Municipal Government

Stephanie Allen OHara joined MTAS staff in the Knoxville office as a legal consultant on January 1, 2010. Effective November 1, 2013, Stephanie became the Legal Program Manager at MTAS.  Stephanie graduated from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville with a bachelor’s in business administration. While pursuing her undergraduate degree, she interned with the U.S. Congress and Philip Morris USA. She received her Doctor of Jurisprudence and Master of Business Administration from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. While in law school, Stephanie interned with Oak Ridge National Labs; Retired Judge James Beckner, Third Judicial District Criminal Court; Chancellor Telford Forgety, Jr., Fourth Judicial District; Judge Benjamin Strand, Jefferson County General Sessions; as well as several law firms. Prior to joining MTAS as a legal consultant, Stephanie served as a judicial clerk to Justice Sharon Lee on the Tennessee Supreme Court and Tennessee Court of Appeals. In her spare time, Stephanie enjoys volunteering with charities and many outdoor activities, including snow skiing, hiking, wakeboarding, and dragon boating.

Ralph Cross is currently employed with The University of Tennessee’s Municipal Technical Advisory Service (MTAS) as Finance and Accounting Consultant. MTAS provides technical assistance to municipal government officials statewide in the areas of municipal management, finance, public works, police and fire services, and legal issues.  Ralph has primary responsibility in the finance area for cities in Middle Tennessee and has written numerous publications dealing with finance related topics for distribution to municipal officials statewide.  In addition, he has co-developed and taught several finance courses for municipal officials in various educational programs sponsored by the University of Tennessee. 

Before coming to MTAS, Ralph served eight years as the Secretary/Treasurer for the City of Lawrenceburg.  In 1998, he was named “Clerk of the Year” by the Tennessee Association of Municipal Clerks and Recorders (TAMCAR).  His experience prior to employment in the public sector includes general administration and engineering.  Ralph is a Certified Government Finance Manager and has an MBA in Finance and a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Technology from the University of Memphis.

Ralph has two daughters, Kathryn Cross and Audrey Keown.  He also has one grandson, Liam, the son of Audrey and Grant Keown.

Pat grew up in New Jersey and attended East Tennessee State University earning undergraduate and graduate degrees (in City Management). He worked in the city management profession in Big Spring, Texas and in Blue Earth, Minnesota. Pat came to MTAS in 1989 working as a General Management Consultant in the Nashville office. He spent about 4-5 years there and has been in the Johnson City office since then. Pat is there with Rick Hall from CTAS and Dwaine Raper and Kenny Smith from CIS. He serves the cities in upper East Tennessee as a General Management Consultant and also serves as Program Manager for the General Management Consultant group.

Pat lives in Elizabethton and is married to Bonita Hardy. They have two "great" kids, Frank and Evelyn Esther, and two "superb" grandkids, Liliana Maria and Alex (both pictured at right in 2017). For kicks Pat enjoys building (he recentlyfinished a house he built for his daughter - after 4 1/2 years of work), occasional golf (he claims to be no good), occasional fishing (here too he claims to be no good), camping, and occasional guitar or mandolin playing (you guessed it, he claims to be no good). Pat attends Hopwood Christian Church and trys to stay involved there as much as possible. He is currently taking ballroom dance lessons one night a week with his wife. Again, he claims to be no good but because he gets to dance with his wife for an hour each week, he says "it's great."

All in all Pat loves life, and very much enjoys and appreciates his job and working with the IPS family.

Gary is a Management Consultant based out of the Nashville office.  He works with 44 cities, mostly in upper Middle Tennessee including cities in Stewart, Houston, Montgomery, Dickson, Cheatham, Robertson, Sumner, Wilson, Trousdale, Macon and Smith Counties, along with the City of Columbia.  Gary came to work for MTAS in September, 1999 and has lived in Hendersonville more than 14 years.  Prior to coming to MTAS Gary worked in Illinois cities for nearly 14 years, moving from the Chicago suburbs of Elmhurst to Streamwood as an Assistant to City Managers; to Forsyth and Dwight where he was the Village Administrator.  Prior to entering the City Management profession Gary spent four years in the private sector.

Gary has both his Bachelors in Political Science and Masters in Public Administration from Northern Illinois University.  Until retiring recently Gary spent many hours and years as a youth and High School Wrestling coach.  Being a youth coach allowed Gary to develop a skill set for coaching and facilitating meetings with elected officials.      

Margaret Norris is the Executive Director for the Municipal Technical Advisory Service, housed in the Institute for Public Service at the University of Tennessee.  She has been with MTAS for fourteen years, having spent the first five at the Nashville office before transferring to the Knoxville office. 

Prior to joining MTAS in 2001, Margaret once worked for the agency as a graduate intern.  Her other experience includes work in Chattanooga, Tennessee; Kansas City, Missouri; South Pittsburg Tennessee; and Lumberton, North Carolina.  Titles she has held include records manager, post graduate intern, finance director and city manager.

Margaret graduated Magna Cum Laude from UTK with dual degrees in Psychology and Spanish and she earned a master of public administration from UTC.  She served as the Executive Director of the Tennessee City Management Association from 2004-2008.  She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the Tennessee City Management Association, the National Association of Parliamentarians, and the International City/County Management Association. 

Lisa Shipley serves as the IT manager for the Municipal Technical Advisory Service (MTAS). She holds both a B.S. and M.S. degree as well as a graduate certificate in Online Teaching and Learning from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.  Lisa has worked in the information technology profession for more than 20 years and has implemented many changes in applied technology within the fields of higher education, publishing, marketing, and legal. Ask her about writing DOS batch files and implementing one of the first Novell networks in a publishing environment.  

Prior to joining MTAS, Lisa held positions of network administrator, security analyst, software manager, and IT support manager. She currently specializes in cyber security, database & systems development, project management, and IT training. 

Steve Thompson is Assistant Vice President with the Institute for Public Service with the University of Tennessee. 

Steve joined the University as Executive Director of the Municipal Technical Advisory Service in July of 2010.  A former city manager in cities in South Carolina, Virginia and Florida, Steve has extensive experience in a wide range of services and projects impacting small to large local governments, and has emphasized success with development, financial management and community partnerships.  Steve is also a former member of the Governmental Accounting Standards Advisory Council, the national advisory board to the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB).

Steve is enrolled in the doctoral program in political science at the University of Tennessee, and holds a master's degree in public administration (MPA) from the University of South Carolina.  Steve also earned a bachelor's degree (BA) in political science from the College of Charleston, SC.