Today, in a special City Council meeting, the Richmond City Council unanimously appointed Henry Gardner as acting city manager for a limited time until a more permanent solution evolves.

Henry Gardner facilitated  a City Council retreat in February where strategic priorities of the City Council were developed.  He  is an award winning professional with more than 30 years of public service and private consulting experience. He began his career with the City of Oakland, rising from Assistant City Manager to City Manager, a position he held from 1981-93. Working in the private sector during the nineties, he developed major and successful strategies for public financing, capital projects and new business development. He also provided extensive municipal management consulting services to states, cities, counties, schools, and special districts. During his tenure as City Manager he was responsible for developing the budgets for both the City and the Redevelopment Agency, with combined operating and capital expenditures in excess of $1 billion. Gardner has been the recipient of the National Forum for Black Public Administrators’ Mark of Excellence Award, and was the 1992 Selected Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.

Gardner served as Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), official Council of Governments representing the Bay Area’s nine counties and 101 cities. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Institute for Local Government, the California State Association of Counties Finance Corporation, and is a past board member of Children’s Hospital and Research Center of Oakland, the Special Olympics of Northern California, and the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. He is the past president and founding board member of the National Forum for Black Public Administrators. Gardner received an A.B. from the University of Illinois with a major in Political Science and Speech, and an M.A. from Southern Illinois University in Government and International Law and Relations. He has lived in Oakland since the early 1970s.