Claremont Official Joins City
The community development director for the city of Claremont has been hired as Newport Beach’s assistant city manager and director of economic development.
Sharon Wood, 45, will begin work May 6, taking the second-highest appointed post in the city. In the absence of City Manager Kevin J. Murphy, Wood will take over his responsibilities.
Wood succeeds Ken Delino, who for more than a decade helped direct the city’s economic growth. Delino resigned in January to become a consultant for a private firm.
Wood’s duties will include managing the planning and building departments, which oversee current and advanced planning; review and approve construction plans; and enforce building codes.
As economic development director, Wood will be responsible for attracting and keeping businesses in town. Her annual salary will be $105,000.
With Claremont since 1984, Wood helped to develop that city’s historic downtown commercial village, which she compared to Newport Beach’s Balboa Peninsula area. Before that, she worked for five years as a senior planner for the city of Irvine.
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