Citistates Group

Kim Walesh is an expert in economic competitiveness and civic leadership, an art she’s practiced for such diverse places as Chicago, Columbus, Richmond and selected areas in California’s Central Valley, China, Slovenia, and South Australia.

Since 2003 Walesh has been working with the city of San Jose – capital city of Silicon Valley – to develop its first comprehensive economic strategy. She also heads San Jose’s Office of Cultural Affairs, and leads strategic projects related to urban design, university collaboration, downtown development, corporate engagement, and clean technology.

Walesh in 1993 was a co-founder, with Citistates Associate Doug Henton, of Collaborative Economics, a Silicon Valley-based consultant group that works with business and civic leaders who want to build stronger economies and better communities. She was managing director of the firm and created and co-authored the annual Index of Silicon Valley, produced by Joint Venture: Silicon Valley, which tracks changes in the region’s economy, environment, and society. Walesh also helped develop Silicon Valley 2010: A Regional Framework for Growing Together, which involved 2,000 people in creating 17 shared goals for Silicon Valley’s future. With Community Foundation Silicon Valley, she led Giving Back: The Silicon Valley Way, a publication documenting charitable giving and volunteering in the region, and the Women of Silicon Valley project.

Earlier in her career, Walesh was senior policy analyst at SRI International, where she played management and analytic roles in more than 20 state and regional competitiveness projects in North America, Asia, and Europe. She, Henton and John Melville are co-author of the books Civic Revolutionaries: Igniting the Passion for Change in American Communities (Jossey-Bass, 2003), and Grassroots Leaders for a New Economy: How Civic Entrepreneurs Build Prosperous Communities (Jossey-Bass, 1987).

Updated March 8, 2008