Richard Lambros, Managing Director

In July 2011, Richard Lambros was appointed Managing Director of the Southern California Leadership Council (SCLC), founded by four former California Governors and Southern California business and community leaders, to address and solve public policy issues critical to the region’s economic vitality and quality of life.

In addition Richard Lambros is a business leader and non-partisan, strategic consultant with over 30 years of experience in California state and local government affairs.  His primary focus is providing businesses, associations, organizations and non-profits with winning strategies for navigating the state’s complex political and regulatory environment.  With extensive government affairs and political experience, Richard is well versed in managing regulatory, legislative and political issues at the state and local level, but his unique niche is the regional level – an often confusing and politically challenging arena that is increasingly important to the future of Southern California.

Richard previously served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Building Industry Association of Southern California (BIA/SC) – a non-profit trade association representing more than 1,100 member companies involved in all aspects of the building industry throughout the six-county Los Angeles metropolitan area.  The 38,000-square-mile region is home to over 18-million residents.  Richard was responsible for the day-to-day management of BIA/SC, the sixth largest local homebuilding trade association in the nation and the largest local association in the state.  His efforts and skills with BIA/SC were recognized nationally in 2004 when he won the National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) prestigious “Executive Officer of the Year Award.”

At BIA/SC, Richard utilized his wealth of political, business and association management experience to help the association reestablish itself as the leading regional voice for the homebuilding industry.  In the process, Richard personally gained a reputation as a regional business and public policy leader in Southern California.  He has a strong understanding of how regional governance works and how regional policies on air, water, housing, transportation, energy, land use and others are developed at the region-wide level.  This comes from his strong working relationship with other regional leaders, major regional organizations, and all of the key regional agencies.

After nearly winning an election in 1996 to represent California’s 56^th Assembly District, Richard served a two-year term as Executive Director for the California Republican Party, where he managed the administrative and political activities for the largest state Republican Party in the nation.  Prior to his political post, Richard spent more than a decade representing the interests and efforts of the housing industry.  He served as the Vice President and Director of Public Affairs for the Apartment Association of Orange County (AAOC) and as Director of Governmental Relations for the Rancho Los Cerritos Association of REALTORS^©.  His years of service and contributions to the housing industry earned him special recognition in 1996 as the Alliance of Real Estate Associations’ “Legislative Advocate of the Year.”

A second-generation California native, Richard was born in Los Angeles and raised in Downey, California.  He attended the University of Southern California, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science.  Richard is married and lives with his wife, Colleen, and four children in Fullerton.