The Office of the City Manager provides oversight and direction to ensure that all departments are responding to City Council goals, applying policy consistently, identifying key issues that need Council direction, keeping abreast of the changing needs of the community, and planning the services, programs and projects that will ensure Pasadena maintains its status and character as a great community in which to live, work and play.
Miguel Márquez, City Manager
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.
Nicholas G. Rodriguez, Assistant City Manager
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 City Attorney’s Office for the City of Pasadena, serving as the lawyer for the Rose Bowl Operating Company and several City Departments from 1989 to 2012, 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. Mr. Rodriguez returned to the City of Pasadena, handling special assignments with the City Attorney’s Office, and as a Special Assistant to the City Manager, CSW, prior to his appointment as Assistant City Manager in 2016.Mr. Rodriguez resides locally.
Brenda E. Harvey-Williams, Assistant City Manager
Assistant City Manager
Appointed Assistant City Manager in March 2023, Brenda Harvey-Williams began her career with the City of Pasadena in 1987. During her career in Pasadena, Harvey-Williams has held 12 other positions of increasing responsibility, most recently serving as the Director of the Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Services. Other positions have included Finance and Management Services Administrator, Special Assistant to the City Manager, Acting Deputy Finance Director and various analyst positions. She has significant experience with and knowledge of the City’s capital improvement program and operating budgets.
Harvey-Williams holds a master’s degree in public affairs from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles. She is a long-time Pasadena resident, where she and her husband raised their two adult sons.
