Snellville City Council Dave Emanuel Biography

Dave Emanuel Biography

Dave was has been a resident of Snellville for 36 years and currently serves as Mayor Pro Tem of the Snellville City Council.  Prior to that, he was a member of the Planning Commission. Along with his wife Kathy, and daughter Nikki, he moved to Snellville from Houston, Texas. A few years later, they were joined by younger daughter Shelly, who was born in Snellville.

During the time his daughters were in school, Dave was a member of the Snellville Middle School LSAC (Local School Advisory Committee) and a number of committees at Grayson High School. He was appointed to the Snellville Planning Commission in 2009.

After growing up in New York City, and living in Southern California for 14 years, Dave decided he had had enough of California’s crowds. He and Kathy moved to Houston, which offered plenty of open spaces, but also equal amounts of heat and humidity. It didn’t take long for them to decide to look for a place with a better climate and better quality of life. That’s when Snellville came to mind.

Dave had discovered the city during his first visit to the Atlanta area in the late 1970s. The purpose of that trip was to do the research and photography needed for a magazine article about the Pontiac TransAms that were being prepared for the second “Smokey and the Bandit” movie. One of the technicians working on the cars had to go to Snellville to pick up some parts and Dave rode along.

It’s not surprising that an automotive connection first brought Dave to Snellville. Even before getting a driver’s license, he had a fascination with cars and that, combined with his mechanical and writing abilities inspired him to become a journalist, specializing in automotive subjects. Over the years, his byline has appeared on more than 2,000 magazine articles and seven books. In addition to automotive topics, he has also written personality and business profiles, political commentary restaurant reviews and sports reports.

For the past 25 years, Dave and Kathy have owned Random Technology, a company that manufactures catalytic converters.