Ed Everett | Redwood City, San Mateo County

Ed is a nationally known expert in the areas of Community Building and Civic Engagement. He has spoken to numerous state and national conferences on these topics, has led successful training programs in these areas and written on community building. His passion is to help cities and communities understand and implement successful community building and civic engagement strategies. Ed uses his 36 successful years in local government, including 24 years as a city manager, to share his research and practice in these fields.

Ed, who recently retired as the city manager of Redwood City, California after sixteen years, was awarded the ICMA’s highest award: “Award for Career Excellence” in 2007. During his career, he has also served as city manager of Belmont, California, assistant county manager for Washoe County, Nevada, and fire chief for Palo Alto, California.

He has a degree in Economics from U.C. Davis and a graduate degree in Urban Affairs from Princeton University. After leading the renaissance of downtown Redwood City, Ed focused his research, study and practice on community building and civic engagement. He understands the power and impact of community building and civic engagement and led Redwood City in establishing and implementing it core purpose: “Build a Great Community Together”.

Ed is a Senior Fellow with the Davenport Institute of Public Engagement and Civic Leadership at Pepperdine University. He is also the Community Strategist for Nextdoor.com a start up company that has developed a website for connecting neighbors, neighborhoods and the city/county in order to build stronger and safer neighborhoods.

Ed is an executive coach and helps managers who want to be more successful in their organizations. He has done significant coaching of younger professional through the “Next Generation” program.