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Valley 200 – 2024: Kathryn Barger

By
Kelly Garcia
-

Supervisor, Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors

Supervisor Barger serves the residents of the 5th District, which includes 20 cities and 83 unincorporated communities in the Antelope, San Gabriel, San Fernando, Crescenta and Santa Clarita Valleys. Barger began her career in public service as an intern in the office of former Supervisor Michael Antonovich and rose to become his chief deputy in 2001, where she served until her election to the Board of Supervisors in 2016. She was reelected for her second term in 2020. Barger advocates for services and programs to improve the quality of life for foster children, seniors, veterans, those with disabilities and those with mental illness. Barger serves on the boards of Metrolink and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Valley 200 – 2024: Karen Bass

By
Kelly Garcia
-

Mayor, City of Los Angeles

Bass took office in December 2022 as the city’s 43rd mayor – and first woman in that post – defeating billionaire shopping mall magnate Rick Caruso. Her first official act was to declare a state of emergency on homelessness. In her first year in office, Bass said that the city and county have placed nearly 22,000 homeless people into interim housing. Bass, a Los Angeles native, won election to the state Assembly in 2004 and served two years as Assembly Speaker. She won election to Congress in 2010, serving South Los Angeles and Culver City. Bass also helped found the nonprofit Community Coalition in 1990.

Valley 200 – 2024: Gerhard Apfelthaler

By
Kelly Garcia
-

Dean, School of Management, California Lutheran University

Apfelthaler is the dean of the School of Management at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks where he oversees graduate and undergraduate programs as well as the Dorfman Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Cal Lutheran’s community startup space Hub101 and the Center for Economic Research and Forecasting. Prior to joining Cal Lutheran in 2009, he held several positions in higher education in his native Austria. He previously served as Austria’s Deputy Trade Commissioner / Commercial Attaché in Singapore and in Los Angeles. He is also a co-founder of startup companies in the life science sector, co-founded the European Journal of International Management and has published several books.

Valley 200 – 2024: Erika Beck

By
Kelly Garcia
-

President, California State University, Northridge

Beck began her leadership of CSUN in January 2021 and is the school’s fourth consecutive female president. As president, Beck oversees a university of more than 40,000 students, faculty and staff. Under her leadership, CSUN has developed a new equity-centered strategic plan; realized record level giving, including the two largest gifts in CSUN’s history; and launched the Global Hispanic Serving Institution Equity Innovation Hub. Prior to joining CSUN, Beck served as president of CSU Channel Islands from 2016 to 2021. She is a board member of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.

Valley 200 – 2024: Celeste Rodriguez

By
Kelly Garcia
-

Mayor, City of San Fernando

Rodriguez is serving her first term on the San Fernando City Council, having been elected in November 2020. She was named mayor in December of 2022. Rodriguez has led the creation of a Community and Business Resource Center in City Hall. She is a graduate of San Diego State University and the University of Southern California, where she earned a master’s degree in social work. She has worked in public service for over a decade, starting in the Recreation and Community Services Department in San Fernando, followed by the City of Los Angeles Mayor’s Office of Economic Opportunity.

Valley 200 – 2024: Cameron Smyth

By
Kelly Garcia
-

Mayor, City of Santa Clarita

Smyth, a Santa Clarita native, is the mayor of the city. He was first elected to the Santa Clarita City Council in 2000 and served six years. He was the mayor for two of those years. From there, he went on to serve in the California State Legislature as an Assemblyman for the 38th District. In 2010 he was named chair of the Assembly Local Government Committee, making him the only Republican to chair a major policy committee at the time. He served a six-year term. He has since been elected to the Santa Clarita City Council in 2016 and 2020 and has been mayor five times.

Valley 200 – 2024: Ben Allen

By
Kelly Garcia
-

Senator, California State Senate

Allen was first elected to represent the 24th Senate District in 2014 and is now serving his third term. He chairs the senate’s Environmental Quality Committee and co-chairs the legislature’s Environmental Caucus, is a member of the Legislative Jewish Caucus, chairs the legislature’s Joint Committee on the Arts and the Senate Select Committee on Aerospace and Defense. He has authored nearly 60 laws in various areas, from environmental protection to electoral reform. Fighting the climate crisis and protecting California’s natural resources are among Allen’s priorities. He is a member of the California Film Commission and was part of an effort to extend the Film & TV Tax Credit Program to further support California’s film industry.

Valley 200 – 2024: Barry Gribbons

By
Kelly Garcia
-

President, L.A. Valley College

Gribbons has been president of Los Angeles Valley College since August 2019. Valley College has more than 18,000 students. Prior to arriving at Valley College, Gribbons had 19 years of leadership experience at College of the Canyons, including four years serving as Deputy Chancellor. From 1996 to 1999, he was senior researcher and project director at UCLA’s Center for the Study of Evaluation where his work coordinated large-scale education reforms to benefit underserved students. During this time, he was also a consultant to the U.S. Department of Education. Gribbons has co-authored more than 520 research reports during the past 19 years. He has taught at California State University, Los Angeles and College of the Canyons.

Valley 200 – 2024: Armida Ornelas

By
Kelly Garcia
-

President, LA Mission College

In her tenure at the Los Angeles Community College District, Ornelas has served as a faculty member in political science, Vice President of Instruction at East Los Angeles College and is currently the President at Los Angeles Mission College. For over 25 years she has been dedicated to quality instructional programs that would lead to transfer, credential attainment and career opportunities for community college students. Ornelas was raised in East Los Angeles. She went on to pursue her undergraduate studies at UCLA and graduated with a double major in Chicana/o Studies and Sociology.  She earned her master’s degree in public policy studies from the University of Chicago and her doctorate from the UCLA School of Education.

Valley 200 – 2024: Anthony Portantino

By
Kelly Garcia
-

Senator, California State Senate

Portantino represents California’s 25th State Senate District, which stretches along the 210 Freeway from Sunland/Tujunga to Upland. His accomplishments include increasing funding for special education and authoring legislation that created California’s umbilical cord blood collection program, pushed back school start time for middle and high schools, raised the purchase age of firearms to 21 and placed the suicide hotline number on student identification cards. Prior to his years as a representative, he worked in film and television production and served on the California Film Commission.

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