LAANE Development Director Stella Maloyan Stepping Down After Two Decades
Founder of Women for a New Los Angeles Luncheon Accepts Executive Position at Leading Labor Law Firm
Stella Maloyan, the longtime founding development director of the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, has accepted a position at Bush Gottlieb, a leading Southern California labor law firm. She will serve as the Chief of Strategic Development for Bush Gottlieb and will join LAANE’s Advisory Board.
During her nearly two decades at LAANE, Stella built one of the nation’s most successful nonprofit development programs, raising over $25 million and creating two marquee events. The City of Justice Awards Dinner is the largest annual progressive gala on the West Coast, while the Women for a New Los Angeles Luncheon is among the biggest annual fundraisers honoring women’s leadership in the nation.
“Working at LAANE has been one of the great experiences of my life,” said Stella. “I have been privileged to work with extraordinary women and men, and contribute to the country’s most innovative and successful economic justice organization. I will continue to support LAANE’s essential mission in my new role at Bush Gottlieb and am honored to join my friends and colleagues on LAANE’s peerless Advisory Board.”
Under Stella’s leadership, LAANE has built a private fundraising program with a full-time staff of four and a 25-member volunteer Advisory Board composed of top labor, business, entertainment and philanthropic leaders. The City of Justice Awards has become a fundraising juggernaut, raising over a million dollars a year, attracting 1,000 guests and honoring some of the nation’s most prominent figures, including Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, the late Senator Ted Kennedy, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, Teamsters General President James Hoffa, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, LA County Federation of Labor President and Teamsters International Vice President Ron Herrera and many others from various sectors across the country.
"Stella has created one of the most extraordinary private fundraising programs in the country, and has helped our movement to project our political power through the phenomenal events she has developed for LAANE and the amazing individuals she has connected us to," remarked Roxana Tynan, LAANE’s Executive Director. “While we will miss her tremendously, we are grateful beyond words for what she has accomplished and thrilled that she will continue to support our work as a member of our Advisory Board.”
State Senator and LAANE co-founder Maria Elena Durazo, who worked with Stella during her tenure as head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, said, "Stella came into our movement with a unique style and polish and showed us what a strong, committed, strategic organizer can do to elevate our cause."
In 2004, Stella and Los Angeles First Lady Amy Elaine Wakeland, then the Chair of the LAANE Advisory Board, co-founded LAANE’s Women for a New Los Angeles event to elevate and celebrate the achievements of women leaders in politics, activism, business and the arts. The event quickly grew into one of the nation’s premier women-focused fundraising events, featuring everyone from Jane Fonda, Arianna Huffington, Connie Rice, Gabrielle Carteris, Julie Su to Holly Mitchell to Nury Martinez and many other prominent change makers.
“Stella Maloyan is a force for workers’ rights, progressive policies, and women’s equality in Los Angeles—someone who has done more to raise LAANE’s profile among progressive donors across our city, state and nation than anyone I know. From the first time I met Stella in the early 2000s, she has never ceased to fight for a better life for working women and local families. Her contributions are countless and her imprint unmistakable, perhaps nowhere as significant as the Women for a New Los Angeles event—the largest annual celebration of progressive women and their contributions to workers’ rights in L.A.” said Amy Elaine Wakeland.
In her new position at Bush Gottlieb, Stella will add her fundraising, cultivation and strategic development expertise to a law firm which has successfully represented workers and unions across the country for more than five decades. “We are so excited to have Stella joining our firm,” said Julie Gutman Dickinson, a partner at Bush Gottlieb and co-chair of LAANE’s Advisory Board. “She is an innovative warrior for workers, women and all those in need of a powerful advocate for justice."
Replacing Stella as development director is LAANE’s senior development associate Kristen Schwarz, who brings to the position over a decade of development experience across the labor, environmental, educational, and arts nonprofit sectors. “LAANE is fortunate to have in Kristen a seasoned development professional who brings tremendous creativity, passion and skill to her new position,” said Stella.
“Stella has been an incredible mentor to me and our team, and she has created a fundraising program that is unrivaled in the country,” said Kristen Schwarz. “I am thankful for her guidance and for this opportunity to continue this brilliant legacy she leaves behind.”
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