On October 29, the Town of Los Altos Hills announced that City Manager Dr. Peter Pirnejad, ICMA-CM will retire on January 23, 2026 and resign his role effective that date. Pirnejad served as the city manager of the Town of Los Altos Hills for over four years and rebuilt the team at city hall. During his tenure as city manager, he focused on advocating for the integration of new technology into city operations and navigated the city through a difficult Housing Element process.
“I’ve been reflecting on retirement for some time and felt this was the right moment to begin my next chapter. Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to serve communities and work alongside talented professionals committed to public service. As I transition, my focus will shift toward academia and leadership development, where I hope to help prepare and support the next generation of public sector leaders,” shared Pirnejad
Mayor Kavita Tankha offered her congratulations to Pirnejad, “The City Council appreciates the service Peter has provided to the Town, and we wish him the best.”
Pirnejad is serving as president of the California chapter of the International City/County Management Association (Cal-ICMA) this year. In this role, he works alongside fellow leaders and focuses on advancing the profession, developing best practices and supporting the concept of professional city management. He has voiced his goals in several articles and features, including “Embracing AI in Municipal Governance: Opportunities, Challenges and Strategic Implementation” on the Cal-ICMA website and was a guest on the February PublicCEO Report.
Most recently, Dr. Pirnejad presented three sessions at the 2025 ICMA Conference in Tampa, Florida in October 2025. These sessions focused on pressing issues facing municipalities, including how AI can help local governments, the future of the public sector workforce and the strength of partnership within local government.
In addition to his session presentations, Dr. Pirnejad also received recognition for 25 years of service in local government and celebrated his term as Cal-ICMA president at the ICMA conference.
Cal-ICMA President-Elect Kevin Woodhouse offered his own praise to Pinejad in response to the recent retirement announcement, “As President-Elect for Cal-ICMA this year, I have had the honor of working alongside Peter, currently Cal-ICMA President, on the Cal-ICMA Executive Board, as well as serving on several conference session panels together. His commitment to city management ethics and best practices in the council-manager form of government will continue to be inspiring to local government professionals across the state, country and internationally, wherever his next phase of work takes him, in addition to his continuing contributions to Cal-ICMA as Past President next year.”
Dr. Frank V. Zerunyan from the University of Southern California also shared his insights on Peter’s public service, “Peter brings a unique mix of academic, practical and visionary experiences to his roles. As a student of mine and in my role as chair of his doctoral dissertation, he showed intellect, compassion, respect for public service and innovation that would make any professor proud. I am confident his next chapter in life will leverage all these traits to great success.”
Until his formal retirement, Dr. Pirnejad remains focused on serving the Town of Los Altos Hills to aid the city council in a smooth transition. continuing the development of the public sector. He emphasizes the importance of good governance in this new era of increasingly divided and polarized civic discourse, and is committed to ensuring a successful outcome. Dr. Pirnejad leaves a lasting legacy of diligent local government work, and those involved in the public sector thank him for his efforts.
Concluded Dr. Pirnejad, “I couldn’t have asked for a better way to close this chapter—receiving my 25-year service award from ICMA, serving as president of Cal-ICMA, and contributing to several informative sessions at ICMA have all been deeply meaningful experiences. I look forward to completing my current commitments with Cal-ICMA and continuing to find ways to contribute to the profession in the years ahead. This next chapter is about giving back to the field that has given me so much.”
The Town Council will be discussing next steps for the recruitment and selection of a new City Manager and for interim steps to ensure continuity of operations and support for the community.