Management Profiles

Julie Gertler, Founder and CEO
A respected thought leader and prominent consultant in community relations and the public policy environment, Julie Gertler is a veteran of the business, government and non-profit worlds offering unique insight into how local communities perceive public policy issues affecting them. In 1986 Ms. Gertler founded and currently directs Consensus Planning Group (CPG), one of the largest and most experienced community relations firms in the United States.

Prior to founding CPG, Ms. Gertler served as Deputy to a member of the Los Angeles City Council, playing a key role in many land use and environmental issues. She has chaired a commission of the City of Los Angeles appointed by Mayor Richard Riordan and her experience also includes managing a successful congressional campaign and heading a large non-profit membership organization.

Throughout her career, Ms. Gertler created key methods for building community support, many of which are broadly applied in the community relations field today. She has particular expertise in facilitating controversial processes and communicating with diverse audiences, having managed community outreach around some of the most contentious issues in Southern California. A grasp of intricate environmental regulations and experience in complex, multi-cultural and multi-jurisdictional arenas round out what Ms. Gertler brings to clients.

Ms. Gertler oversees all of Consensus Planning Group’s projects in real estate development, transportation, land use, waste management, telecommunications, retail development, housing and hospitality as well as environmental remediation. Over the last 20 years she has expanded the firm’s capabilities by building a team of multicultural and multilingual professionals with a broad range of experience in politics, community organizing, media strategy and public relations.

She serves on the Government Relations Committee of the Central City Association, is a member of the Urban Land Institute Los Angeles, the International Council of Shopping Centers and the Women’s Transportation Seminar and is a Board member of Shakespeare Festival LA. She is also past chair of the Land Use Committee of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association. She is a graduate of UCLA and the Public Disputes Program on Negotiation of Harvard Law School.

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