Glendale City Councilwoman Elen Asatryan was selected the City’s mayor at the April 2nd Council meeting. She takes over the position from outgoing Mayor Dan Brotman. This is Asatryan’s first time serving in the position of mayor. She was first elected to the City Council in July 2022 and is the city’s first Armenian-American woman, the first immigrant woman and the youngest woman to serve on the Council and as mayor.
As a civil rights activist, community advocate and businesswoman who has dedicated her life to community and public service in Glendale, she brings to the Council and mayorship over 24 years of local, state and federal level experience in policy, advocacy, development and community organizing.
Asatryan founded The Stark Group, a public affairs and political consulting firm in 2017. Prior to that, for over 11 years, she served as the executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America Glendale and later the organization’s western region covering 19 states west of the Mississippi.
Prior to being elected to Glendale City Council, Asatryan also spearheaded initiatives and campaigns aimed at creating opportunities for high school and college students through public policy fellowship and internship programs and established the Glendale Domestic Violence Task Force. Asatryan launched education programs to increase voter registration, resulting in over 50,000 new voters registered in Los Angeles County in a span of two years. She also played a key role in getting Armenian Genocide education curriculum adopted in California public schools, and has served on various local, regional and state boards and committees.
Mayor Asatryan is a product of Glendale’s public schools and a graduate of UCLA, where she studied Political Science with concentrations in American Politics and International Relations.
“I look forward to working with Mayor Asatryan on her priority initiatives during her term as mayor,” said Roubik Golanian, city manager.
“I take this responsibility with a listening ear, an open heart and a unifying spirit. My commitment remains unchanged: to help foster a government where marginalized voices are heard as loud as any and barriers are torn down. Let us embark on this journey together with courage, compassion and conviction. Our differences make for a healthy debate and ultimately for better thought-out policies, our unity makes us unstoppable and our collective vision will guide us towards a brighter tomorrow for Glendale. I would like to thank outgoing Mayor Brotman for his service and leadership during the past year and look forward to working with our residents, small businesses, my colleagues and city staff to realize a vision in which our diverse communities thrive,” stated Asatryan.