By Bonnie Adams, Managing Editor
Photo/Bonnie Adams
Westborough – After an intensive interview process, Kristi Williams was hired in June 2019 as Westborough’s Town Manager. Williams was not unknown to the town – she had served as Assistant Town Manager for seven years and then when former Town Manager Jim Malloy resigned in October 2018, to take a position in Lexington, Williams served as Interim Town Manager.
Being promoted of course then caused her former position to be vacant until Kimberly Foster was hired in October. Foster, as it turns out, although new to Westborough, was also not an unfamiliar face. That’s because before coming to Westborough she held the position of assistant town administrator in Northborough for 10 years.
In their prior positions, the two women often saw each other at different events and meetings, as well as collaborating on regional initiatives, Williams said. That familiarity – and Foster’s work ethic and intelligence – assured Williams, she said, that Foster would be the right woman for the job of assistant town manager.
“She has a great deal of experience that she brings here,” Williams said of Foster. “She will make a great addition to our team.”
As assistant town manager, Foster will serve as human resources director and oversee the Council on Aging, Westborough Youth & Family Services, and the Recreation Department.
Foster’s experience working on Northborough’s strategic plan and a municipal vulnerability grant, as well as the Community Preservation Act, will also be beneficial as Westborough works on those types of issues as well, Williams said.
Foster noted that it was “hard to leave Northborough” after so many years but felt “it was just time for a change.”
“The staff there is tremendous,” she added. “It was a fantastic experience.”
Although Foster has only been in Westborough for a short time, she felt comfortable immediately, she said, thanks to the warm welcome she has received from so many in the town.
“I am really excited to be here in a new community,” she said of working in Westborough. “I know there will be many similar issues [as was in Northborough]. It will be interesting to see different ways of doing things.”
For her part Williams is also excited to really move forward, now that she is officially Town Manager, Foster is on board, and that other major positions, such as Police Chief and DPW Director, have been filled over the past year and a half. As she noted in her interview with the Board of Selectmen for the Town Manager position, she thinks of herself as a team leader who oversees the many qualified professionals heading the different departments, offering them support but letting them do what they do best.
Adding to excitement in the town, she noted, is the recent news that Amazon Robotics will be moving into the vacant AstraZeneca building. The international company Olympus will also be opening a new facility in 2021.
“We have an exciting future ahead. Having companies such as Amazon and Olympus coming here shows that Westborough is an attractive location for international and innovative businesses,” she said.
