The Cobb County Board of Commissioners agreed to hire business executive Roger L. Ball as its new purchasing director during its regular meeting Tuesday, Feb. 23.

Ball, currently the director of procurement for Asian Development Bank in Manila, is expected to join the county March. 1. He replaces Purchasing Director William Joe Tommie who retired in June last year.

Dr. Jackie R. McMorris, county manager, recommended Ball based on his more than two decades of work managing procurement services.

"Mr. Ball will certainly serve us well because of his vast procurement experience," she said after his hire. "His leadership and experience in long range strategic planning will be useful as we begin to work on the county’s strategic plan. I look forward to working with him."

Ball has worked as the director of procurement and contracts administration for Asian Development Bank since May 2018. For more than five years previously, he was director of procurement services for Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia.

He has also led procurement for Inter-American Development Bank, the District of Columbia Water Authority and the Washington Convention Center Authority. Prior to that Ball was the deputy director of procurement and contracts for Fulton County government. He is a graduate of Clark Atlanta University and the University of Maryland.