Val Handfield is the Chief Deputy Recorder/County Clerk for San Diego County.  She brings more than 30 years of experience in the fields of recording, records management, archives, and information technology. Hired in 2011, Val is responsible for the County Clerk, Recorder, and Archives areas of the Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk. Prior to her work in San Diego, Val held positions in Washington State as the Deputy State Archivist and Director of Corporations and Charities, and management positions in King, Snohomish, and Thurston counties.

Val received her M.B.A., with an emphasis in Information Technology, from the University of Washington. She is a certified archivist and County Clerk’s Legislative co-chair. She previously served as the County Recorder’s Legislative co-chair, director for the National Association of Government Archives and Records Administrators (NAGARA), and director for the Property Records Industry Association (PRIA). A native of Washington, Val is married to Jerry, retired State Archivist of Washington, and together they have six children and twelve grandchildren. Val is an avid bicyclist, knitter, and walker. 

Kiera Sullivan, MS – Kiera is an Archivist with the San Diego County Archives. In this role, much of Kiera’s time is spent managing the processing of the San Diego County Recorder maps. In addition, Kiera conducts stacks management through environment monitoring, space and storage planning, and by monitoring several contracts that support the Archives’ activities. Kiera supports the Archives’ community engagement through social media posts, lectures, event planning, and reference activities. She recently authored the Archives’ first comprehensive Processing Manual and has created templates, checklists, and forms for the management of all archival collections at the Archives.

Kiera holds a master’s degree in library and information science with a concentration in archives management from Simmons University, Boston, MA, and the Arrangement and Description Certificate from the Society of American Archivists. She has spent the past 11 years in public service with government and higher education archives. Her archival passion is description, because it is the key to broadening discoverability and access to archival records to as many people as possible. Kiera sees this as particularly important in government archives because these institutions safeguard the records - the evidence, the proof - of the activities of a community, its citizens, and its government.