Advisory Board Spotlight
Greg Devereaux
Mr. Devereaux served in state and local government for 40 years, holding a variety of leadership positions including City Manager of both Fontana and Ontario, where he worked with the city councils to improve each city’s finances, as well as Chief Executive Officer of San Bernardino County California where he helped the Board of Supervisors lead the County in a new direction which emphasized fiscal responsibility and working as a team. He worked with the Board and the San Bernardino Associated Governments in a community-driven effort to develop a Countywide Vision. He recently retired and has opened his own consulting firm working with both public and private clients.
Mr. Devereaux holds a Juris Doctorate from West Virginia University and is a Fellow at the National Academy of Public Administration, a member of public administration, policy and planning academic advisory boards at USC, The University of California Riverside, and California State University San Bernardino and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the West Virginia University Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Division of Public Administration.
He is a Past President of the California Redevelopment Association, served on numerous committees at both the League of California Cities and the California State Association of Counties and in 2009 was appointed by the California Air resources board to the Regional Targets Advisory Committee on greenhouse gas reduction under SB 375.
Over his career he has received numerous awards including: the Building Industry Association Baldy View Chapter President’s Award and Good Government Award, Inland Empire Economic Partnership Award for Leadership in Public Service, the Clarence A. Dykstra Award for Excellence in Government from the Southern California Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration, the Southern California Association of Government President’s Award for Public Service Leader of the Year, the League of California Cities Inland Empire Division James S. Thalman Memorial Public Services Award, and the management Leader of the Year from the A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management at the University of California Riverside.
What are your proudest accomplishments?
Having worked with the elected leaders, staffs and the communities of Fontana, Ontario, and San Bernardino County to improve the functioning of their local governments and significantly improve the services, facilities, level of infrastructure maintenance, and financial condition of each jurisdiction.
Are there any research areas/projects you are currently involved in or would be interested in collaborating with SPP faculty or students?
Given the frequency and range of challenges, both known and unforeseen, facing local governments in the U.S., work needs to be done on analyzing what policy choices and organizational decisions lead to increased resiliency of the jurisdiction.
What advice do you have for public policy students as they prepare for a career in public service?
A career in public service provides each of you the unique opportunity to improve the arch of the quality of life in the communities in which you work - not for a day, a week, a year, or a decade, but forever.
How has Covid-19 affected you? How should our inland community, including the UCR community, prepare for a public health crisis like Covid-19?
Covid has certainly limited the time I get to spend with friends and our extended family but, has given me more time to work on my consulting business. The key to preparing for any emergency or crisis, is building resiliency into organizations and community. Having the leadership, cohesion, flexibility, and wherewithal to prepare for and react to the both the anticipated and the unexpected.
On a personal note, what do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
I enjoy reading, walking our dogs with my wife, playing music, and doing home improvement projects.
Any final words of wisdom?
I will leave the students with two of my favorite quotes:
“Service is the rent we pay for being. It is the very purpose of life, not something we do in our spare time.” Marion Wright Edleman
“The price of greatness is responsibility.” Winston Churchill
Greg Devereaux was also featured in our podcast series known as "Policy Chats."
In this episode, the UCR School of Public Policy discusses the different roles and responsibilities of counties versus cities in general, but especially amid a pandemic with retired CEO of San Bernardino County, Greg Devereaux.