Stefanie Mavronis will be promoted from chief of staff to interim director of the mayor’s public safety office when director Shantay Jackson steps down at the end of June, the mayor announced Wednesday morning.
Among her duties, Mavronis has been a crucial part of the office’s efforts to build up what it calls a “community violence intervention ecosystem,” a series of collaborative efforts across an array of nonprofit social services groups aimed at addressing socioeconomic issues in communities affected by gun violence.
Though Mavronis got her start in city government working in civic engagement for Councilman Zeke Cohen and in communications for Mayor Brandon Scott, she immersed herself in the more technical side of her new role at the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement.
During City Council hearings on the office’s programming, Mavronis often fielded policy questions from council members, and has shown she is unafraid to go into detail about the mechanisms of the city’s anti-violence work.
Scott said the city will continue to search for a permanent executive director of the office while Mavronis takes over on an interim basis.
“Stefanie has been at the forefront of MONSE’s mission since day one, and will be an incredibly effective interim leader while we actively search for a new Executive Director for MONSE,” Scott said in a statement. “We look forward to expeditiously appointing a new executive director to build on the foundation laid by this team and forging ahead in the work that is so important to the wellbeing and future of our city.”
Mavronis will have her work cut out for her. The public safety office is at the forefront of one of the most vexing challenges facing the city — gun violence — and the new interim director will be in charge of carrying out the mayor’s vision of a public safety approach to dealing with it.
In the city-issued statement, Mavronis said: “As someone with a deep love for Baltimore, I am honored to serve in this capacity. Together, with the MONSE team, we will continue to show up for the residents of Baltimore as we work toward a safer, healthier future for all.”
