Christopher Smith named deputy city manager
December 13, 2023 1:54 PM
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (Dec. 13, 2023) — City Manager David White announced the appointment of Christopher Smith as deputy city manager, overseeing the city’s internal services departments, as well as the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team and the city’s chief of staff.
The move marks a change in the city’s organizational structure, elevating the deputy city manager role to enhance coordination and alignment across the Human Resources, Information Services and Finance departments.
It also places greater focus on the nexus between Human Resources and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to continue to further the city’s strategic goal of bringing these principles into city hiring, training and organizational culture.
By centralizing leadership over the departments and divisions that provide internal services, White said he aims to establish greater efficiency in the organization to more effectively serve the residents, businesses and visitors of Santa Monica.
“The purpose of this modification is to align our internal services departments to work collaboratively and efficiently for the organization and to help coordinate and facilitate significant projects in each of the departments,” White said. “Christopher has strong connections throughout the organization and brings tremendous insight as to where employees are and what is needed to support our workforce.”
Smith is a longtime Santa Monica resident and has worked in multiple departments during his 13 years at the city of Santa Monica, most recently serving as chief of staff in the City Manager’s Office for the past eight years and, since May, as acting chief information officer heading the Information Services Department.
Smith has also served as Santa Monica’s LGBTQ+ Liaison since 2018, helping realize Santa Monica Pride, building community partnerships and advancing policies to support LGBTQ+ inclusion.
“I am honored to serve in the role of deputy city manager,” Smith said. “I’m eager to work with the city team to serve our departments and our community — a community I am proud to also call home.”
Prior to joining Santa Monica, Smith spent 10 years working for the Judicial Council of California leading statewide court technology strategic planning and policy development to support the implementation of e-filing and e-access services. He holds a master’s degree in public administration from California State University, Long Beach.
Smith will begin his new role effective Dec. 18, with an annual salary of $226,212.
Media Contact
Tati Simonian
Public Information Officer
Tati.Simonian@santamonica.gov
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