Commissioner McClain-Hill - LA Board Of Water And Power Commissioners

Cynthia McClain-Hill

Cynthia McClain-Hill is an active attorney. She was elected President of the Board of Water and Power Commissioners on July 28, 2020 after serving as Board Vice President since September 5, 2018. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti appointed Ms. McClain-Hill to a four-year term on the Board of Water and Power Commissioners. On August 15, 2018, her appointment was confirmed by the Los Angeles City Council. Ms. McClain-Hill’s term expires on June 30, 2022.

In her work as a highly regarded and widely respected attorney, Ms. McClain-Hill oversees and manages complex legal and public policy issues for clients as managing director of Strategic Counsel PLC. She is lauded as an astute and skillful public policy strategist with an outstanding record of service and accomplishment on a significant array of public-sector and non-profit boards and commissions.

Ms. McClain-Hill previously served for two years as a mayoral appointee on the City of Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners beginning in August 2016. Over the past three decades, she was appointed to serve on the City’s Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA), California Coastal Commission, California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), CalEPA Environmental Justice Advisory Working Group, and Los Angeles City Small and Local Business Advisory Commission.

From 2008-2009, she served as president of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO). She was past president of NAWBO’s Los Angeles Chapter. Ms. McClain-Hill served as Vice Chair of the Luskin UCLA School of Public Affairs Advisory Board. She served as a member of the founding board preceding the Luskin School’s establishment.

Ms. McClain-Hill has been consistently named one of Southern California’s “Super Lawyers” based on surveys of 65,000 Los Angeles area attorneys. She ranks among the top five percent of California’s practicing attorneys. As an opinion leader, her analysis on public affairs issues has been featured regularly in a wide range of print and online publications. She has made numerous TV and radio appearances to discuss public policy, law and politics.

She has also been honored repeatedly by business and civic organizations for her leadership. She received the "Women in Business Advocate Award" from the U.S. Small Business Administration, “2005 Chapter Public Policy Advocate of the Year Award" from NAWBO, the inaugural "Ruth Standish Baldwin Award" from the Greater Sacramento Urban League, and the "Thurgood Marshall Award" from Minorities in Business Magazine. In September 2007, she was featured in ESSENCE.

Ms. McClain-Hill has long been a trusted senior advisor to California’s powerful political figures and leading policy makers. Former California Governor Gray Davis appointed her to serve as one of his Gubernatorial Transition Team’s co-chairs. She served as a transition team member for Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas as he prepared to assume office in 2008. She counts being among the five speakers at his history-making inaugural as among the most cherished events of her professional life.

Ms. McClain-Hill earned her Juris Doctorate from UCLA School of Law in 1981. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Political Science from UCLA in 1978. She is the proud product of California’s public school system. She is married and the mother of two adults.