Before joining the City of Pasadena in 2022, Miguel Márquez served as the Chief Operating Officer of the County of Santa Clara, responsible for all operations of the county, the largest in Northern California.

Prior to his role in Santa Clara, Márquez served as an Associate Justice of the California Sixth District Court of Appeal, as the County Counsel for the County of Santa Clara, as the General Counsel of the San Francisco Unified School District, and as a Deputy City Attorney in the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office. He began his public service career as a Deputy County Counsel in San Mateo County. Márquez has also worked for two private law firms (Cooley Godward LLP and Remcho, Johansen & Purcell), and as a management consultant at KPMG Peat Marwick, where he was part of a national financial and organizational consulting practice.

Márquez’s parents immigrated to the United States from México with only a limited amount of formal education. Spanish was his first language, so programs like Head Start were critical to his early education. These formative experiences inspired Márquez’s commitment to public service.

A native of Sacramento, Márquez received his law degree from UC Berkeley Law School, his master’s degree in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and his bachelor's degree in public policy from Stanford University.

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Mr. Rodriguez received his bachelor’s degree as a College Scholar of the College of Arts and Sciences from Cornell University and his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley. He was admitted to the practice of law in 1977, and worked as an attorney for both El Centro De Accion Social, Inc., and Gronemeier, Barker & Huerta before joining the Pasadena City Attorney’s Office. While working in the City Attorney’s Office from 1989-2012, Mr. Rodriguez served as the lawyer for the Rose Bowl Operating Company and several City departments, eventually becoming the City’s chief assistant city attorney. He served as city attorney for the City of Vernon as a part of the City’s good governance initiative reform efforts. After returning to the City of Pasadena, Mr. Rodriguez handled special assignments with the City Attorney’s Office and as a special assistant to the city manager prior to his appointment as assistant city manager in 2016.