Douglas H. Hanson, Mayor - Elected 2008, Current Term of Office 2012

­Douglas Hanson was elected to the City Council in November 2008.

Councilman Hanson has over 40 years of extensive entrepreneurial and business experience, principally in three areas, Telecommunications/ Broadcasting and Real Estate. He gained his Real Estate experience with Southern Pacific’s Land and Development Company managing and developing Real Estate throughout Southern California.  He used his knowledge in Real Estate and Telecommunications to create the business strategy of burying fiber optic cable along railroad rights-of-way throughout the US.  His idea led to the creation of SP Telecom in 1987. Upon completion of construction of its first nationwide network in 1993, the network was sold to IBM for $200 million.  Immediately thereafter the company was moved from San Francisco to Denver and construction of their second network began.  The company changed its name from SP Telecom to Qwest Communications. Mr. Hanson served as the first CEO and President of Qwest Communications / SP Telecom from its inception in 1986 until he left in late 1996.

 After a short sabbatical, Mr. Hanson returned to the telecommunications industry acquiring a controlling interest in Rocky Mountain Internet, Inc. (RMI), an internet start-up in Denver. Through his leadership, RMI grew from a small local internet provider with $4 million in revenue to a nationwide company with over $70 million in revenue in four short years, culminating in a merger with Internet Commerce & Communications.

Throughout his career Mr. Hanson has been active in community and business organizations serving on numerous boards and commissions.  Currently he serves on the Desert Town Hall Board, Community Activities Committee, Grants in Aid, Children’s Museum Board, CVAG Homeless Committee, and CVAG Human Resource Committee.

Mr. Hanson was born in 1943 in a small coal mining camp in West Virginia. Upon graduation from High School, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, being honorably discharged in 1964. Shortly thereafter, he moved to California attending California State University and Glendale College graduating in 1976, while at the same time working for Southern Pacific.

Mr. Hanson lives in Indian Wells with his wife Elena and until recently his son Matthew who is now a freshman at the University of Southern California.  In addition to Matthew, the Hanson’s have four other children and two grandchildren.