Michael Walters Young

City of Franklin, Tennessee

Michael Walters Young is a native Kansan who has over a quarter century experience in local government in Kansas, Massachusetts and Tennessee. He possesses a Master Degree in Public Administration from the School of Public Affairs and Administration at the University of Kansas. An award-winning city budget and finance expert, he currently serves as a member of the City of Franklin, Tennessee’s Leadership Team as the Chief Budget & Performance Officer. He also spearheads a statewide performance measurement collaborative – The Benchmarking Alliance of Tennessee – for Tennessee municipalities. He is active in many professional associations, currently serving ICMA (as a Welcome Ambassador), TCMA (Co-Chair of the Membership  Committee), GFOA (serving as a Distinguished Budget Presentation Award reviewer), TGFOA, Kansas University City Manager and Trainees (KUCIMAT) (serving as a Board Member), and as an adjunct faculty member and recently served as Co-Practioner-In Residence for the MPA Class of 2022 – both at his alma mater of KU. In 2023 he was named the inaugural winner of the of the KUCIMAT Career Mentoring Award. In his spare time, he serves as Treasurer of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Franklin, cooks for his brilliant wife, Dr. Laine Walters Young, and tries to keep up with his rambunctious First Grader, Theodore. 

Michael is a passionate communitarian who believes in the power of local government to be a positive and transformative building block in the American democracy.