December 21, 2021
By Dianna Dunne-Vecchio, Content Writer and Marketing Manager
At RSG, we focus on career development year-round. Encouraging our employees to reach for new heights is ingrained in who we are and helps us provide the best quality services to our clients. As 2021 comes to a close, we’re honored to announce three well-deserved promotions from within. We want to congratulate Suzy Kim, Director, and Wesley Smith and Kyle Westra, Senior Analysts, for their recent, hard-earned promotions! Suzy, Wesley, and Kyle shared some sentiments about their time at RSG and what’s propelled them to their new roles.
Suzy Kim, Director
Suzy joined RSG in 2006. Since then, she has collaborated with over 80 jurisdictions throughout California and has gained a breadth of expertise. Her work ranges from creating economic development strategies, implementing loan programs to assist low-income homeowners, underwriting affordable housing gap financing requests, marketing City properties to meet placemaking goals, and monitoring the fiscal health of public funds. Suzy’s from Seattle, WA but currently lives in Berkeley, CA and has anchored RSG’s Berkeley office since 2009.
“I am honored to serve in my new role as Director. After working at RSG for 15 years, the thing I value most in my career is the relationships I have formed with clients and colleagues and our common goal to improve the communities we work in. I am inspired by the passion of the people I work with to do the absolute best for the people we serve. It has been especially rewarding to work on recent projects that address the State’s affordable housing shortfall and assist businesses and residents whose lives were upended by the pandemic. I look forward to many more years to come!”
Wesley Smith, Senior Analyst
Wesley joined RSG in 2019 and is an Orange County native. He has a background in local government, public transportation, government relations, and policy analysis. Wesley has performed cost-benefit analyses of public finances, rent affordability analyses, and best practice assessments of workforce development policies.
“Mapping Disadvantaged Unincorporated Communities (DUCs) for both Riverside LAFCO and CALAFCO this last year felt like one of the most rewarding things I’ve done in my career. Many of these areas are hard to map and have often never been mapped accurately before. My efforts on both of those projects have elevated me to my new senior position. Yet, growth has come with time. I initially struggled with client relations, analysis, and annual reports, but have been able to overcome these challenges through a newfound confidence. To continue moving forward in my career, I’m eager to understand project budgets and engage in relationship building with my clients.”
Kyle Westra, Senior Analyst
Kyle lives in South LA County and joined RSG in 2019 with a background in housing and economic development research and planning experience. He has performed country wide land-use regulation and home value research as well as local municipal code analysis and research.
“My knowledge base has grown exponentially since starting at RSG—especially in our housing and fiscal health product lines in 2021. This was my first job out of college, and I’ve been a sponge, continuing to learn as I go. I love diving into client projects that may be general in nature but are carefully tailored to meet each community’s individual needs. I’m ecstatic that this new role will allow me to be more client facing. In fact, one of my favorite parts of my job is building relationships with the people who are working hard for their communities at the local level. I’m looking forward to furthering these relationships and representing myself and RSG well.”
We’re proud to see our team shine and look forward to all they will accomplish in their new roles!