Candidate for
Mayor; City of San Diego

Jerry Sanders 2008 Campaign Bio

Jerry Sanders was sworn in as mayor of the City of San Diego on Monday, December 5th, 2005. During his tenure as Mayor, Jerry Sanders has worked productively to get our city's financial footing back on solid ground, while maintaining services to our citizens. Mayor Sanders has shepherded two balanced budgets. He has actively worked to implement the Kroll Report remedial actions, ensuring past mistakes are not made again. Mayor Sanders has also developed a Five Year Financial Plan that openly and honestly tackles long-ignored city obligations and begins addressing our many deferred maintenance projects. As part of that plan, he has undertaken a management overhaul that examined every city function and led to the reduction of approximately 670 city jobs without significantly impacting city services.

Prior to being sworn in as Mayor, Jerry Sanders served as Chief of Police from 1993 until 1999, capping a 26-year career with the department. During his tenure, he and the department's employees gained national recognition for their pioneering work with community policing and, with active assistance from the community, achieved a more than 40% decrease in crime during the six-year period he led the department. He also re-organized the department, making it more responsive to the community, reaching out to neighborhoods, and utilizing more than 1,000 volunteers to address San Diego's public safety needs.

Sanders left the Police Department to become president and CEO of the United Way of San Diego County (April 1999) at a time when the agency was being criticized for a bloated bureaucracy and a decline in contributions. During his tenure, the local United Way dramatically increased fundraising and decreased overhead costs. In addition, he served as the United Way Community Campaign Chair in 2002. Sanders was appointed to the board of the American Red Cross San Diego and Imperial Counties Chapters (July 2002) after the local CEO was fired by the national headquarters in the aftermath of controversy concerning the Alpine Fire. He helped recruit Ronne Froman as the organization's CEO and oversaw the turnaround of the local chapter, which resulted in support for victims of the Cedar Fire, praise from former critics for the transparency of fundraising efforts, and a staff re-organization that substantially reduced overhead costs.

Sanders has also been active in the private sector, serving as founding partner and consultant for local high-tech start-ups involved with homeland security and infrastructure assessment.

Sanders, 57, and his wife Rana Sampson, live in Kensington. He has two daughters, Lisa and Jamie.