Marissa Aho

Office of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti
Chief Resilience Officer
 
 
About Me Publications
Marissa Aho, AICP, serves as Los Angeles’ first Chief Resilience Officer in the Office of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, where she leads city-wide resiliency efforts, including those found in the Mayor’s Resilience By Design report, Sustainable City pLAn, and Resilient Los Angeles strategy which was released March 2018 as part of the 100 Resilient Cities program pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation. These efforts include implementation of historic building retrofits, fortifying the water infrastructure, and advancing earthquake early warning. Marissa also advances the Mayor's resilience goals through projects and partnerships including Building Forward LA, establishing Neighborhood Resilience Hubs, and piloting new technology for increased situational awareness. Marissa has 15 years of policy, planning, project management, and community engagement experience in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors where she worked with interdisciplinary teams to find creative solutions to complex problems. Prior to joining the Mayor’s Office, Marissa held senior positions at two Los Angeles planning and land use consulting firms. She has a BA in Communications, Legal Institutions, Economics, and Government/Political Science from American University and a Master of Planning from the University of Southern California Price School of Public Policy. She is an active member of the American Planning Association serving as the American Institute of Certified Planners Commissioner for Region IV (California & Nevada). She is an advisor to the Dr. Lucy Jones Center for Science and Society and is a member of the USC Price Alumni Association Board of Directors. Marissa is also an adjunct instructor at the USC Price School of Public Policy, where she teaches a graduate urban planning studio on resilience.