Jeremy Dennis

Orgnaizational Development & Strategic Planning

Jeremy Dennis brings nearly thirty years of government experience at the local, regional, and state levels to support clients with organizational review and improvement. He has a wide breadth of knowledge in strategic planning, Councilmember support, Executive evaluation, assessing departmental gaps and opportunities, management mentorship and advising, and improving communication through a myriad of levels and groups of employees, electeds, and residents.

 Jeremy appreciates the nexus of elected officials, staff, and the public needs on challenging issues of change. Each of these constituencies speaks its own unique language and may have unshared processes, motivations, and results. He has spent much of his career finding new ways of engagement and understanding between parties on numerous contentious issues of change.

 Most recently, Jeremy served as Town Manager for Portola Valley, a small, affluent community on the San Francisco Peninsula. Over his seven years as Town Manager, he:

  • Led efforts to modernize the Town’s budgetary and accounting processes
  • Improved communications with residents and the public with the implementation of land use, service delivery, and project management software providing more public access to the Town’s operations
  • Managed contract negotiations with the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office for public safety services
  • Improved staff and council relations, as well as staff morale
  • Served as chair of regional joint powers authorities on library matters, and assisted in the creation of a new JPA addressing climate change issues
  • Oversaw executive evaluations for county agencies

He also served as the Long Range Planning Director for the City of Palo Alto, managing the city’s comprehensive plan update and municipal housing programs. He has served as a Finance Analyst for the municipal service department with the County of San Mateo, where he also oversaw the budget and accounting for the county’s contract with CalFire for fire services. He was as a roving Management Analyst for the County, working on projects as diverse as planning/building budget reform, capital improvement program process development, and countywide internship and sustainability programs.

Jeremy’s unique background also includes time as District Director or Chief of Staff for two California State Assemblymembers and two San Francisco region county board of supervisors.

He received two bachelor’s degrees from the University of California, Davis in Political Science and U.S. History, and an MSc in Regional and Urban Planning from the London School of Economics.