Ken Hampian
City Manager (Retired), City of San Luis Obispo
& Course Facilitator and Instructor
Ken Hampian is the former city manager of San Luis Obispo (SLO). He came to SLO in 1989 after 15 years of service at the city, county and Federal levels of government (the first two in the Presidential Management Fellowship Program in Washington D.C.).
He served in SLO for over 20 years, the first half as Assistant City Manager. In 1996, Hampian received the John S. Nail Award presented by the League of California Cities annually to one assistant city manager for outstanding performance. In 2000, he was appointed city manager. During Ken's 10-year tenure, he was recognized by City employees for outstanding performance, receiving the National Management Association Silver Knight of Management Award and Employee of the Year honors. In 2010, he left city management to pursue other interests, including teaching, training and writing.
In the summer of 2011, Ken served as the pro-bono city manager for the City of Bell during a time of crisis there. He has received state and national recognition for his Bell service, including the International City & County Manager’s Association inaugural Hall of Fame Ethics Award and Public CEO’s City Employee of the Year, 2012.
Ken has co-authored Guide to Local Government Finance in California. League of Cities Executive Director Chris McKenzie called the book “…the most comprehensive treatment of local government finance in any state that I have ever seen.”
Today, Ken consults and trains and has assisted several cities with community goal-setting, council teamwork, and city manager evaluation. He trains in such areas as leadership, ethics, public policy and council roles and relationships. He created and taught a graduate course at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo on the topic of organizational leadership. He is engaged by the Centre for Organizational Effectiveness, the San Mateo County Leadership Academy, the California Police Chiefs Association, the California Joint Powers Insurance Authority and the Davenport Institute.