Episode 7 - Mary Hull Caballero

In this episode, we explore the inspiring journey of Mary, the elected city auditor of Portland, Oregon, who navigated the complexities of public service during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through her commitment to equity and community engagement, Mary identified critical gaps in emergency management for people with disabilities, advocating for their needs and ensuring accountability from city officials. Her story highlights the importance of proactive auditing and the role of advocacy in creating meaningful change within local government. Chapters: 00:00 Introduction to the Super Auditor 01:50 Mary's Mission: Serving the Community 03:40 Adapting Audits During COVID-19 05:38 Identifying Gaps in Emergency Management 08:30 The Role of Advocacy in Auditing 12:13 Changing the Narrative on Equity 17:52 Engaging the Community for Impact 20:39 The Response from City Officials 26:21 Lessons Learned and Future Directions ABOUT MARY HULL CABALLERO: Mary Hull Caballero has devoted her career to people who count on public-serving organizations to make their lives better. She is skilled at figuring out why things have gone awry in an organization and helping executives and managers fix them. Mary is motivated to ensure organizations are pointed in the right direction and thoughtfully managed to achieve what the world needs them to achieve. Her professional throughline has been civic accountability, as a newspaper reporter, non-profit executive, performance auditor, and elected official. The hallmarks of accountability -- integrity, transparency, fairness, and courage -- guide how she works and measures her performance. Mary is skilled in developing and managing people, strategic planning, performance management and analysis, program design for fair outcomes, risk assessment and mitigation, research and fact-gathering, administrative investigations, and written communication. Her subject matter expertise derives from experience in state and local government, charitable organizations, and the private sector. Mary has deep experience managing or analyzing programs responsible for law enforcement policy and accountability, transportation, regional leadership, criminal and civil courts, administrative investigations and quasi-judicial hearings, public records and meetings, elections, internal services, and public policy development. Mary earned a master’s degree in public policy and management, an undergraduate degree in communication, and holds two performance auditing certifications. ManageWise, LLC, is certified in Oregon as a woman-owned, emerging small business.