”
Final hiring details are still being worked out between Becker and the board. As additional information becomes available it will be posted on the county’s website and shared during county board meetings.