About Us

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 Sunnyvale in 2005 as a budget analyst, where he gained expertise all areas of budget development, including revenue and expenditure forecasting, cost allocations, internal service programs, fee development, salary negotiations, pension cost forecasting, and capital project planning.  Drew also managed the long-term financial forecast for multiple funds, including the city’s general fund.  After a promotion to budget manager/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 his first year as finance director, Drew completely overhauled the city’s operating budget, transitioning it from a program/service model to a department/division model, and redesigned the budget document.  Drew also oversaw the transition to a new payroll system that was a hybrid in-house/outsourced model.

In 2015, Drew left Menlo Park to join the city of San Mateo as its finance director.  In his first year in San Mateo, Drew restructured the operating and capital budget development processes, redesigned the budget document, and developed an integrated 10-year financial plan for the general fund to drive strategic decision making on short- and long-term resource allocation.  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 Master of Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has a bachelor’s degree 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, CA as part of the Teach For America program, and five years as a senior analyst/project manager with the Intel Corporation in Santa Clara, CA.

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.

Drew remains active with CSMFO by serving on various committees, including chairing the Past Presidents Advisory Committee, speaking at the annual conference, and writing articles to support the organization’s professional development efforts.