John Howland

As Vice President at Cerrell Associates Inc. (CAI), John Howland leads the local government practice.  John and his team represent clients throughout Southern California, but with an emphasis on City Hall, Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), the Port of Los Angeles (POLA), the Port of Long Beach (POLB), the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), the City of Long Beach and at the County of Los Angeles and in smaller cities. 

Combining his government experience and academic knowledge with nearly a decade’s experience at CAI, John has created numerous successful communications and advocacy plans for Cerrell clients in information technology and telecommunications; energy; transportation; engineering; leasing and contracting; and a wide range of other issues.

John works closely with the aviation community.  He manages numerous aviation clients, both landside and airside, on their day-to-day issues at airports throughout the region.  And he also works with various segments of the port, shipping and goods movement industry, from ship to store and many points in between.

Prior to joining CAI, John was Legislative Director for former Los Angeles City Councilmember Ruth Galanter, a 16-year Council veteran.  He also ran the day-to-day operations of the Council’s Commerce, Energy and Natural Resources Committee (CENR) for Councilmember Galanter, the committee chair.  The committee oversaw operations at LAWA, POLA and LADWP. 

He has also worked in the non-profit world as a Project Director at the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles.  And having worked on several federal, state and local political campaigns, John has brought well-developed organizing, fundraising and outreach skills to CAI.

After he earned a bachelor of arts, magna cum laude, in Political Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara, John spent several years of graduate studies in American Government at the University of Virginia and at Rice University.

John is President of the Board of Directors of the Boys and Girls Clubs of the South Bay.  He is on the board of the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) and serves on numerous committees there.  He is on the Executive Committee of the International Trade Education Program and its Advisory Board for the Global Environmental Sciences Academy at Banning High School in Wilmington.  And he recently retired from the Board of Directors of the Harbor Association of Industry and Commerce (HAIC).