Menlo Park Fills 3 Key City Positions

MENLO PARK, CA — City Manager Starla Jerome-Robinson announced three senior management appointments that further the goal of building a strong management team capable of meeting community needs and achieving the city council’s ambitious work plan goals.

• Public Works Director Justin Murphy will be promoted to deputy city manager.
• Interim Library Services Director Sean Reinhart will be named permanent library services director.
• Theresa DellaSanta will join the city’s leadership team as human resources manager.

Both Murphy and Reinhart will assume their roles officially April 29. DellaSanta will join the team May 20.

“In my first six months leading Menlo Park as interim city manager, I’ve been deeply impressed by the commitment, dedication and professionalism of the city staff and the city council,” said Jerome-Robinson, who previously served as Menlo Park’s assistant city manager from 2008 to 2015. She was named permanent city manager effective March 31. “Here in Menlo Park, we are fortunate to have some incredible home-grown talent within our organization, and we’re also becoming a magnet for outstanding new talent who bring a wealth of new skills and experience to the table to benefit our community.”

Murphy, a Menlo Park resident, joined the city staff as an associate planner in 1996. He advanced steadily to positions of increasing responsibility throughout his 23-year tenure. He was named public works director in 2016. In his new role as deputy city manager, Murphy will continue his oversight of the Public Works Department and assume a more significant role in the overall management of the city.

Reinhart joined the Menlo Park management team as interim library services director in October 2018, following the retirement of longtime library services director, Susan Holmer. In his service as interim director, Reinhart provided the department with experienced leadership during a time of great transition and growth for the library.

DellaSanta currently serves the town of Atherton as deputy city manager and will take over the top human resources position, which has been vacant since the August 2018 promotion of Lenka Diaz to administrative services director. DellaSanta started working for Atherton in 2009 and has held various leadership roles including interim city manager, city clerk and human resources manager.

With these appointments, the only vacancy remaining on city’s management team is assistant community development director in the building department.