Brad Dick

he/him
Chief Operating Officer,
City of Detroit
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Brad Dick currently serves as Chief Operating Officer for the City of Detroit and its more than 9,000 employees. In this role, which he has held since February 2022, Brad oversees a diverse portfolio of departments and initiatives that have played a major role in the city’s recent revitalization and national comeback story. Brad was central to the city’s successful hosting of the 2024 NFL Draft, which had the largest in attendance of any draft in history.

Brad also has been a key architect of the City’s “blight to beauty” campaign, having overseen the citywide eradication of illegal graffiti, the renovation of more than 160 parks and several recreation centers, the planting of more than 1,000,00 daffodils, and the painting of hundreds of public art murals. He also has been a catalyst for the transformational Joe Louis Greenway – a 27.5-mile recreational loop that is turning miles of abandoned railroads and other vacant land from illegal dumping areas into a world-class public trail that connects 24 neighborhoods and three suburban communities.

Previously, Brad served as the Deputy Director of the General Services Department (GSD) from its creation in July 2006. He was tasked with centralizing the governmental support functions that make City services possible. In May 201, Brad was promoted to Director of GSD.

The General Services Department and the five divisions - Vehicle Maintenance, Facilities & Planning, Grounds, Forestry and Floriculture Maintenance, Inventory Management, and Parks & Recreation Divisions - have over 700 employees. The department maintains the City of Detroit’s 2,200 vehicle fleet, over 150 facilities, 5,000 acres of grounds, 250 parks, manages the city inventory, and the urban forest, while creating recreational programming for over 400,000 residents.

He has been a major force behind departmental initiatives that have saved the City nearly $30 million since the department’s inception. In addition, Brad and his team were responsible for the City of Detroit’s space plan to reduce occupied City-owned and leased space with a targeted goal of $25 million in savings over 10 years.

Brad’s career spans private and public service, and crosses cultures. For MSX International, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ford Motor Company, and the Bartech Group, Brad managed innovative human capital programs for Delphi Corporation and Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina and was an Implementation Manager at Ford Motor Company in Colchester, England for two years. Additionally, Brad served as a project manager for MSX International in Mexico City, Mexico and Paris, France for long-term projects in those locations. He proudly served the United States Department of State as a Foreign Service Recruiter after spending two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tanzania in East Africa, where he taught agriculture business programs at the Songea Institute of Technology.

Brad was raised on a dairy farm in Portland, Indiana. After graduating from high school, he obtained his degree in Advertising & Marketing from Ball State University. Brad is a proud resident of East English Village and a committed community leader in the great city of Detroit.

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