City Manager, Dave Knapp, to Leave Post

Cupertino’s city manager, Dave Knapp, is heading east to the Midwestern town of Highland Park, Ill., to become that town’s city manager, he announced at Tuesday’s city council meeting.

Knapp, who was among 113 applicants, accepted the position of city manager for the affluent Chicago suburb where his grandchildren live, according to a Cupertino Courier report.

He noticed the job opening mentioned in a trade publication, he told the Courier.

An almost prescient interview and article on Joint Venture Silicon Valley in 2010 noted Knapp’s desire to be closer to his son and grandsons:

With a decade in Cupertino behind him, and his history of changing jobs and cities every ten years or so, the question arises: what are his future plans?

“I’m not planning on going anywhere soon, but I do love being a grandfather,” Knapp says, referring to his three young grandsons. Stephen and his wife have two boys, 5 and 3, while Michael and his wife have a 6-month-old son.

“Stephen lives in Chicago and Michael lives in Denver,” says Knapp. “Now that they both have children, we are trying to get back to see them as often as we can.”
It sounds a lot like Dave Knapp is coming to another fork in the road. Chances are pretty good that he’ll take it.

The former Air Force captain's credentials and management experience were what brought him to the top of Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering’s list, she said in a statement.

“His top priorities are providing high quality service, keeping costs low, and fostering constructive two-way communications with residents,” Rotering said in a statement. “His incredible wealth of knowledge and broad experience will serve Highland Park well.”

A former city manager of Los Gatos for the 10 years prior to taking his current role in Cupertino in 2000, he was also a city manager in Boulder, Colo.