Drew Corbett
Consultant, RPMG
ABOUT DREW CORBETT
Drew has nearly 20 years of experience in local government, having worked for the cities of Sunnyvale, Menlo Park and San Mateo.
Drew started his municipal government career in the City of Sunnyvale in 2005 as a budget analyst, where he gained expertise in all areas of budget development, including revenue and expenditure forecasting, cost allocations, internal service programs, fee development, salary negotiations, pension cost forecasting, capital project planning and long-term financial planning. After a promotion to the combined role of budget manager and assistant finance director, Drew retained his budget responsibilities while also taking on the functional areas of accounting, accounts payable and payroll.
In 2013, Drew was hired by the City of Menlo Park to be its finance director, with functional responsibilities including accounting and financial reporting, budget, accounts payable, purchasing, payroll, treasury, debt service, risk management and revenue management.
In 2015, Drew left Menlo Park to join the City of San Mateo as its finance director. In 2016, Drew retained his title of finance director while adding the title of assistant city manager. In his new capacity, Drew took on oversight of the information technology department and managed special projects on behalf of the city manager.
In late 2018, the San Mateo City Council appointed Drew as the city manager, where he served through June 2023. In this role, Drew led the operations of a full-service city with over 600 full-time equivalent employees and over 105,000 residents. This included leading the organization through the COVID-19 pandemic, overseeing the completion of a $210 million grade separation project with Caltrain, commencing construction of a $1 billion wastewater treatment plant and conveyance system and overseeing the development of a comprehensive update of the city’s general plan into the environmental review stage. During his time as city manager, Drew also served as the chief administrative officer of the San Mateo Consolidated Fire Department, a Joint Powers Authority that provides fire protection and prevention services to the cities of San Mateo, Belmont and Foster City.
Drew earned his M.B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has a B.A. in political science from the University of the South. Prior to entering the public sector, Drew spent two years as an elementary school teacher in Compton, California as part of the Teach For America program and five years as a senior analyst and project manager with the Intel Corporation in Santa Clara, California.
Drew has been recognized both regionally and across the state for his municipal finance experience. He served in a leadership capacity with the California Society of Municipal Finance Officers for three years, including as its president in 2017, and was a member of the organization’s board of directors for three years.
