Newell’s Biography

Newell Arnerich, Seven term Mayor of Danville - Newell was first elected to the Danville Town Council in 1995. He serves on a variety of local and statewide committees keeping Danville at forefront of engagement such as the East Bay Economic Development Alliance for Business, Statewide Commission on Transportation, Communication & Public Works Policy and Statewide Commission on Housing, Community & Economic Development. As Mayor of Danville he presided over “hometown hero” celebrations of Captain “Sully” Sullenberger and Olympic Gold Medalists Jessica and Maggie Steffens.  His past involvement with the Town includes serving as Chair of the Tri-Valley Affordable Housing Committee, five-and-one-half years on Danville’s Architectural Design Review Board, five years on the Planning Commission and past Chair. He is always involved in supporting our local schools by having served on the School District Facilities Committee resulting in the successful passage of Measure D School Bond and served on the Valley-wide Committee on Youth Safety & Development. Regionally, Newell is involved with planning and transportation issues affecting our valley serving on the Contra Costa Transportation Authority, co-founder TRAFFIX school bus program, Chair of the Tri-Valley Transportation Council and served as chair of the Contra Costa Mayors Conference. He has served as Mayor for seven terms.

He was a past Mustang soccer coach for over ten years, a 31 year member of the Danville Area Chamber of Commerce and a past-president of Danville-Sycamore Valley Rotary Club. He also serves on the board of directors for Discovery Counseling Center and the Danville Library Endowment. In addition, Mr. Arnerich is a graduate of the League of California Cities Mayors & Council Members Academy for Leadership and Advanced Leadership, Torch Leadership Award and past facilitator.

Danville’s strong financial health has been guided by Newell’s “pay as you go” fiscal policies which have continued to keep Danville fiscally strong, with a significant reserve, at a time when other cities have faltered in multiple difficult economies.

Newell spends his free time in continuing education in ethics and leadership areas while learning that the best leaders are those who know how to listen and learn. He also teaches ethics to newly elected officials on behalf of the League of California Cities. Newell was appointed by the President of the CA League of Cities to serve on the statewide committees on Housing, Community & Economic Development, Transparency & Labor Relations, Revenue & Taxation and Transportation & Public Works. He is a board member of iGATE and sits on the board of Directors for two FinTech startup companies in the pre-paid card space.

Newell received Bachelors and Master’s Degrees in Architecture & Urban Design (University of California Berkeley) and taught undergraduate classes for 2 ½ years (University of California Berkeley). He is a Graduate of Leadership San Ramon Valley, League of California Cities Mayors and an instructor at Leadership San Ramon Valley for over 25 years.

He has written over 50 articles on governance, leadership and economic trends. He has guest lectured at Stanford University MBA International Classes, UC Berkeley College of Letters & Sciences and other institutions. He has received several Awards in recognition of his service and activities in the area of leadership such as the Community Mentor Award from APAPA (Asian Pacific-Islander American Public Affairs), the Volunteer of the Year Award and Diablo Magazine's Threads of Hope Award recipient. Newell is a keynote speaker who has been invited to speak on 3 continents about leadership, innovation and entrepreneurship. At a very young age he started a FM radio station along with five friends while in high school and was a sports broadcaster, radio show host and content writer-producer-host of weekly youth educational programs.

Newell earned bachelors and masters degrees in Architecture and Urban Design from the University of California, Berkeley. For the past 46 years he has been the Founder-CEO of an awarding winning architectural firm with offices in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles.

Newell serves as the Chair on the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA) where with its partners lead a collaborative effort at GoMentum Station, bringing together automobile manufacturers, communications companies, technology companies, researchers and public agencies accelerating the next generation of transportation technologies. Together CCTA and GoMentum Station converge in research development, testing validation and commercialization of Connected Vehicle (CV) applications and Autonomous Vehicles (AV) technologies defining the next generation of transportation network infrastructure. Newell serves as a Director on several high-tech startup innovation centers such as The Launching Pad, VLP, i-Gate and VillageUp. Mr. Arnerich serves on the boards of several public and private companies in the USA and Asia and has strategized the sale of several private companies.

Newell is married to Janis Arnerich, 50 years, a 30-year teacher and Elementary School Principal in San Francisco Bay Area school districts.  Janis worked with a non-profit Education Training/Research Organization and followed on with a consulting career in early childhood development and learning..  Together, they have two grown children raised in Danville and attended, Greenbrook Elementary School, Charlotte Wood Middle School and San Ramon Valley High School.