Curtis Below brought his broad professional experience in the public, nonprofit and private sectors to FM3 Research in 2007. Since joining the firm, he has provided qualitative and quantitative research – and strategic advice – to government agencies, non-profit organizations, businesses, and candidate and ballot measure campaigns at both the state and local levels.
During the last several election cycles, Curtis conducted research contributing to the passage of a number of ballot measure campaigns, including California’s Prop 1 (a $4 billion housing bond) and Prop 68 (a $4 billion park and water bond); two significant regional funding measures in the San Francisco Bay Area (a $3.5 billion BART bond measure and a nine-county “Clean & Healthy Bay” parcel tax); a number of local finance measures in the cities of Alameda, Antioch, Cotati, Daly City, East Palo Alto, Half Moon Bay, Los Banos, Martinez, Milpitas, Orinda, Pittsburg, San Jose, San Mateo, Santa Rosa, Scotts Valley, Sunnyvale and Vallejo, and in Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Humboldt, Tuolumne, Yuba counties; as well as other local measures for school, fire, and park districts. Curtis also worked on behalf of several successful candidates, including those running for U.S. Congress, the California Legislature, and local county boards of supervisors.
Outside of the electoral realm, Curtis also works extensively assessing public opinion on a variety of issue areas, seeking to both understand existing perceptions and attitudes, and to develop messaging guidance that furthers awareness and inspires behavioral changes. This includes – but is not limited to – work on water conservation, environmental and open space protection, energy use and generation, public safety, education, residential waste disposal and waste reduction, public transit use, parks and recreation, and issues related to development.
In addition to his time at FM3, Curtis also has experience in the public sector (working for the California State Legislature and serving as the Vice-Chair of the City of Oakland’s Public Ethics Commission, in the nonprofit sector (working for the Environmental Defense Fund), and the private sector (as co-founder and Vice President of Get Active Software, an Internet software and services company that provided online constituent mobilization and engagement tools for nonprofit organizations). Curtis has also regularly guest lectured on research methodology at Cal State East Bay.
Curtis received his Bachelor’s degree in Geography/Environmental Studies from UCLA and both his Master’s of Public Policy and Master’s of Public Health from UC Berkeley.