HARNETT COUNTY – In Coats, Barbara Hollerand was excited to find a small but growing North Carolina town that matches well with her experience and interests. She was named town manager last month, starting her position on March 19.
“The Town of Coats is an amazing community with a big heart and great potential. I am looking forward to getting started with our downtown revitalization projects and engaging the community on exploring ways we can make a great town even better,” Hollerand said.
Hollerand has 25 years of public administration experience working in both small and medium-size local governments, according to her biographical information.
After starting out in the communications field after college, Hollerand accepted a community outreach manager position with the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council in 1994 that changed the course of her career. Working with local governments in the six-county Orlando region, she became interested in public service. She found her writing skills adapted well to the planning field and took a position as a planner in her community of Clermont, Florida in 1999.
Clermont’s rapid population growth brought opportunities for advancement, and Hollerand was promoted to assistant to the city manager in 2011 and development services director in 2013. She has also served as business liaison and Main Street program director in Clermont and as assistant to the city manager and city clerk in Minneola, Florida.
A lifelong Floridian, Hollerand decided in 2022 to finally make the move to North Carolina that she’d been considering for several years. She accepted the executive director position with the up-and-coming Mebane Main Street program and spent a year and a half in Alamance County. After several years in Main Street, she decided to return to municipal management and accepted the town administrator position with the Town of Stoneville in Rockingham County in early 2024.
Hollerand is a member of the International City/County Management Association and the American Planning Association. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in public relations from the University of Florida and a Master of Business Administration from Rollins College. She recently earned the certified planner designation through the American Institute of Certified Planners. She is a certified public manager and was part of the 2024 cohort of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Government Municipal and County Administration class.
In her free time, Hollerand enjoys planning day trips to charming towns across North Carolina and exploring the state’s parks and open spaces.
-Courtesy Daily Record of Dunn
