Full Biography for Jim Steiner

Candidate for
Member, City Council; Town of Los Altos Hills

I was born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky, serving almost two years in the U.S. Navy in wartime. My college education began at Berea College in Berea, Kentucky and continued at the University of Kentucky where I graduated with a BS degree in Electrical Engineering. Following graduation, Purdue University became my home for two years while I earned a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering while teaching part time.

My professional career began at Curtiss-Wright Corp. in New Jersey where I worked on early models of electronic flight simulators. Two years later, I moved to the ITT Federal Laboratories in Nutley, New Jersey where I worked on missile guidance control systems, global communication systems, and later on satellite communication systems.

I am married to Nina Liston Steiner, also a native of Lexington. We have three adult children and two grandchildren. Our family moved to California in 1968 and we located in Los Altos Hills. Here I worked for the Sunnyvale Division of Ford Aerospace where I served as Chief Engineer for nine years.

Taking early retirement, I sought newer fields and opportunities. This took me to Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) Headquarters in Oakland. For three years I managed BART's Computer Engineering Department while they were designing and installing new train supervision software, the software programs that schedule and remotely control all BART trains.

Following several years of part-time consulting, I entered full time retirement and began to participate in community activities. This had previously been unavailable to me due to the time constraints of a full-time engineering management job and the necessity of maintaining my engineering skills in night school. I joined the Lions Club and served as Executive Director of the Palo Alto Concours d'Elegance, a classic car show for charity produced by the Lions Club. I did this major job for four years without compensation. I have also been active in my church where I currently serve as Finance Elder & Church Treasurer.

In 1991, I responded to a notice in the newspaper and applied for a position on the Los Altos Hills Finance Committee. I have served on this committee ever since, having been the committee chair for six years. During my tenure as Chairman of the Finance Committee, we have successfully developed a conservative budget and a fiscal reserve policy which has been adopted by the City Council. This assures the people of our town that we have sufficient funds to quickly react to natural disasters such as earthquakes and fires.

I am looking forward with great anticipation to the opportunity to serve Los Altos Hills as a City Council member. I will work very hard to do a superior job.