Alumni

ScholarWorks

Research projects of many MPA program graduates can be found in Scholarworks, a digital repository of research, scholarship, and creative works at San Jose State University.

Selected MPA Alumni

City Managers/Deputy City Managers

Matt Cano - Deputy City Manager, City of Milpitas
Norberto Duenas - San Jose (retired)
Kevin Duggan - Mountain View (retired), ICMA Western Regional Manager (retired)
Debra Figone - San Jose (retired)
Mark Linder - Campbell (retired)
Katy Nomura - Deputy CM, City of Long Beach
Melissa (Dile) Stevenson-Diaz - Redwood City

City/County/Agency Department Heads

Nina Hawk - Chief, Bay-Delta Resources at Metropolitan Water District of Southern CA
Christopher Hoem - Community Development Director, City of Ceres, CA
Curtis Jacobson - Fire Chief, City of Fremont
Bill Kelly - Fire Chief, City of Santa Clara (retired, passed away September 2022)
Dennis Kidd - General Manager, Santa Cruz Regional 9-1-1
Ky Le - Deputy County Executive, Santa Clara County
Rosanne Macek - Director, Mountain View Library
Anthony Mata - Chief, San Jose Police Department
Tony Ndah - Public Works Director, City of Fremont
Robert Sapien - Chief, SJFD
Rachel VanderVeen - Assistant Director, Housing Department, City of San Jose
Reginald Williams - Chief, Rocklin Fire Department

City Public Safety Leaders

Etalvina Alvarez - Supervising Probation Officer, Santa Clara County
Justin DeOliveira - Investigator, District Attorney’s Office
Jason Dwyer - Capt., SJPD; formerly media lead when he was a sergeant
Doug Feliciano - Director of Facilities Security, the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office
Edith Garcia Fong - Detective, Campbell Police Department
Robert Herrera - Battalion Chief, SJFD
Shea Johnson - Lt., Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office (retired)
Joel Villanueva - Santa Cruz Probation Department
Rick Weger - Lt., SJPD (retired); Reno Tahoe Airport Authority Police Department
Andrea Whelan - Deputy Coroner, Santa Clara County
Andrew Wong - Mountain View Police Department

City/County/Special District Civilian Leaders

Angelina Abella - Economic Development Specialist, City of Stockton
Juan Carlos Aguila - Buyer, County of Santa Clara
Joseph Aguilera - Public Works Manager, City of Milpitas
Anita Asher - Senior Human Resources Analyst, Santa Clara County
Ernest Azevedo - Executive Analyst, City of San Jose
Ivo Basor - Management Analyst II, County of Monterey |
Maria Begiebing - Senior Environmental Inspector, City of San Jose Environmental Services
Karen Bernard-Guerin - City Manager’s Office, Cupertino
Darius Brown - Senior Development Officer, Ordinances & Fees, Housing Department, City of San José
Julia Burkhead - Housing Programs Manager, Santa Clara County Housing Authority
Mainini Cabute - Program Manager, Public Works Department, City of Saratoga
Hong Cao - Program Manager III, Santa Clara County
Robert Carrera - Economic Development Specialist, City of Concord
Iulieta Chan-Tung - EPIC Systems Analyst, Santa Clara Health and Hospital Systems
Janani Chandrasekar - Associate Management Analyst, County of Santa Clara
Travis Cheng - Health Services Assistant/Interim Program Coordinator, San Jose City College
Tiffany J. Chew - Business Development Specialist, City of Mountain View
Adrian Cudal - Student Internship Program Coordinator, County of Santa Clara
Kathryn Estrada - BEST Analyst, City of San Jose
Mary Figone - Administrator, City of Palo Alto
Jarett Garife - Assistant Manager of Transportation, Monterey County Office of Education
Heather Heinbaugh - Utility Program Manager, City of Alameda
Diem Hoang - CPA, Finance, San Mateo County Transit District
Elizabeth Hutton - Administrative Analyst, Housing Authority, County of Santa Cruz
Oscar Jimenez - Analyst, California Judicial Council
Claudia Kwok Chang - City Manager’s Budget Office, San Jose
Candice Kwok-Smith - Program Administrator, Santa Clara Valley Water District
Ashley Lancaster - Human Resources Division Manager, City of Santa Clara
Liz K. Lange - Analyst, Human Resources Agency, County of San Mateo
Mariah Lindberg - Associate Management Analyst, Office of the County Exec., Santa Clara County
Khalila Liverpool - Special Education Professional, San Francisco Unified School District
Christina Lopez - Recreation Specialist, City of Cupertino
Bianca Madrid - Community Programs Administrator, Housing Department, City of San Jose
Juan Magana - SNAP Benefits Coordinator, Santa Cruz County
Sheree Martinek - Santa Clara County Public Defender’s Office
Shilpa Mehta - Principal Engineer, City of Santa Clara Water Utility
Kelly Mercer-Lebov - Senior Programs Coordinator, City of Santa Cruz
Nathaniel Montgomery - Development Officer, Homeless Response Team, Housing Department, San Jose
Hilda Morales Lucio - Community Services Supervisor at City of San José
Rene Moreno - Management Analyst, Valley Water
Ralph Murrietta - Lead Election Specialist, Registrar of Voters Office, County of Santa Clara
Viviane Nguyen - Housing Department, City of San Jose
Stewart Patri - Budget Analyst, City Manager’s Budget Office, City of San Jose
Phuong Pham - Eligibility Worker, County of Santa Clara
Beth Pinkston - Supervisor, Parks and Recreation, San Jose
Harrison Pugh - Management Analyst, Kings County, Washington
Nupur Rathore - Program Coordinator, Health Department, County of Santa Clara
Jesus Raygoza - Manager, Parks and Recreation, City of Sunnyvale
Sarah Robustelli - Sr. Community Services Supervisor, Town of Los Altos Hills
Mayra Rocha - Accounts Administrator, City of Watsonville
Giulia Seminatore - Management Analyst, Social Services Agency, Santa Clara County
Jennifer Shelton - Management Analyst, City of Santa Cruz
Manpreet Sra - Learning and Development Analyst, Human Resources, City of San Jose
Omar Teutle - Enforcement Analyst, California Public Utilities Commission
Michael Thomas - Management Analyst, City of Campbell
Ben Tran - Management Analyst, Valley Health Plan
Vince Tran - Network Analyst, Santa Clara County Office of Education
Brett Uppendahl - Budget Manager, County of Marin
Rachael Vander Veen - Deputy Director, Housing Department, City of San Jose
Nadia Webster - USAFR, Litigation Analyst, Office of the City Attorney, City of San Jose
Tanisha Werner - Managing Engineer, Streets and Roads, City of Santa Clara
Olympia Williams - BeautifySJ Program Manager, City of San Jose
Kelly Wright - Manager, Human Resources, City of Fremont
Genevieve Yip - Staff Analyst, City of Santa Clara

City Fellowships

Robert Carrera - Economic Development Specialist, City of Concord
Oscar Murillo - ICMA Fellow, Evanston
Samantha Tavares - City of Phoenix Fellow
Michael Thomas - Fellow, Campbell City Manager’s Office

State Government Leaders

James Griffith - Emergency Services Coordinator, California Office of Emergency Services
Julie Nagasako - Deputy Director, Office of Policy & Planning, CA Department of Public Health

Federal Government Leaders

2nd Lieutenant Benjamin Edelberg - Aviation, US Army
Captain John Gomez - United States Army
Major Bevan Hart - National Guard Air Force, 139th Rescue Wing
Waseem Iqbal - Supreme Court Fellow (only non-lawyer) – determinant sentencing project; now Homeland Security Special Agent.
Linda Min - Program Analyst, Office of Inspector General, Department of Health and Human Services
Sergeant Galen Yusufzai-Boggs - Task Force Rattlesnake (Wildfire Fighting Task Force), CA National Guard

Elected Officials

Evan Low - Assemblymember, State of California
Domingo Candelas - Council Member, City of San Jose
Sergio Jimenez - Council Member, City of San Jose
Andres Quintero - School Board Member, Alum Rock School District

Staff to Elected Officials

Patrick Ahrens - District Representative, Assemblymember Evan Low
Frances Grammar - Senior Manager, Office of State Senator Jim Beall
Nick Kaspar - Chief of Staff, Council Member Maya Esparza, City of San Jose
Kira Valenta - Management Analyst, Supervisor Mike Wasserman, Santa Clara County

Higher Education

Fernanda Perdomo Arciniegas - Deputy Diversity Officer, SJSU
Ranjit Bains - Financial Manager and Research Administrator, Stanford University
Sabra Diridon - Executive Director for Development, SJSU
Kelsey Fisher - Courses, Lecturer, & Postdoc Officer at Stanford University Graduate School of Education
Dan Goodrich - Senior Transportation Security Scientist, Mineta Transportation Institute
Christelle Lorenzana - Associate Director, Research Administration at Stanford U. School of Medicine
Twinki Mistry - Director, Service Quality/ IT, CSU East Bay
Shawntee Michael - Associate Director of Development, SJSU
Harshdeep Nanda - Program Director, Ohlone College
Daniel Newell - Director, Career Center & Small Business Development Center, Ohlone College
Phaly Phon - Administrative Support Coordinator, San Jose State University
Eric Ramones - Assoc. Vice Chancellor of Human Resources, West Valley-Mission Com. College Dist.
Mai Tran - Research Personnel Manager, UC San Francisco

Non-Profit Sector

Jessica Arline - Wellness Program Analyst, El Camino Hospital
Lt. Darren Bader - USAR, Manager of Care Coordination, Sutter Memorial Hospital
Josh Barousse - Director of Development, San Jose Spotlight
Alison Cingolani - Housing Policy and Research, SV@Home
Jerry Datillo - Caminar Jobs Plus
Catherine Derringer - Director of Individual Major Gifts, KQED Television
Mandeep Gill - Event Coordinator, Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful
Sergio Gonzales - Sacred Heart Community Services
Tamar Kaufmann-Menzel - Manager, Call Center, Planned Parenthood Mar Monte
Alia Rizvi - Hope Services Counseling Center
Christina Salvatier - Chief Financial Officer, Valley Medical Center Foundation
Cyndi Valdez - Housing Stabilization Coordinator at Families In Transition of Santa Cruz County
Amy Winkleblack - Senior Director of Development, Santa Clara Valley Humane Society

Private Sector

Lizzy Balcom - Operations Manager, ASAP Systems
Alan W. Barner - Security Specialist, Facebook
Rose Redlich - Assistant Environmental Planner, Circlepoint
Rod Diridon - Jr., Government Relations Manager, Apple Corporation
Cheryl Galloway - Director of Education and Community Engagement, Facilitron
Admir Garic - Project Manager, Splunk
Debbie Gonzales - Director of Human Resources, Front Porch Retirement Community, Sunnyvale
Reuben Hasani - Recruiter, Executive Connections Group
Bradyn Miller - Site Coordinator, Hewlett Packard, Vancouver, Washington
Sayrne Miller, Financial Services
Rene Picazo - Senior New Business Representative, PG&E
Areej Sadhan - Information Technology, Facebook
Ben Sok - owner, private food business
Ben Tripousis - Associate Vice President and Senior Program Manager, HNTB
Tim Tung - Director & Lead Analyst, Standard and Poors Global Ratings, San Francisco
Dalia VanDerZee - Special Project Manager, Department of Medicine, Stanford University
Griffin Weizer - Policy Coordinator, Silicon Valley Leadership Group
John Wills - Director, Language School, ShanDong, China