Meet Jim Schutz
Jim has held the title of City Manager or Assistant City Manager for about 20 years of his over 30 year career. He has held management positions for cities as small as 20,000 residents and as large as a million residents.
JMSB Strategies, LLC is a purpose-driven firm. Jim is passionate about helping great people succeed in creating thriving workplaces and communities.
Professional
Jim deeply understands the challenges of today’s executive managers. He has led a full-service city through the pandemic, Great Recession, Great Resignation, and nearly every other possible challenge.
Internally, he modernizes services and helps build strong teams - while at the same time achieving results with the community, building strong relationships everywhere.
He has had management roles in small, medium, and large cities.
Academic
Jim has a Master’s of City and Regional Planning degree from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California where he graduated first in his class.
He has a Bachelor's degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara in Environmental Studies.
He has a "Digital Transformation in Government: Innovating Public Policy & Service" certificate from Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education, a “Sustainable Practices” certificate from Dominican University and a “Strategic Management of Public Organizations” executive training at the University of California, Berkeley.
International
Jim has worked on sustainability projects in Cambodia with the US Department of State’s “Young South East Asian Leadership Initiative (YSEALI)” program.
He was a US Peace Corps volunteer in the field of urban planning, training in Guinea-Bissau and working in the Republic of Cape Verde, West Africa for two years.
He has been a host/mentor for the YSEALI program (Cambodia/Malaysia) and participated in an exchange program with Local Government Managers Australia in Queensland, Australia.
He has worked in or visited over 20 countries in six continents.
Teaching
Jim’s teaching experience started as an Instructor at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo where he taught “Computer Applications for Planning.”
He has subsequently been a Guest Lecturer at various universities, including the University of California at Berkeley, Stanford University, California Polytechnic State University, San Jose State University, and San Francisco State University, covering topics like governance, leadership, digital service, and economic revitalization.
Jim serves as an Masters of Public Administration (MPA) Advisory Board Member and a Practitioner/Mentor at San Francisco State University, where he is also the “City Manager in Residence.”
My Approach
Too often, local governments are using frameworks from the 19th century and tools from the 20th century to try to solve 21st century problems.
It is a new day post-Pandemic, and its clear governments and organizations must use frameworks, tools, and strategies from the 21st century to solve today’s problems and achieve results.
Jim supports you or your team to meet its wildest goals.
Management
Jim received the League of California Cities' prestigious "John H. Nail Memorial Award" for distinguished community leadership as California’s top Assistant City Manager. Pictured: capturing the moment.
Innovation
Jim created the “Together San Rafael” organizational culture initiative that won the “Helen Putnam Award” from the League of California Cities and became the City’s foundation for employee engagement, collaboration and innovation, recruiting, retention, and service delivery.
Excellence
Under Jim’s leadership, his city was selected as one of three “Best Places to Work in Local Government” in the United States by a national organization ELGL.
Culture change example:
Watch this 5-minute video of Jim presenting an “Ignite Talk” at a Cal Cities conference.
Want to Know More About Jim?
Check out LinkedIn:
Origin of the Name
My wife and I are not big traditionalists, and we gave our twins her last name, which starts with a “B".” My company name is my initials with a nod to the most important thing in my life, my family, thus: JMSb Strategies, LLC.