First Colt to Sit on City Council            
Modified abstract from Sherri Lightner 2008 Wikipedia Profile

Sherri Schuler

Sherri Schuler Lightner is the Councilmember for San Diego City Council District 1, elected on November 4th, 2008.  According to SANDAG, Council District 1 has a population of 188,625 people, and includes the communities of Carmel Valley, Del Mar Heights, the North City Future Urbanizing Area (Black Mountain Ranch, Del Mar Mesa, Pacific Highlands Ranch, Torrey Highlands), most of La Jolla and Bird Rock, Rancho Peñasquitos, Rose Canyon, lower San Dieguito River Valley, Sorrento Hills, Sorrento Valley, Torrey Hills, Torrey Pines, University City, and UCSD.  Sherri received 51.72% of the vote from 157 precincts with a total count of 38,446 votes.

She was born Sherri Ann Schuler in Warren, Pennsylvania, and moved to San Diego in 1959 with her parents and sister.  Sherri attended Lewis Jr. High and graduated from Will C. Crawford High School in 1968.  Schuler then went on to the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) where she received her B.A. in Mathematics and Sociology and her M.S. in Applied Mechanics and Engineering. She is licensed by the State of California as a Professional Mechanical Engineer. 

While at UCSD Sherri met her future husband, Bruce Lightner, the couple have been married for 35 years. Sherri Lightner is co-owner of Lightner Engineering, a small technology hardware and software consulting firm in San Diego.

Sherri started her professional career as an Engineering Aide at General Atomics (GA), hired by the High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor Division after graduation from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). While working full-time at GA, Sherri was certified as an Engineer in Training and took engineering course work at San Diego State University (SDSU) and UCSD. She was quickly promoted to engineer and then earned a M.S. degree from UCSD. Sherri worked as an engineer in the Structural Engineering Department at GA for eight years and GA's Fusion Division for another five.
Sherri then accepted a senior engineering position with the Structural Dynamics group at Rohr Industries to work on high velocity (ballistic) impact analysis. After five years at Rohr, she returned to GA to work on the New Production Reactor (NPR). After another five years at GA working on the NPR and other projects, Lightner retired from the engineering profession to take up new challenges.

Over the last 10 years Sherri Schuler Lighter has served as a volunteer for different San Diego non-profit organizations. She was the president of the La Jolla Town Council and La Jolla Shores Association and secretary for the La Jolla Community Planning Association. 

Lightner was sworn in as a City Councilmember on December 8th, 2008 at Golden Hall.  At the swearing in ceremony Sherri Lightner stated: “With your continuing help, together we will bring profound change to the city.  It is time for the public interest to be driving the bus, not private interest.”