Celia Zavala
Executive Officer

Celia Zavala was appointed to the position of Executive Officer, Board of Supervisors, on September 25, 2018. She has dedicated over 30 years of public service to the County of Los Angeles and brings decades of experience in governmental leadership, policy development, all facets of administrative services, and finance to her current role.

As Executive Officer, Ms. Zavala serves as the Board’s independent administrative arm; she is charged with assisting the Board in coordinating and managing many of the independent programs that the Board has put in place to oversee critical County services. The portfolio of programs spans from justice reform and community health to child protection, youth empowerment and more. In this role, Ms. Zavala provides strategic direction and administrative support for over 15 of the Board’s Commissions and oversight/advisory bodies (including the newly formed Redistricting Commission), and serves as the Board’s steward to high-priority programs, such as the County Equity Oversight Panel, the Sheriff’s Civilian Oversight Commission, the Office of Child Protection, the Office of Inspector General, and the newly formed Probation Oversight Commission.

Ms. Zavala oversees the preparation of the Board’s weekly agenda, which includes serving as the custodian of record to track and memorialize actions taken by the County’s governing body (the Board), and ensuring the facilitation of public access to agendas, documents and other records relevant to the business of the Board. Ms. Zavala serves as Proprietor for the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, which includes security operations, logistics facilities management and budget oversight for the building support services.

Ms. Zavala has completely reimagined and modernized operations and led the Department’s expansion of its services and scope of work to both meet the demands of the modern age and enhance services provided to the Board, other County departments, and the public.

Those efforts include implementing various technological advances to broaden the reach of Board meetings online and on mobile devices to enhance constituents’ Board Meeting access and engagement. During the pandemic, Ms. Zavala helped the Board navigate new territory by facilitating a quick shift to the virtual landscape. Additionally, she deployed cutting-edge technology to ensure staff from the Board Offices and Executive Office were able to continue providing uninterrupted service to the residents of Los Angeles County.

Ms. Zavala spearheaded an effort to establish high definition live stream services for Board meetings and oversaw the first-ever refresh project of the Board’s historical meeting quarters to enhance unrestricted physical access for individuals with disabilities, elevate the technology that serves as a backbone for administration of the Board’s meetings, and launch an interface to allow constituents to engage real-time with up-to-the-minute information during meetings on any connected mobile device or in-person.

During the past three years, Ms. Zavala has been instrumental in leading the establishment of several new Commissions (Probation Oversight Commission, Youth Commission, and Redistricting Commission) on behalf of the Board. Her recruitment efforts have led to onboarding a group of new, dynamic, and visionary Commission Executive Directors that are now in place to lead these new initiatives within the Executive Office.

Before this appointment, serving as Chief Deputy for the Executive Office, Ms. Zavala was responsible for directing the Department’s annual budget ($177M) and overseeing the management of all operational areas.

Prior to her 13-year tenure with the Board of Supervisors, in her role as Head, Budget & Reporting for Health Services Administration, she was responsible for directing the development of a $321M budget, and for generating the Administration Cost Report for Medi-Cal and Medicare reimbursement. She formerly worked at Martin Luther King/Drew Medical Center and Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in the areas of budget and appropriation analysis, forecasting, expense monitoring, and contract oversight.

Ms. Zavala received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration with a concentration in accounting from California State University, Dominguez Hills.