ST. LOUIS — Jared Boyd's interest in government began early.
His mom, a school nurse, and dad, a psychologist, spread books and newspapers around their kitchen table in the Central West End.
An interest in current events led him to volunteer for Alan Wheat's 1994 campaign for U.S. Senate, and he remembers meeting Freeman Bosley Jr., whom the family supported in his successful quest to become the city of St. Louis' first Black mayor.
My parents "helped me become interested in civic life and the broader world, but at the same time making my community a better place," Boyd said.
Stops at Morehouse College (bachelor's), the Coro Fellowship in Public Affairs, University of Virginia and Bryan Cave followed. Now, after serving as chief of staff to St. Louis Treasurer Tishaura Jones for more than eight years, Boyd in April took the same role in the mayor's office, after Jones was sworn in to be the first Black woman to lead the city.
What's different about those jobs, and what's surprised you about the mayor's office? It's difficult to gauge what normal is in this office because we had a two-week transition period. Add that to the impact of COVID-19 and other issues, the velocity and breadth of issues that we deal with here is much different.
What does the person running the mayor's office do each day? She has to take time to represent the city, with some ceremonial work and as an ambassador, so I'm tasked with carrying out her vision on a day-to-day basis. I also engage the political process and making the city departments more efficient and more responsive and working with other critical staff members to do so. We have a lot of talented city workers who, quite frankly, don't have the tools or capacity to do their jobs in an effective way. My job in a lot of respects is to either help them come up with the resources needed to do their job, reform the way their job is done or provide them with additional capacity.
The job never leaves you and has planned and unplanned obligations. As an example, several Fridays ago, I was at home having a family dinner and got notice that a police officer had been shot in a traffic incident. I went to meet with the officer and the officer's family.
Have you leaned on past people who've done the job? Previous chiefs of staff have been very charitable with their time, particularly from the Francis Slay administration. Whether that's Jeff Rainford, Patrick Brown, Mary Ellen Ponder. Former Kansas City Mayor Sly James' Chief of Staff Joni Wickham and John Stamm, the current chief of staff to Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, are also people I can reach out to.
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