Mr. Mike Lee is a Senior Advisor with Kosmont Companies. Mr. Lee has over 29 years of public sector experience; most recently serving as City Manager for the City of Moreno Valley. As the City Manager, he was responsible for the efficient management of all city business and operations. Moreno Valley is the second largest city in Riverside County and twenty-first in the State of California. He led eight dynamic departments that span all aspects of the City’s infrastructure; finance, fire, media, personnel, police, recreation, economic development, development services and public works. In addition, Mr. Lee was the Executive Director of Moreno Valley electric utility.

Much of his career in local government has been focused on economic development with a reputation of proven track records of transforming local city economies. Mr. Lee is regarded as a premier and respected economic development professional in local government and is a frequent presenter for  real estate and government organizations.

Throughout his career, Mr. Lee has negotiated over 400 development related agreements and is a leader in public-private connectivity.

He has a long list of accomplishments spanning his tenure in Pomona, CA (1996 to 1999) and City of West Covina (1999 to 2015) where he served as Assistant City Manager and Community   Development Commission Director.

Mr. Lee joined the City of Moreno Valley in 2015 as the Community & Economic   Development Director. Under his direct leadership, 34,000 new jobs because of the City’s economic development efforts. In addition, he brought Fortune 500 and international companies such as Aldi Foods, Deckers Outdoor, Solaris Paper, Karma Automotive and various commercial retail tenants into the City. He completed his time there 10 years later as City Manager.

LICENSES / AFFILIATIONS

Mr. Lee is Real Estate Agent licensed by the State of California Department of Real Estate (DRE No. 01878835) and a member of the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), International Council of Shopping Center (ICSC) – former Public Sector Southern California Chair, Commercial Real Estate Development Association (NAIOP Inland Empire) – former Board Member, and California Association of Local Economic Development – Project Development and Finance Board Member.

EDUCATION

Mr. Lee holds a Masters of Public Administration, University of La Verne and a Bachelors of Science in Urban and Regional Planning, California State University Polytechnic University Pomona.

AWARDS

Mr. Lee is a recipient of four Helen Putnam Awards from the League of California Cities, three CALED Awards of Excellence, an International City Manager Association (ICMA) Award, and a Leadership in Public Service Award from the Inland Empire Economic Partnership.