Ronald R. Gonzales (1951- ) attended De Anza College before moving on to the University of California at Santa Cruz where he graduated with a degree in Community Studies (1973). Gonzales became active in California politics, serving on the Sunnyvale City Council (1979-1987), and the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors (1989-1996). Ron Gonzales briefly left politics to work as an executive at Hewlett-Packard, a Silicon Valley based company. From 1999-2006 Gonzales served as the first Latino mayor of San José since California became a state in 1850, and was one of the first Latino mayors of a large U.S. city.

While in office, Gonzales initiated several programs to help attract new teachers to San José schools including a home purchasing assistance program. Gonzales also advocated extending Bay Area Regional Transport service to downtown San José and used San José Redevelopment Agency funds to help revitalize downtown San José. While delivering a State of the City address on January 28, 2004, Ron Gonzales suffered a stroke but returned to his duties on February 16th of that year. In June 2006 Mayor Ron Gonzales and one of his top aids, Joe Guerra, were accused of corruption involving a waste contract in 2000 with Norcal Waste Systems. Gonzales denied any wrongdoing and in 2007 a judge dismissed the charges. Gonzales was succeeded by Chuck Reed in 2007.