Mikey Taylor grew up in Newbury Park. This city shaped him before anything else did.
As a teenager, he picked up a skateboard and ended up competing at the X Games, touring the world, and spending 14 years as a professional skateboarder. He learned what it takes to be good at something: showing up before you feel ready, and doing the work in rooms nobody sees.
When that career ended, he didn't look for an easy next move. He learned business from the ground up by co-founding Saint Archer Brewing Company, which eventually sold to MillerCoors. After that, Mikey co-founded Commune Capital, an investment firm he now runs as Co-President with over $352 million in assets under management. None of it came with a roadmap. He built it with the same mentality he developed on a skateboard in this city.
Some people spend their whole lives searching for a place that feels like home. Mikey already had it. His wife Jen grew up next door to him in Dos Vientos. Same neighborhood. Same grass. They got married, started a family, and are now raising five kids in the same city where they both grew up. Their parents, now grandparents, are still neighbors. That kind of rootedness doesn't show up on a resume. But it shows up in how you lead.
Why he ran.
In 2022, he ran for City Council because he loved this city and started seeing things that had the potential to make it a different place than the one he grew up in. The one his kids were growing up in now. Thousand Oaks is genuinely special. The kind of city that is easy to take for granted until you realize not every community looks like this. He wanted to protect that, and to make sure the next generation got to experience it the way he did.
He saw homelessness rising and public safety stretched thin. The region was coming out of a drought, fire seasons were getting worse, and he felt the city needed a leader with real business experience to help get things on track and plan for the future. Not someone who needed the title. Someone who had actually built something.
Four years later.
Homelessness is down 46%. Thousand Oaks ranks in the top 10 safest cities in California. Two new microgrids mean that when the next emergency hits, the city has the infrastructure to keep operating. Amgen is investing $600 million here.
Why he's running again.
The job is not finished. Thrive Grove needs to expand. Water infrastructure needs continued investment. The local economy needs leadership that attracts the right employers without giving away what makes this place worth living in. Mikey knows this city the way you know a place you never left. He's running to finish what he started.