Mr. Caplan has been Economic Development Manager of the City of Berkeley, California since November, 2006. He oversees Berkeley’s business and development assistance programs, civic arts programs, and a range of initiatives related to emerging industry clusters. He has initiated a variety of program development efforts related to commercial district revitalization and marketing, green business development, and assisting growth and retention of local startups.

Mr. Caplan started with Berkeley’s Office of Economic Development in 1989 when he was hired to implement the City’s new Downtown Plan. Over the years his projects have included creation of the first Downtown Berkeley Public Improvements Plan; planning and implementing Downtown Berkeley’s Arts District; developing Business Improvement Districts in commercial areas around the City; leading several district branding efforts; helping create and lead the East Bay Green Corridor Partnership initiative; and co-creating the Berkeley Start-up Cluster – an initiative in partnership with U.C. Berkeley and private sector leaders to retain and grow emerging spin-out companies. Another current initiative is collaboration with the City of Emeryville to promote the strong bioscience cluster that exists in both cities.

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