City hires new Quality of Life Department director

The City of Las Cruces has hired Carol Brey to serve as director of the Quality of Life Department. She replaces Lynn Gallagher, who resigned, the city said.

Brey previously served 12 years as a foreign service officer for the U.S. State Department, most recently on a detail in the office of U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Maryland. Prior to that, Brey served 2018-21 as director of the Office of American Spaces (OAS) in Washington, D.C., overseeing more than 600 of public diplomacy platforms in over 145 countries, the city said in a news release.

Overseas, Brey provided direct support for American Spaces throughout South America, nine countries in all, based at the U.S. Embassies in Buenos Aires, Argentina 2015-18 and in Brasilia, Brazil 2011-13. She also served as an OAS division chief, developing and implementing a worldwide training program.

Before joining the foreign service, Brey worked as a public library administrator for many years, most recently as director of the El Paso Public Library, and previously for Thomas Branigan Memorial Library in Las Cruces, as well as for libraries in Illinois, Oklahoma and Missouri, the city said.

Brey is past president (2004-05) of the American Library Association, the oldest and largest library association in the world.

Brey pursued Ph.D. studies at the University of Texas at Austin and holds a master’s degree in library and information science from the University of Illinois and a bachelor’s degree in music from Illinois State University, the city said. She is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese.

Brey recently moved back to the area with her husband, Adilson Bezerra de Sousa, and their two dogs.

“I am excited and happy to be returning to the City of Las Cruces to work as the Quality of Life director,” Brey said. “Las Cruces is a progressive and diverse city, and I look forward to working once again with city staff and partners to further enhance our community.”