Josh McManus joined Knight Foundation this week as Akron program director, Below, Carol Coletta, vice president for community and national initiatives, interviews McManus about his extensive work with placemaking and other nonprofits, and his hopes for his work in Akron.

Carol Coletta: You are from Chattanooga, Tenn.  You have a summer home in Maine. You have worked extensively in Detroit, another Knight city. What have you learned from each of those places?

Josh McManus: Chattanooga taught me that individuals who give a damn and act accordingly make cities change. In the 1970s a small group of people from many backgrounds dug their heels in and refused to accept a fate of decline for their city. I’ve had the privilege to learn from them and that informs the work that I do every day. Maine keeps my eyes fresh to the work that I do. My heroes, ranging from Bucky Fuller to Thomas Edison to Frank Lloyd Wright, all understood that distance can help draw clarity and that communing with Mother Nature is a necessary balance to the nonstop energy of urbanity. Detroit has taught me how creative destruction can actually liberate systems within cities and spur unexpected answers to pressing problems.

We first met when you were co-leading CreateHere. Describe the work you were doing and how it influences the way you view the opportunity in Akron.

J.M.: At its heart, CreateHere was an exercise in civic opportunism. My co-founder, a wonderful team and I worked five hard years on retaining and attracting talent to Chattanooga, stimulating the creative community, helping individuals create enterprises and assisting in channeling the burgeoning energy of the next generation of the city’s leadership. Our projects ranged from a 24-hour user-generated festival that now draws over 5,000 people to grants to individual creatives that added up to over $1 million. The work taught me to invest in individuals over institutions, that connections can be as important as programs and that design is not an afterthought. While the work in Akron will surely look different due to the unique nature of the place, the principles learned at CreateHere will always be present in what I do.

You have a particular interest and expertise in small venture creation.  How do you expect that to benefit Akron?

J.M.: I’m a bit of an outlier in the nonprofit world as I’m a serial entrepreneur and my degrees are in business. I’ve worked consistently in the nonprofit sector since I was 19 years old, but I’ve been starting businesses since I was 12. My work to help small venture creation is born out of the frustrations that I’ve had starting ventures. Over time, I’ve created workarounds for other entrepreneurs like “how to do small business” guides, eight-week business planning classes and maps of entrepreneurial services. I’ll certainly be looking for ways in Akron to make the path easier for individuals who want to take their business ideas to action.

Tell me something most people wouldn’t guess about you.

At night and on weekends, I have worked in and studied the music industry. Specifically, I’ve opened a 2,000-person live music room and I’ve helped run security details for some of the largest music festivals in the country. I’m fascinated with large music events and festivals, especially those in isolated places, as they are like temporary cities. I constantly take observations on how festivals work and see if they can be used to the benefit of cities.

Why Akron and why now?

Akron is an amazing place. It’s built on a level of ambition that few cities ever aspire to. I’m attracted to the city because that ambition and the tensions that emanate out of it are still in the DNA of the place. It’s also the right-sized city in my opinion. Places like Akron and Chattanooga are big enough to have all the amenities but small enough that people can take a very vested interest in their own future. Most importantly, it feels like a good home for my family and me. Access to a national park, miles of trails, proximity to much of the East Coast in a day’s drive and the Midwestern values of hard work and humility are all compelling reasons why we’re moving to the city.

How do people with good ideas in Akron get your attention?

Do good work with passion and make sure that you’re letting your story get out there. I’ve had the good fortune in my past work of having partners find me based on a reputation of getting things done. My approach to philanthropy is similar in that I like to go to the front lines and observe work in action. I plan to be accessible in the city, but I will always gravitate to places where I continually hear that good work is going on.

What does success look like for you in Akron?

Success for me in Akron would mean that I have appropriately channeled the legacy and intent of the Knight family to the greatest and most efficient benefit of the community. I’m currently devouring everything that I can get my hands on that’s been written about the Knight brothers as well as many things that Jack Knight wrote himself. From my initial study, I’m inclined to focus on the areas that Mr. Knight would have looked at every day out of his office window, to find ways to assist those attempting to access the free enterprise system that Mr. Knight so loved and to be party to making sure that citizens have the best information possible about future options for their city as well as the tools to bring those options into being.