Presleigh Named President of County Engineers

The County of Santa Cruz announced that Public Works Director John Presleigh has been named president of the County Engineers Association of California.

A 25-year County employee, Presleigh has headed the Santa Cruz County Department of Public Works since 2009. A staunch advocate for infrastructure improvements and local road funding, Presleigh will head the 102-year-old organization that serves as counties’ leading voice on transportation issues in Sacramento.

“It’s an honor to represent my fellow engineers and transportation workers throughout California,” Presleigh said. “Over the coming year, I look forward to working on the transportation funding, land use, resource recovery and flood control issues needed to keep California moving forward.”

Presleigh has 33 years of management and engineering experience. He previously worked for a private engineering company, the State Department of Water Resources, the State Water Resources Control Board, and the City of Sacramento in civil engineering. 
In 1991, he was hired as the County Traffic Engineer. He was later promoted to Assistant Director, overseeing surveying, development review, road design, operations, road engineering, redevelopment, and other functions.

Presleigh has bachelor’s degrees in Civil Engineering, from Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, and Water and Soil Science, from University of California-Davis. He also has a master’s degree in Civil Engineering from San Jose State University.

He was a director and is past chapter president of the American Public Works Association, a past chair of the Interagency Technical Advisory Committee on Regional Transportation, and was manager of the Highway 1 Construction Authority. He is also a fellow member of the Institute of Transportation Engineers, a member of the Urban Traffic Engineers Council, and a former alternate member of the Board of California Traffic Control Devices Committee.