Move LA Founder and Executive Director Denny Zane makes decision to “move over” and promote from within; recommends appointment of Eli Lipmen, a long-time Move LA board and staff member.

Los Angeles—The Move LA Leadership Board has approved the recommendation of Denny Zane to appoint Eli Lipmen as the new Executive Director of Move LA. Denny, who has served as the executive director since Move LA’s founding in 2007, will “move over” and continue as the organization’s Program and Policy Director, effective July 1, 2022.

Eli Lipmen previously served as a Leadership Board member for Move LA for six years, working on the successful Measure M campaign in 2016. He joined the Move LA staff in August 2017 to work on Measure H, and has since served as Move LA’s Program and Development Director, as the organization’s representative on the statewide ClimatePlan Advisory Board, and as co-chair of the South Los Angeles Transit Empowerment Zone (SLATE-Z) Transit Work Group. Currently he also serves in a voluntary role as President of the Los Angeles City Commission, overseeing 99 Neighborhood Councils.

“We are excited to see Denny Zane’s vision for a more equitable, sustainable, affordable, and transit-oriented Los Angeles County will continue with the appoint of Eli Lipmen as executive director,” said Daniel Tabor, president of the Move LA Leadership Board, now a professor and formerly mayor of Inglewood. “We who live in Los Angeles County are in a better place because of Denny Zane and Move LA. This transition in leadership demonstrates the value of planning and the continuity of the commitment to our values and mission as a leadership board. We are promoting an effective policy leader with Eli, and retain a visionary leader with Denny.”

Gloria Ohland and Marisa Garcia continue to serve Move LA’s core team, which has decades of experience in advocacy for public transportation, affordable housing, transit-oriented communities, and climate change.

Former Board President Marlene Grossman said, “Denny has served as a mentor to Eli since I invited him to join the Move LA Board in 2010. We are proud of what Eli has accomplished since joining the team.  He is truly ready to take on this leadership role." 

The TransitCenter recently presented Eli with their "Think Globally, Act Locally" award for his work on the National Campaign for Transit Justice, organizing advocates across the state to meet with legislators to request funding for public transit in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

“We are grateful for Denny’s steadfast and transformative leadership creating Measures R, M, and H in LA County,” said Victor Griego, Move LA vice president and founder of WELL (Water Education for Latino Leaders). “All told, Move LA’s coalition-building and advocacy work will result in hundreds of billions in public investments in California’s transportation and social infrastructure, including an expanded and modernized public transit system, progressive climate policies, affordable housing, and services for people who are.”

Mr. Zane, a former mayor in the City of Santa Monica and past executive director of the Coalition for Clean Air, 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. Since initiating and convening the coalition that led to the passage of Measure R in 2008, Denny and Move LA have developed several other local ballot measures including Measure M (2016) and Measure H (2017). 

On this year’s ballot, under Denny’s leadership, Move LA initiated the dialogue and convened the coalition that led to the development of  the United to House LA Initiative to develop affordable housing and homelessness prevention in the City of LA. He also initiated the statewide Clean Car and Clean Air Act to ensure that California continues to provide essential leadership in seeking solutions to climate change. Both of these measures are  now certified for the November 2022 ballot.

Move LA has also championed student transit pass programs for more than a decade and won a competitive grant to pilot an “any line, any time” transit card for high school students in the LA Unified School District, which led to the creation of the Metro’s countywide “GoPass.” Nearly 1.3 million K-12 and community college students in LA County are now eligible to travel on public transit for free.

“We are all looking forward to working with Eli and Denny and to continue Move LA’s important work on public transportation, affordable housing, homelessness, climate change and clean air,” said Joan Ling, Move LA Board treasurer. “This has been a seamless transition and the Board is looking forward to accelerating our important work with Eli Lipmen as our new executive director.”

Eli has worked with nonprofits large and small to improve donor engagement and outreach efforts, including the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, the American Jewish Committee, and Homeless Health Care Los Angeles. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communications, the London School of Economics, and the Coro Lead SoCal Executive Leadership Training Program. He lives in the City of Los Angeles with his family of five, who regularly walk, bike and ride Metro around LA.

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Move LA is a coalition-building nonprofit organization that led the effort to pass transformative mobility solutions through Measures R (2008) and M (2016) in LA County that fund public transit operations, capital projects, and maintenance. We build broad-based coalitions involving diverse stakeholders seeking bold solutions to the biggest challenges facing the region—mobility, affordable housing and homelessness, air quality and climate change. Move LA’s Advisory Board includes leaders from the labor, environmental, business, and nonprofit communities working collaboratively to find practical solutions and funding to create a more accessible, equitable, and sustainable region.