by John Glidden | glid24@protonmail.com | July 22, 2026
VALLEJO – Almost a year after Vallejo’s longtime Chief Innovation Officer & IT Director Naveed Ashraf left, city hall announced Monday that Lance David has been appointed to the permanent position.
David had been serving as interim IT director after Ashraf left to become the city of Fairfield’s IT director in August 2025.
“Throughout his tenure, David has distinguished himself as a strategic, solutions‑driven leader. He has guided complex technology initiatives, enhanced cybersecurity protections, strengthened service delivery, and implemented reliable, sustainable technology solutions that benefit both City staff and the community,” Vallejo officials said in a press release announcing his appointment. “He attributes much of the department’s success to the highly skilled Information Technology team, whose professionalism, collaboration, and commitment to public service continue to drive meaningful results.”
David’s official promotion is the second such decision from interim City Manager Harry Black. In June, Jonathan Goulding was hired as Vallejo’s newest fire chief.
Black, who most recently served as Stockton’s city manager, began with the city of Vallejo in mid-May.
Black’s hiring comes after Vallejo announced on April 8 that City Manager Andrew Murray would be leaving the city following just two years at city hall. On Murray’s last day with Vallejo, April 16, the city announced that both assistant city managers, Gillian Haen and Nalungo Conley, would rotate every two weeks as “acting” city manager until the council named an interim chief executive.
In that same announcement, officials said the council “expressed its intent to defer the selection of a permanent City Manager until after the November election.” However, not a week later, the city issued a rare correction walking back the statement about when a permanent city manager would be hired.
Other city hall vacancies
Following the permanent hiring of the IT director, that leaves at least two major department head vacancies, with a third vacancy expected by the end of July.
The city’s finance department continues to be led by Assistant City Manager Nalungo Conley, who took over the department after longtime Finance Director Rekha Nayar accepted a similar position with the Hayward Area Recreation and Park District in October 2025.
In addition, Vallejo has been without a permanent economic development director since early 2025 after Michael Nimon accepted a similar position with the city of Walnut Creek. Nimon was originally hired in August 2022 as special advisor to the city manager for economic development replacing Paul Kelly, who served in the position from May 2020 to June 2022. Assistant City Manager Gillian Haen served as acting economic development director between prior to Paul’s hiring.
Earlier this month, Haen was hired as Chico city manager. Under the terms, Haen will earn $285,000 per year in base salary, receive a monthly vehicle allowance of $400, and a monthly cell phone allowance of $75, while also receiving $15,000 for moving expenses, according to her employment agreement.
City hall confirmed that Haen’s assistant city manager position will be filled.
Meanwhile, the Vallejo City Council has begun internal discussions about filling the permanent city manager position. The council met in closed session on July 14 to discuss the topic with Councilmember Peter Bregenzer speaking with the Vallejo Times-Herald prior to that closed session about the next steps.
“The discussion will primarily be: will we post now for a permanent city manager or will we delay recruitment and give the Interim city manager more time in the role to make the changes we want to have happen before we recruit for the permanent city manager?” Bregenzer wrote in an email to the newspaper.
The council held another closed session meeting on July 21 about the future of the city manager position. That meeting lasted more than two hours with Vice Mayor Diosdado “JR” Matulac reporting afterward that the council gave direction to special outside counsel and to the human resources director.