Glendale, CA – On Tuesday, July 11, 2017, the City of Glendale formally announced the appointment of Elena Bolbolian as Director of the newly created Innovation, Performance and Audit Department. Ms. Bolbolian has devoted her government service career to Glendale, having first joined the City as a youth worker in 1993 through the Glendale Youth Alliance’s youth employment program. From youth employment, she moved to community outreach as the Public Education Assistant. She then moved over to serve as an Analyst to head up a Rental Housing Inspection Program. After successfully launching the pilot program, she made a lateral move to the City’s Redevelopment Agency. At the Agency, she managed the construction of the Trader Joe’s store in Montrose and several capital projects at the historic Alex Theatre. Following the Statewide dissolution of redevelopment agencies, Bolbolian took a lead role as the Principal Administrative Officer in winding down the activities of the agency through a series of complex audits. During this time, she also oversaw the administrative and customer service staff in the Community Development Department where she consolidated administrative procedures to build efficiencies in the wake of staff and funding reductions.
In 2015, she was promoted to Deputy Director of Community Development and currently heads two divisions, Administration and Neighborhood Services, where she oversees 45 employees with 8 direct reports. Most recently, she helped the code compliance team in eliminating an inspection backlog and restructured the program to produce more efficient inspection turnaround times.
Ms. Bolbolian attended Glendale schools then went to UCLA, where she received her BA degree in 2002 followed by her Master's in Public Administration from CSUN in 2005. She resides in Glendale with her husband, Arthur and son, Anthony (7).
“I am excited at the opportunity to establish an innovation team in Glendale with the goal of using data to inform decisions and driving results to benefit the Glendale community. Our team will challenge the traditional approaches to enhance performance and customer experience.” Bolbolian said.
"Elena's immense experience and contributions will greatly enhance our efforts, and we are honored that she has agreed to take on the task of continuing to create even more efficiencies that will benefit Glendale residents, businesses, and visitors” said Mayor Gharpetian.
The Department of Innovation, Performance and Audit will systematically take existing available information and data, and find ways to innovate City processes and policies. The team will act as in-house consultants and leverage the work of internal audit to identify areas in the City that are worth examining. This will help operational departments bridge the divide between audit findings, performance assessments, and industry best practices.
For additional information about the Innovation, Performance and Audit Department, click here.
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