San Francisco Mayor Names New Planning Director

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie has appointed a new city planning director who comes with a combination of public and private experience.

Sarah Dennis Phillips, who has led San Francisco’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development for the past two years, will take over the city’s head planning role next month, the San Francisco Business Times reported. She’ll replace Rich Hillis, who announced last month he’d be leaving in mid-July after five years in the role.

Dennis Phillips first joined the San Francisco Planning Department in 2005. Over the next decade-plus, she worked in various roles in the planning department and Office of Economic and Workforce Development before moving into the private sector in 2019. She joined Tishman Speyer and served as a senior director with the firm before rejoining OEWD as executive director in 2023.

She has “the leadership, experience, and track record to drive our city’s economic recovery,” Lurie said in a statement. In her civic roles, Dennis Phillips “helped generate billions of dollars in economic activity, create thousands of new homes across the city, open small businesses in every neighborhood, and support major initiatives downtown,” Lurie said.

Dennis Phillips spoke with The Real Deal in 2023 after her return to public service, explaining that it was a “labor of love” to leave the private sector and work for the city she calls home. She steps into the role amid Lurie’s frequent calls to cut red tape and streamline housing planning production.

“I think San Francisco has had, even within our Office of Economic Development, a bit of a buyer’s mentality. Companies and residents are going to want to be here. Businesses are going to fight to be here, and it’s just our job to manage that,” she told TRD in 2023. “We’re in a seller’s mentality now. We need to sell San Francisco, make it a place that people want to be, and be competitive in our outreach.”

— Chris Malone Méndez