Davis City Manager John Meyer has been appointed to the top financial and facilities planning position at UC Davis, effective July 17.
Meyer, 43, has been named vice chancellor for resource management and planning, with responsibility for overseeing the campus's increasingly complex and demanding resource and planning functions. He will also oversee the campus's internal audit unit, direct planning for projects involving private and public agency partners, and explore ways to improve organizational effectiveness.
"Anyone who knows John well will recognize that we've made a marvelous addition to our leadership team," said Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef. "John is widely respected for his creativity and win-win way of looking at things. We're quite fortunate to be able to put his many talents to work on the campus's behalf."
Added Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Robert Grey: "John brings a fresh perspective to resource and planning issues that will serve the campus and the university very well in this period of major growth and change. I'm delighted that he'll be joining us."
The past decade has seen significant growth in the campus's operating budget, faculty and staff ranks and student enrollments. And more growth is on the way, with Tidal Wave II expected to bring another 5,000 to 6,000 students to UC Davis by 2010, triggering an additional 150 faculty positions and accompanying growth in staff and necessitating renovation and construction of facilities.
"I am drawn to the position's amazing range of challenges and opportunities," Meyer said. "One challenge surrounds community building-how best to meet the challenges of growth while maintaining the unique attributes of Davis. And one opportunity is tremendously appealing-the opportunity to assist the faculty in identifying the resources needed to further their extraordinary scholarship."
Chief executive of the city of Davis since 1990, Meyer has been responsible for the city's $87 million annual budget and 487 employees serving a population of 56,000. His duties have included de-veloping strategies to achieve a stable city budget, enhancing economic development opportunities that reflect community values, improving relations with other governmental agencies, responding to community concerns about growth, and increasing employee involvement in management of city operations to enhance organizational performance.
He served as deputy city manager from 1987 to 1989, briefly serving as a consultant with Shannon Associates in Sacramento before returning to Davis as its manager the following year. He was employed by the city of Oakland as special assistant to the city manager from 1985 to 1987, and served as a community development consultant with the Sacramento firm Connerly & Associates from 1980 to 1985.
Meyer received a master's degree in public administration from the University of Southern California in 1985 and a bachelor's degree in sociology from UC Davis in 1980.
He is a member of the environmental quality policy committee and the fiscal stabilization technical advisory committee of the League of California Cities, and was a founding board member of the Davis Community Housing corporation.
Meyer will be the first vice chancellor to direct resource management and planning at UC Davis. Previously, the functions had been administered by an associate vice chancellor, with the post vacant since July 1998. The increasing importance of the position's responsibilities, plus the need to attract top-caliber candidates, led to the position's upgrading.