Sharon Ranals graduated from Reed College in Portland, Oregon, a school that is known for intellectual rigor, independent thinking, and engaged citizenship. Her degree in sociology led to her first job with the City of Colorado Springs, where she immediately recognized and became passionate about the potential for a career in local government to have a direct impact on improving the lives of individuals and building community, and embraced the opportunity to work with an extraordinary cadre of like-minded public servants. After moving to the Bay Area she began working for the City of South San Francisco with the Parks and Recreation Department. She worked full time, earned a master’s degree in public administration, volunteered, and raised three children. Sharon has been progressively promoted, serving as Director of Parks and Recreation, Assistant City Manager, and was appointed as the City’s first permanent female City Manager in 2023.
During her tenure in South San Francisco, Sharon has played a pivotal role on teams responsible for funding, planning, designing, constructing, renovating, maintaining, and/or programming many public buildings. This includes opening the Municipal Services Building, Alice Pena Bulos Recreation Center and adjacent Preschool facility, Terrabay Gymnasium and Recreation Center, the Roberta Teglia Senior Center, the Community Learning Center, and after school portables on SSFUSD campuses. At Orange Memorial Park she worked on the Picnic Shelter, the creation of the Sculpture Garden, obtained grant funding for construction of the Joseph Fernekes Recreation Center and adjacent courts and restrooms, the new Sports Fields and Water Capture project, funding, planning, and implementation of the new co-located Library Parks and Recreation Center, and the new Aquatics Center.
Parks projects include participation in the renovation of Sellick and Westborough Parks, acquisition of surplus SSFUSD property to construct Avalon and Alta Loma Parks, Oyster Point Park, Civic Campus Park, expansion of Sign Hill open space acreage, and many playground renovations. Sharon has written multiple successful grant applications, with her team securing all of the grant funding that was required for the design and construction of Centennial Way. She leads the team working on the new park on Linden Avenue, improvements at Oyster Point, a new Preschool in Westborough, and expanded recreational amenities on Centennial Way.
Sharon has hired and promoted dozens of talented City staff members. She is especially proud of leading high functioning teams with low turnover, and of the professional development and success of subordinates. She has extensive experience in public administration and working with Boards, Commissions and City Council. On the programming side, she has worked on countless special events, helped fund and establish the city’s public art program, advocated for the expansion of childcare and senior services, developed relationships with outside agencies, the school district, co-sponsored groups, and many community members. Throughout the pandemic, she and a small group of employees volunteered to staff City Hall in person on a daily basis to deliver continuity of operations to the public, and to provide leadership and policy guidance for City staff. She has coordinated city-wide response during multiple emergencies in addition to Covid, including the extreme storms and flooding in 2022/23. She was honored to receive recognition from the California Association of Parks and Recreation Commissioners and Board Members, and from the Institute for Local Government as a Local Government Champion.
In her role as City Manager Sharon is focused on being accessible to the community and city employees, building creativity and synergy among departments, providing staff with leadership and support, serving City Council with public input, information, recommendations, and options to set effective policy, and the effective utilization of resources to actualize policy and deliver results. Multiple important challenges face South San Francisco, including: economic sustainability and continued recovery from Covid; climate change and sea level rise; the negative impact of national and international crises on residents; political polarization and the spread of inaccurate information; attraction and support for local business; the need for more affordable housing and protection of vulnerable residents and businesses from displacement; cyber security and maintaining public safety response times and staffing ratios; workforce shortages and issues with recruitment and retention; employee engagement, safety, professional development, and succession planning; the ongoing need for public works and capital projects to maintain, upgrade, and/or replace aging infrastructure; dramatic income inequality, mental health behaviors, food insecurity, social needs, and homelessness; public frustration with parking and traffic; the need for equitable distribution of quality of life amenities and public resources across all income and age groups and neighborhoods; and building a community where all members have the opportunity to thrive. As great as these challenges are, Sharon truly believes that local government can best amplify and represent the voices of residents, and bring the political will and professional talent needed to address issues, improve lives, and build community. She is honored to serve City Council and to lead an extraordinary group of public servants who are up to the task.
To reach City Manager Sharon Ranals, email sharon.ranals@ssf.net or call the office at 650-877-8502.
Rich Lee has served as the Assistant City Manager of the City of South San Francisco since August 2023. Prior to his current role, since 2005, Rich served in various capacities with several local cities on the San Francisco Peninsula, including serving as Finance Director for the City of San Mateo (2019-2023) and the City of South San Francisco (2015-2018). In 2023, he served as President of the California Society of Municipal Finance Officers (CSMFO), which is one of the largest state professional organizations of government finance professionals in the United States.
Rich is a graduate of the Leadership Council of San Mateo County’s CORPS Program and Stanford’s Local Governance Summer Institute. He was recently accepted into the UpNext Program with the Municipal Management Association of Northern California (MMANC)
Rich is a new committee member for the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) Assistant Chief Administrative Officer (ACAO) Committee. He will also be serving on Cal-ICMA’s Marketing and Communications Committee for 2026-2027.
In his spare time, Rich is an active freelance musician. He has performed with various musical artists such as Barbra Streisand, Kenny Loggins, Peter Cetera, Bernadette Peters, the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, and the Grammy Award-winning Pacific Mambo Orchestra. He has performed in venues throughout the Bay Area, including SFJazz, Yoshi’s, and War Memorial Opera House. His discography includes several albums with the Electric Squeezebox Orchestra.
During the pandemic, he began to learn the basic elements of audio and video engineering. He has leveraged these skills to develop award-winning music videos, promotional content for the cities of San Mateo and South San Francisco. Over the past two years, he has hosted and produced the podcasts for the City of South San Francisco and CSMFO.