ELI LIPMEN (He/Him/They)
Executive Director
310-310-2390 x 104
[email protected]
Eli joined the Move LA staff in August 2017 and was appointed Executive Director in 2022 having previously serving on the Leadership Board for over six years. Eli has dedicated his life's work to social change from hunger to human rights to climate change to affordable housing. As a board member of the nonprofit ClimatePlan and co-chair of the South Los Angeles Transit Empowerment Zone (SLATE-Z) Transit Work Group, he is leading efforts in Los Angeles and across California to create more equitable public transportation. As one of five proponents of Measure ULA, Eli led the campaign for funding for affordable housing and tenant protections in the City of Los Angeles. He was honored by the TransitCenter for organizing national advocacy to achieve a more equitable Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the largest national investment in the public transportation system ever. And Eli's efforts on student transit passes won a competitive grant that piloted an 'any line, any time' transit card for high school students in LAUSD, which led to the successful 'GoPass' program that provides fare-free transit for 1.3 million K-12 and community college students in LA County. Eli is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communications, the London School of Economics & Political Science, and the Coro Lead SoCal Fellowship program. He is a former commissioner in the City of Los Angeles, piloting more equitable and accessible governance through the Neighborhood Council System, and teaches at American Jewish University in the first-of-its-kind socially-conscious MBA program. Eli's family of five lives in the City of Los Angeles where they love to walk, bike, and ride public transit.
MARISA GARCIA
Activism Director
310-310-2390 x 105
[email protected]
Marisa grew up near two busy freeways in a city in Southeast LA County that is heavily impacted by air pollution, and she is all too aware of the harm that our overdependence on cars has caused Southern California residents. She is asthmatic, and reducing the air pollution and traffic congestion that plagues Los Angeles by providing people with alternative transportation choices is an issue that is near and dear to her heart. Since joining the Move LA team her commitment to helping transform LA County’s transportation system has become significantly stronger, and she can’t wait to see what the future holds for communities like the one where she grew up.
DENNY ZANE
Policy Director
[email protected]
Denny created Move LA in 2007 to bring together business, labor and environmental leaders and organizations with the goal of raising significant new funding for LA County’s transit system. This coalition helped lead the campaign for the Measure R sales tax, and proved to be a powerful force in getting Measure R on the 2008 ballot and winning its passage, with the result that LA has embarked on an ambitious build-out of its transportation system. Previously Denny served on the Santa Monica City Council, including one term as mayor, during which time he initiated the revitalization of the Third Street Promenade. He wrote much of the land use policy for Santa Monica’s downtown, emphasizing pedestrian amenities, mixed-use development, and effective transit access — before these policies became known as “smart growth.” Denny was also executive director of the Coalition for Clean Air, and began his career by founding Santa Monicans for Renters Rights in the late ’70s, a progressive community coalition that has held a city council majority in Santa Monica for 24 of the last 30 years.
GLORIA OHLAND
Communications Director
310-310-2390 x 103
[email protected]
Gloria has worked on issues related to transit and transit-oriented communities at the national and local levels for many years. Since joining Move LA in 2010 she has focused on climate change and reducing the need to drive by making transit, walking and biking more safe and convenient, and on the importance of funding and building affordable housing near modes of transportation other than the car. She worked on the successful campaigns for both Measures R and M, now providing $120 billion to build and operate transit in LA County. Previously she was vice president at the national nonprofit Reconnecting America, which was funded by Congress to promote best practices in transit and transit-oriented development, and where she authored many publications on these topics. She also worked on the H+T (housing and transportation) affordability index now used by HUD to prioritize housing projects for funding; and worked on an early SoCal demonstration project of the location efficient mortgage, a precursor to the H+T index.