Dr. Scott Neils

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Personal Information

Dr. Scott Neils began working as the City of Watauga's City Manager on April 25, 2011. He began his tenure with the City of Watauga as Finance Director in May of 2008. Dr. Neils has guided the City to an exceptional level of stability and growth. Under his leadership, the City of Watauga received the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada’s Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for the last twenty-five years and a Certificate of Recognition for Budget Presentation for the last twenty-one years. The highest form of recognition in the areas of governmental accounting and financial reporting, this award is received by less than 10% of cities across the United States. In addition, the City of Watauga also saw an improvement in credit rating to AA and has been rated "Stable" by FITCH in 2009.

Dr. Neils approaches his new position with the following, "I am honored and humbled to be selected as the next City Manager of the great City of Watauga. I am looking forward to be able to work with the Council and staff to provide excellence and high performance in the operations of the City through my four pillars of Customer Focus, Leadership, Employee Empowerment, and Continuous Improvement. I pledge to all of our Stakeholders that I will do my best to ensure that we provide a level of service for which we all can be proud."

In addition to his accomplishments at the City of Watauga, Dr. Neils also possesses over 25 years of successful senior management experience as an executive in banking and finance, software development, Internet and E-commerce, manufacturing, consulting, and agribusiness. Dr. Neils earned a BA in Marketing from University of Washington, an MBA from Pacific Lutheran University, and a Doctorate of International Business Administration from Nova Southeastern University. He is a Certified Public Account, Certified Management Accountant, and a Certified Government Finance Officer (CGFO). Dr. Neils is also a retired Army Reserve Officer with over 21 years of service and received numerous prestigious awards.