Keith Curry
Keith D. Curry serves as Mayor of the City of Newport Beach. He was appointed to the City Council in 2006 and subsequently elected in 2006, 2008, and 2012. He also served as Mayor in 2010.
As a member of the council, Mr. Curry initiated efforts to reform the city charter, to prevent the abuse of eminent domain, and to create a memorial to the U.S. Marines in Castaways Park. As Chairman of the Finance Committee, Mr. Curry led efforts to undertake the Citizens Satisfaction Survey, the Citizens Technology Task Force, and a major performance measurement and benchmarking initiative. He has been a long-time advocate for public pension reforms. As a member of the Facilities Financing Committee, he helped develop a multi-year plan to address all of the city’s facilities needs without new taxes.
In 2010, in his first act as Mayor, Mr. Curry introduced the Fiscal Sustainability Plan to ensure the city lives within its means. He led the efforts to construct the Newport Coast Community Center and to renovate the OASIS Senior Center. He is an advocate for increased open space and park preservation and serves as Chairman of the Orange County Parks Commission and a member of the Board of Directors of the Foundation for the Great Park. He is also First Vice-President of the Association of California Cities Orange County and President of the Orange County Division of the League of California Cities.
In 2011, Mr. Curry was named Director of the Concordia University Center for Public Policy and Visiting Professor. Prior to his service at Concordia, Mr. Curry retired as a Managing Director of Public Financial Management after a 24-year career as a financial advisor to state and local governments. From 2004-2006, he served as President of the National Association of Independent Public Finance Advisors and testified before Congress on issues of financial reform and public agency protections.
From 1982-1987, Mr. Curry served in the administration of President Ronald Reagan as Special Assistant to the Federal Transit Administrator and head of the agency’s private sector initiatives efforts in the Western States.
Mr. Curry attended California State University, Long Beach where he received a master’s degree in public administration, BA in Political Science and Certificate in Urban Studies. He has also completed executive programs in Driving Government Performance and Negotiation from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.