Candidate for
Council Member; City of San Carlos

Len Materman has taken an active role in the life of San Carlos, volunteering to coach little league baseball and AYSO soccer, coordinate the City's 2005 Earth Day walk along Pulgas Creek, and serve on the Board of Friends of Cordilleras Creek. Len's wife, Holly, is active on the San Carlos Education Foundation Board in support of our school district, which includes White Oaks School where their sons are in Kindergarten and 3rd grade.

Len's commitment to public service began when he was on the Student Council at UC Davis almost twenty years ago. After graduating from Davis, Len worked at UCLA and then for the U.S. Embassy in Prague. In 1993, Len resumed his work with government as UC Berkeley's Director of Government Affairs. In this position, he represented UC Berkeley with lawmakers in Sacramento and Washington on a diversity of issues. In 1998, the year he left the campus, the Chancellor awarded Len two Distinguished Service Awards (as and individual and as a member of a team) for his service to the University.

In 1999 and 2000, Len served in the Clinton Administration as a full-time advisor on pre-disaster planning and environmental issues to the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Also during that time in Washington, Len served on two White House Task Forces related to balancing environmental and economic needs in communities nationwide.

Throughout this period of public service, Len learned the value of open, honest government that is responsive to its constituents, and learned how to effectively work with elected officials and civil servants to accomplish their mutual objectives.

Five years ago, Len formed a nonprofit, America's River Communities, Inc. that has since helped citizens and governments in the Bay Area and throughout the United States address their economic, environmental, and education and health related concerns. Through this nonprofit, Len has worked as a consultant to community foundations and other nonprofit organizations to develop effective governance, raise and grant funds, and implement projects.

Currently, Len is also working with community and government leaders in San Benito County, California to implement a land use strategy that is, for the first time, supported by landowners, developers and environmentalists. He is also a consultant to the U.S. State Department, assisting the government of Slovakia with their efforts to preserve that nation's only United Nations designated nature preserve.

Len has volunteered on the community boards of several nonprofit organizations, including KQED in San Francisco and the Public Policy Information Fund in Austin, Texas.