Sarah Aghassi

Experience

1. Deputy Chief Administrative Officer General Manager

   County of San Diego

   Nov 2010 — Present · San Diego, CA, US

   As the Deputy Chief Administrative Officer and General Manager for the County of San Diego, I oversee all aspects of day-to-day operations for the Land Use & Environment Group. The Group is one of the County’s main service providers, covering areas such as sustainability, health and safety, infrastructure, land use policy and planning, community programming and services such as libraries and parks, environmental quality, and disaster response/recovery. In this role, I provide executive leadership to 15 direct reports and staff members across 6 departments and manage a $630M annual budget. Furthermore, I deliver diverse programs and services to 3.3 million residents and 35 million visitors annually in the region.\\\\n\\\\nTHE IMPACT I DELIVERED:\\\\n• Convened disparate stakeholder groups to support major initiatives, such as the County’s $18M General Plan update. Plan was one of the top enterprise risks for the County’s prior Chief Administrative Officer, had been stalled for 13 years, but was able to address all key issues and secure final passage within 6 months of coming into the role.\\\\n• Successfully drove the strategy for reevaluating rate/fee adjustments that had not been updated for years (some for as long as 30 years), resulting in $20M of additional annual revenue for the County’s health, safety, and environmental programs and services (cost avoidance for the General Fund), with the support of industries being charged the fees. At the same time, improved departmental processes to avoid more than $3M in costs to ratepayers annually.\\\\n• Improved departmental performance by leading technology initiatives including integrating 40 software systems into 1 system, achieving $2M+ in annual savings; creating mobile applications, online permitting services, and electronic forms, achieving $1.5M in annual savings and 33% efficiency gain for field staff; implementing online appointments and mobile inspection programs using tablets, apps, and digital forms.\\\\n \\\\n\\\\n \\\\n \\\\n\\\\n \\\\n

Education

• University of San Diego

  Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), International Relations, Minors Business Administration & Philosophy

• University of the Pacific - McGeorge School of Law

  Juris Doctor (J.D.)