Meet Jim Reed
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Mayor Jim Reed was elected to a partial term on the Scotts Valley City Council in 2007 and re-elected to full terms in 2010 and 2014. He has been Mayor since December, 2017, and served previously in that role in 2009-10 and 2013-14. He joined the City Council immediately after a year as Editor/General Manager of the Press-Banner newspaper, several years as a contributing reporter covering Scotts Valley issues for the Santa Cruz Sentinel, the Scotts Valley Times and Mid-County Post and spending a dozen years in high tech.
In his full-time job, Jim is the Chief of Staff for San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, who presides over the tenth largest city in the nation and the largest in Northern California. He started on Mayor Liccardo’s first day in office, January 1, 2015.
Previously, Jim was the Vice President for Public Policy with the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce (currently the Silicon Valley Organization or “SVO”), where he directly managed all aspects of the organization’s policy research, public advocacy and political action while helping lay the groundwork the SVO’s economic development initiative, Silicon Valley IDEA.
Prior to working for the Chamber, Jim spent 12 years as a director and senior manager for publicly-traded technology companies, the last six with Nokia in Mountain View, CA. While working in tech, Jim started the citizens’ group Town Center Now that advocated for re-location of the propane tanks on Mt. Hermon Road, which previously blocked proposed Town Center projects.
Jim represented Scotts Valley for eight years on the Library Joint Powers Authority board that administered the Santa Cruz City County library system. In that capacity, he played a leading role in the creation of the new Scotts Valley Library. He has been a consistent voice for limiting spending, growing in a controlled, sustainable manner, partnering with our schools and building the Town Center.
Jim has held leadership roles with over a dozen service clubs, school and civic groups, business organizations and youth sports leagues. He received his B.A. from George Mason University outside of Washington, D.C. A native of Chicagoland, he has been married to his wife, Lea, for 21 years. Their four children – Jimmy (18), Willa (16), Dave (14) and Ava (11) – are all products of Scotts Valley public schools. The family’s home life revolves around Pokey the dog, age 6.
