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Nick Kurns Related Seminars and Products

Finance Manager

Scotts Valley Water District

Nick Kurns is the Finance and Customer Service Manager for Scotts Valley Water District, where is responsible for the accounting, utility billing, and customer service functions of the District.  Prior to his current role, Nick worked as a Budget Analyst for the City of Sunnyvale.  He holds an MBA from Santa Clara University and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Claremont McKenna College.  Nick currently serves as the Chair of the Career Development Committee for CSMFO and serves as the Treasurer for the Scotts Valley Chamber of Commerce.  Outside of work, Nick enjoys trail running and coaching his son’s little league teams.

Grace Leung Related Seminars and Products

City Manager

City of Newport Beach

Grace Leung became City Manager for the City of Newport Beach in September 2018.  She is responsible for the City’s day-to-day operations, directing the staff of approximately 765 fulltime employees and 150 part-time employees, overseeing the services of 11 departments, and managing an annual budget of over $400 million.

Grace has nearly three decades of experience working in local government.  She began her career with the City of Long Beach and went on to serve the City of Sunnyvale for 18 years, including as the City’s Finance Director.  Grace left Sunnyvale to join the City of Irvine as Administrative Services Director and then Assistant City Manager before joining Newport Beach.

Grace holds a Bachelor’s degree from Columbia University in Urban Studies and a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.  Grace and her husband, Jim, have two children, Skylar and Miles.

Dan Rich Related Seminars and Products

Retired City Manager and Current Public Sector Consultant

Dan Rich was a local government manager with more than thirty years of public sector experience, including fourteen years as a city manager.  He has a strong background in strategic planning, organizational development, and land use as well as extensive involvement in financial management, personnel and policy analysis.  His proven interpersonal, communication, negotiation and facilitation skills served him well over the course of his career and he has been involved with career development efforts of young professionals for over a decade.  Dan is a big picture strategic thinker and also someone who pays attention to the small details and the political context of a situation. 

Dan served as Mountain View’s City Manager from 2011 through 2019, when he retired.  Mountain View is a full service city with approximately 80,000 residents and is home to numerous well-known large and small companies including Google, Intuit, and LinkedIn.  Dan worked on complex land use projects and partnerships as well as award winning long range planning documents.  He was active on regional pension reform, transportation and Next Gen employee development issues.  Dan also took pride in fostering effective Council relations and initiating employee wellness and engagement efforts.  He served as chair of the Santa Clara County City Managers Association and was a member of the League of California Cities’ pension reform task force.

Earlier in his career, Dan spent nine years in the Sunnyvale city manager’s office, four years as Assistant City Manager in Belmont, and six years as Campbell City Manager.  He also spent five years working for members of Congress.

Current areas of consulting focus include: onboarding and coaching, goal setting, team building, and performance evaluations. 

Since retiring, in addition to consulting, Dan has been volunteering with local non-profits and working part time at Stanford University, teaching a public policy practicum, an introductory Land Use class, and a seminar entitled: Local Government in Action.

Dan is a Bay Area native and received his BA from U.C. Berkeley and has a Master in Public Policy from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.