Redwood City Assistant City Manager Alex Khojikian was named the new San Mateo city manager to take over for the retiring Drew Corbett, the city announced in a press release Wednesday.
Khojikian believes his skills and experience working in Redwood City will transfer over to San Mateo, a similar-sized city with many of the same dynamics of a waterfront, downtown, diverse neighborhoods and large transportation and infrastructure issues. He believes he can hit the ground running when he starts Aug. 21 due to his experience and because the city is a high-performing organization.
“I’m super excited to join the San Mateo team and work with the community, council and organizations,” Khojikian said.
As he starts the job, Khojikian plans to listen to the community and meet with groups, residents and businesses to understand their needs. Before deciding on the vacant assistant city manager position, he plans to assess the organization and meet with staff to understand its current state. He will make $338,000 per year.
He has 21 years of experience in city government and, previous to his seven years with Redwood City, he served four years with Half Moon Bay, where he became deputy city manager and six years with the city of Paramount. He has a bachelor’s degree in political science and a minor in public policy from the University of California, Berkeley.
San Mateo Mayor Amourence Lee praised his strong track record on community engagement and working on projects within the county that can translate to San Mateo businesses. She pointed to his work negotiating a land swap that enabled San Mateo County to create a new navigation center.
“We’re excited to have Alex join our team,” Lee said in a press release. “He is a proven leader in San Mateo County, and he’s prepared to hit the ground running on day one. Alex’s passion for community engagement stands out and will be an asset to our organization and community.”
Vice Mayor Lisa Diaz Nash said the council was looking for a great communicator and listener, something she believes he will do. Her priorities were making sure he helped work on the city’s housing element and general plan and to work and get input from neighborhoods and neighborhood associations on where the city will be in 20 years. She noted his time in Redwood City allowed him to deal with housing development and planning with the general plan, gaining the experience needed to deal with the complex issue in San Mateo.
“We are so happy he is coming,” Diaz Nash said. “I think everybody in town is going to get to know him because he will reach out to everyone.”
Diaz Nash said his personality and demeanor stood out when the council interviewed and a large group of candidates interviewed.
Khojikian will be responsible for overseeing the 10 departments of the city and replacing Corbett, who is retiring on June 30. San Mateo Community Development Department Director Christina Horrisberger has been named interim city manager until Khojikian starts. Corbett announced his retirement in January. San Mateo Assistant City Manager Kathy Kleinbaum is also leaving her role as number two with the city to take a new role as Belmont’s new assistant city manager in August.
Khojikian lives in Mountain View with his wife and family and enjoys spending time outdoors biking, fishing and beekeeping.
(1) comment
We are thrilled to welcome Alex Khojikian to San Mateo! As a City Council, we worked closely together on this critical decision, and uniformly believed that Alex was the best candidate for San Mateo. I encourage our community to reach out to Alex when he arrives to make him feel welcome and to share your ideas for how to make San Mateo the best it can be!
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