Rafael Guzman has 21 years of municipal government experience, including 16 years in executive roles including Assistant City Manager, Director of Community and Economic Development and Director of Planning. As the City’s first Chief Sustainability Officer, he established cross-cutting teams formed around the triple bottom line: social responsibility, economic prosperity and environmental stewardship. He was the only local government representative selected by California’s Strategic Growth Council to speak at the first climate scientist gathering in Sacramento, California at the “Science to Action – Climate Change Symposium” in 2019.
Guzman led a multi-departmental customer centric initiative called Streamline Riverside. In collaboration with eight development service departments and the community, the multiple award winning Streamline Riverside transformed the delivery of service by fostering greater transparency, eliminating barriers and facilitating record investment. Streamline Riverside and its One Stop Shop continues to host best practice tour requests with over 100 cities from across California and cities from eight different states taking part.
Under Guzman’s leadership, the City received has also received awards in the areas of Best Practices, Climate Action, Sustainability, Historic Preservation, Planning, Economic Development, Adaptive Reuse of Buildings, Affordable Veteran’s Housing, Local Food Systems, Ending Homelessness, Food Waste to Energy and more.
Guzman received his Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Analysis and Design from the University of California, Irvine. He earned his Master of Environmental Science from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science & Forestry in Syracuse, New York.