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