Appointed Commissioner

Term Expiration: June 30, 2024

Sumi Parekh serves as the Executive Director for the Group Effort Initiative (GEI), an organization that exists to create a pipeline for members of the BIPOC and other marginalized communities to get real experience towards a lasting career within the entertainment industry. GEI has also absorbed Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti’s Evolve Entertainment Fund, launched in February 2018 to open up professional pathways into film, television, music, and digital media for over 1,000 participants. To date, Evolve has directly secured 559 paid internships and 65 full-time jobs with leading companies across Los Angeles.

Prior to her role at GEI, Sumi worked for Mayor Garcetti and served as the Executive Officer to the Deputy Mayor of Economic Development. In this role, she served as a thought partner for the Deputy Mayor, helped to execute the Mayor’s strategies for economic development, and served as a day-to-day manager for the Office of Economic Development staff. Prior to this role, she served as Director of the Business Team.

Sumi was also a Program Manager at the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles, a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to improving life for all Angelenos and the Director of Legislative Affairs and Programs at the Los Angeles Business Council (LABC).

Appointed by Mayor Garcetti, Sumi serves as a Commissioner on the nine person Board of Fire and Police Pensions. Sumi also serves as a member of Reimagine L.A. County, a coalition of advocates, community organizations and neighbors continuing to push Measure J investments and a board member for LA Collab, an unprecedented effort to connect Latinx talent, executives, and creators to opportunities in the entertainment industry — and double Latino representation in Hollywood by 2030.

Sumi graduated in 2013 from the University of Southern California with a Masters in Public Policy. Before moving to California to pursue her master’s, Sumi worked as an actuarial consultant in Dallas with Mercer and Towers Watson. She is a graduate of the University of Texas with a B.S. in Mathematics and had an ASA with the Society of Actuaries.