Leslie Beauregard

Leslie's interest in local government was seeded in graduate school in 1995 while studying for her Master’s in Public Administration through Virginia Tech’s Center for Public Administration and Policy. With her MPA completed and an interest in local government management, finance and budgeting, Leslie started her career in 1997 working for the City of Poquoson, Virginia’s Finance Department. She received an internship with the City of Hampton, Virginia’s Budget Office a month later and eventually was offered a full-time Budget Analyst position. Leslie spent six years with the City of Hampton’s Budget Office learning the operations of a city in all areas financial, budgetary, legislative and managerial.  In 2003, Leslie began working for the City of Charlottesville, Virginia as Budget Manager. In this capacity, Leslie was an innovative leader in the development of budget and fiscal policies, strategic planning and performance measurement initiatives. In 2007, Leslie was promoted to Director of Budget and Performance Management and spent a significant amount of time on performance management developing the city’s performance management and strategic initiative, P3: Plan, Perform, Perfect, and played a key role in leading the team that developed the city’s first strategic plan in 2013-2014.  In 2015, Leslie was promoted to Assistant City Manager for internal operations which included the departments of Finance, Budget and Performance Management, Public Works, Fire, Human Resources and Information Technology.  She also continued to serve as the cheerleader for the implementation of the city’s strategic plan and performance management initiatives.  Leslie was also at this time an adjunct Instructor at the Batten School for Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia, teaching classes in budgeting and finance and public program analysis. 

After 16 years with the City of Charlottesville, Leslie was hired as City of Staunton's Assistant City Manager.   She oversaw several departments, including Fire and Rescue, Blue Ridge Court Services, Office on Youth, Information Technology, Clerk of Council, Finance/Budget and the Library.    She played a key leadership role during the city’s response to the COVID-19 health pandemic, managed several special projects and initiatives, represented the city on several regional boards, coordinated and prepared City Council agenda materials while supervising the Clerk of Council and provided expertise on the development of the city’s capital and operating budgets as well as guidance on financial policies and practices.   She was key at coordinating the activities and tasks behind the formation of the city’s first Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Commission, and in conjunction with this work, was invited to participate in the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) Equity Officer Cohort and was part of the inaugural Virginia Equity Clinic through the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia.  During this time, she was an adjunct instructor for the Virginia Tech Local Government Management Certificate Program and became an ICMA Credentialed Manager.  

Having served as Acting, and then Interim City Manager, starting in January 2022,  on October 27, 2022 Leslie was appointed the first woman City Manager in the history of Staunton, Virginia.  

Leslie has been an active member of ICMA since 1996 and an ICMA Credentialed Manager since 2020.  She’s also an active member of the Virginia Local Government Management Association and the Government Finance Officers Association.