Biography of Lisa Gritzner

Lisa Gritzner is a Vice President at Cerrell Associates, Inc. a Los Angeles-based public affairs/government relations firm. Lisa has extensive experience handling local public policy issues and has wide-ranging expertise in numerous areas including land use and transportation, especially airports and large-scale, mixed-use developments. In addition, she has worked on public-private land transactions to preserve open space and has considerable experience with a host of public agencies in California. She possesses significant knowledge of local government policies and procedures, and has experience working with and advising elected officials and staff at all levels of government.

Prior to abandoning the public sector for the private sector, Lisa served as chief of staff to Los Angeles City Councilmember Cindy Miscikowski. In that role, she was instrumental in representing the City of Los Angeles on issues as varied as the secession of the San Fernando Valley, Hollywood and the Harbor areas from the rest of the City of LA; the modernization of Los Angeles International Airport; and the development of the largest master-planned community in the city of Los Angeles. Lisa also served as the primary media liaison for the Councilmember and functioned as the senior advisor on a wide range of issues from local district-focused community relations to issues of citywide importance such as business tax reform, public safety, and the City of Los Angeles’ $5 billion annual budget.

Prior to her work in the city of Los Angeles, Lisa created a nationally recognized HUD-funded outreach program for the Community Development Department in the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts. She was responsible for legislation creating the state’s first Lead Paint Awareness week, and for the establishment of a national HUD advertising campaign. Lisa began her career working in the government relations department of First Interstate Bank of California in Sacramento where she tracked and analyzed state legislation of importance to the banking industry.

Lisa received a Bachelor of Arts degree in government from California State University Sacramento and was selected to participate in the Senior Executives in State and Local Government program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. She serves as treasurer for the board of directors of the Los Angeles County Young Democrats and has served on other local community advisory boards. For fun, Lisa and her husband Glenn enjoy traveling the world seeking excellent food and exciting adventures. When she grows up, Lisa hopes to live in a world free of neocons, especially Paul Wolfowitz and that scary guy on CNN with the bow-tie whose parents must have been very, very mean to him.