"I'm pleased that Ed Reiskin has accepted this challenging responsibility," said Newsom. "I'm confident he will help move forward our efforts to make our government more accessible and responsive to our city's residents."
Reiskin has more than 16 years of experience in private, academic, non-profit, and public sectors, most recently serving as the City Administrator in Washington, D.C. He served as the Deputy Mayor for Public Safety in Washington, where he supervised the city's combined communications center and other public safety agencies.
Reiskin's appointment comes as 311 fielded its 500,000th call on Monday. Newsom said that use of the new service has been higher than anticipated, and is now expected to receive nearly two million calls in its first year of operation.
Reiskin has Masters in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, a Masters in business administration from the Stern School of Business at New York University, and an undergraduate degree in engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He has recently relocated back to San Francisco with his wife and three children.
"Mr. Reiskin has the skills and experience we were looking for in a director," said Lee. "His background in city management will help us realize the potential of this powerful new tool, which promises to increase access to government and ultimately make the city more accountable to our constituents."
The 311 Customer Service Center launched on March 29, 2007, and provides 24 hour a day assistance to residents, visitors, and businesses seeking non-emergency city services. The service is available at no charge to callers, and is available in over 145 languages.
