Glendale City Councilmember Ardy Kassakhian on Tuesday joined the board of directors of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California as the city’s representative.

Kassakhian, who took his seat as Metropolitan’s board continues meeting online amid the COVID-19 pandemic, succeeds Vartan Gharpetian, who was appointed to the Metropolitan board in October.

A Glendale resident since 1986, Kassakhian served as elected city clerk for 15 years before his successful city council bid in March. He also is vice chair of the Glendale Housing Authority and the city’s representative to the California Contract Cities Association.

Before assuming elected office, Kassakhian was the director of government relations and later the executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region, the nation’s largest advocacy organization for issues of interest to Armenian-Americans. Kassakhian previously provided government relations and public affairs services for clients in both the public and private sectors with the firm Stoorza, Ziegaus & Metzger.

Kassakhian holds a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of California, Los Angeles and a master’s degree in public policy and administration from Northwestern University. More recently, he attended the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where he completed a certificate program for senior executives in state and local government.

H/T Asbarez