Lawrence names Shakeva Christian as new human resources director

Lawrence has filled one of its most consequential internal jobs with Shakeva Christian, a veteran human resources leader whose first test will be helping the city stabilize hiring, retention and employee relations at a time of budget pressure and leadership churn. Christian was announced April 17 as the new human resources director and is set to start May 4.

The hire matters well beyond City Hall. Lawrence’s HR department handles recruitment and hiring, labor relations, employee and retiree benefits, training, staff development and retention for the city workforce. That makes the director’s office central to how Lawrence replaces departing employees, manages pay and benefits, and keeps services moving when staffing is tight.

Christian arrives with more than 30 years in human resources, including 26 years in the public sector. She most recently served as deputy HR director for the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas. A University of Kansas alumna, she also holds a master’s degree in HR management from Keller Graduate School of Management. Christian said Lawrence is a community she knows well and described the move as a full-circle moment, saying it is where she first developed a passion for HR and experienced personal and professional growth.

City Manager Craig Owens framed the hire as an investment in the city’s workforce, signaling that Lawrence wants HR to do more than process paperwork and benefits. The next director will be expected to help rebuild confidence inside the organization after months without a permanent leader and to guide policy in an atmosphere where every staffing decision has budget consequences.

Megan Dodge announced on September 9, 2025, that she would leave the post effective November 14, 2025. During the vacancy, Lawrence listed Jon Thummel as interim human resources director, a reminder that the department had been operating without permanent leadership for several months. That gap came as the city projected a $6.5 million budget deficit for 2026 and continued weighing cuts, retirement incentives and other changes.

The pressure on HR has been building. Twenty city employees took the first round of Lawrence’s voluntary early retirement offer, and 30 total had accepted by August 2025, increasing the challenge of replacing institutional knowledge while protecting service levels. In October 2025, the City Commission approved a 3% wage increase proposal in an impasse with the firefighters’ union, underscoring how directly HR leadership is tied to compensation fights, morale and labor negotiations.

For Lawrence employees, Christian’s arrival will be judged by whether vacancies are filled faster, labor disputes are handled more cleanly and workplace concerns are addressed with consistency. For taxpayers, the test will be whether the city can keep its workforce stable enough to deliver basic services while navigating a tight budget year.