Council member Scott Johnson, who holds the Place 6 seat, is term limited this year.
Rui Zhang[/caption]Zhang has lived in Frisco since 2013 and said she fell in love with the city when she moved here.
“This is the place that I see myself being in for the rest of my life,” she said. “Frisco is the place that you have that love at first sight feeling, but it’s also a place where I feel I can give back to the community.”
Zhang is a vice president for a health care company where she manages contracts and handles reports and analytics. At her job, Zhang said she has gained experience that would help her work on City Council.
“There are some similarities between government reporting and health care in a way that they’re both convoluted,” she said, adding that many residents do not understand a city’s budgeting process like they do not understand health care billing.
Zhang has five main points in her campaign: tapping into Frisco’s talent pool; promoting financial transparency; proactively planning for infrastructure and transportation; managing growth and controlling density; and supporting economic growth.
Many of Frisco’s challenges are directly related to the population growth, Zhang said, which is why she wants to focus on issues, such as infrastructure and density.
“We’ve got to anticipate our challenges,” she said. “The root cause of our challenges is population growth, whether it’s infrastructure, whether it’s traffic, whether it’s high density housing.”
Zhang said the city is very diverse with nearly 20 percent of residents being Asian. Zhang, who moved to the United States from China for college, said she would like to engage these residents and help them become more involved in the city.
“I think one of our social responsibilities is to really engage people to make a difference and encourage them to participate, just like I do with running for City Council or other leadership positions in the city,” she said.
With the expected turnover in city leadership over the next few years, Zhang said her goal in serving on City Council is to continue the vision Council has already set forth for the city.
Zhang is a member of the Heritage Association of Frisco. She and her husband have been married for 15 years and have two children.
Brian Livingston has also filed for the Place 6 seat. For more information about Zhang, visit www.ruizhang4frisco.org.
