Helen N. Robbins-Meyer

Helen N. Robbins-Meyer, Chief Administrative Officer for the County of San Diego

Character first. Service before self. Excellence in all that we do.

Those are the values that guide Helen Robbins-Meyer as the County’s top executive and that she expects from the 18,000 employees she manages.

Ms. Robbins-Meyer works to realize the vision of the Board of Supervisors, which sets policies for the County. She oversees more than 40 departments with diverse operations and an annual budget of $6 billion.

Since her appointment to Chief Administrative Officer in 2012, she has built on the County’s established commitment to sound fiscal practices, resulting in its first-ever AAA rating from all three credit rating agencies.

Ms. Robbins-Meyer has guided construction of multiple County facilities, including Sheriff’s substations, libraries, family resource centers, the County Operations Center complex with its brand-new crime lab, and the Waterfront Park, a tremendously popular civic jewel.

Her tenure has seen a dramatic decrease in the number of foster children as a result of innovative alternatives. She oversaw the transformation of a patchwork of backcountry volunteer fire departments into a unified, professional firefighting and emergency medical response agency.

Under her leadership, the County has earned numerous awards for innovation and efficiency, including multiple Grand Golden Watchdog Awards from the San Diego County Taxpayers Association.

Ms. Robbins-Meyer came to the County in 1997, serving first as a Deputy Chief Administrative Officer, then later as Assistant CAO. Drawing on her earlier years of private sector experience, she helped develop and implement the County’s General Management System, now entrenched as the framework for County operations and budgetary stability. She led the County’s largest outsourcing project, the contracting of IT services to a private industry provider.

To ensure the County workforce is ready to meet the public’s needs, she has launched initiatives that promote exceptional customer service, improve employees’ technological know-how and foster understanding of the need for diversity and inclusion.

A strong believer in the power of collective impact, Ms. Robbins-Meyer stresses the importance of the County working closely with partners in the community to achieve shared goals.

Ms. Robbins-Meyer holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government from the College of William and Mary. She and her husband have raised four children, including twin sons and two daughters. She lives with her family in Poway.