Staff

Joshua Watkins, Director 

Joshua is an innovator and community connector passionate about aligning his interests in project management, performance improvement, and community development. He has enjoyed several roles during his seven-plus years at Louisville Metro Government, ranging from Real Estate Coordinator with the Vacant and Public Property Administration to Director of the Office for Performance Improvement. His current role has provided an opportunity to increase the city’s capacity to address homelessness, improve sustainability efforts and maintain a clean and vibrant community.   

Joshua graduated from the Executive Fellows Leadership Program during his government career and has won awards for previous urban revitalization projects. In addition, he has served as a Thrive Fellowship Mentor and has worked with several nonprofit agencies in support of their various causes. He currently serves as the President of Friends of Waterfront Park, Board Member of New Directions Housing Corporation, and Keeper of Exchequer of the Louisville Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated. In his spare time, Joshua enjoys singing, writing poetry, music, reading, cooking, and spending time with his family and friends. He is also a proud Dog Dad of Piper, a six-year-old Labbe.   

Joshua earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Kentucky and is currently pursuing a Masters of Business Administration at Northcentral University. He holds a Project Management Professional (PMP) designation and is a licensed Realtor in Kentucky.

Robin Hawkins, Executive Administrator

Robin started her public service career in 2003, during merger, with Louisville Metro Council as the Metro Council District 4 staff helper, and shortly thereafter promoted to a legislative assistant. Since then, she has had the pleasure of supporting four city departments in an array of positions ranging from performance supervisor with Public Works, to successfully supervising the award-winning Mayoral B.O.B initiative as a project manager with Louisville Forward - to managing the SAMHSA ReCAST grant for the Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods. Excited to share her knowledge and love of continuous improvement, Robin pursued an opportunity to work with Farm Credit Mid-America as a Business Solutions Manager in 2020. And true to form, Robin has returned to her civic roots as the Executive Administrator with the Office of Performance Improvement. Robin is an accomplished project manager, and engaged thought partner who has earned a Masters of Business Administration degree from Bellarmine University. 

Annette Dangerfield, Project Manager II

Annette joined Louisville Metro Government in 2019 as an AmeriCorps VISTA with Metro Parks and Recreation at Jefferson Memorial Forest. While there she helped author a grant totaling $50,000 to create a new full-time grant-writing position, and numerous other grants to fund improvements to Louisville's historically underserved parks. She transitioned to the Office of Performance Improvement in 2020, making good use of her past experiences with Lean business process improvement. She attended Berea College for her undergrad in Sustainable Community Development, where she also attained her Lean Greenbelt. She received her Masters degree from the University of Ireland, Galway in human geography. She has three beloved cats and enjoys walking in Louisville’s beautiful parks system.  

Ethan Lambert, Performance Improvement Manager

Ethan grew up in Covington, Kentucky and came to Louisville in 2010 for college at the University of Louisville. He began working for Louisville Metro Government in 2017.  

Ethan started with the Office of Resilience and Community Services and transitioned into the Office of Performance Improvement in late 2021. He was first hired as the receptionist for Community Services and now manages the LouieStat performance improvement process for the city.  

In his free time, he bakes too many desserts with his girlfriend, plays video games, tries to learn woodworking, and fosters cats/kittens from time to time. 

Jeff Reinking, Performance Coach

Jeff came to Louisville Metro Government from the University of Louisville Athletics department where he was a photographer for Marketing and Sports Information. He spent most of his career as a photographer for media outlets and marketing campaigns.

With the onset of the covid-19 pandemic, he left UL, and returned to school earn his degree in Organizational Development, Leadership, and Learning. His goal was to find a career where he could make others around him better. Joining OPI certainly fit that goal.