Special Envoy Eric Garcetti is an accomplished public servant, diplomat, and communicator, who has brought deep experience as a local and global leader in addressing some of the most pressing challenges of our world today.

A recognized leader on the global stage, Garcetti currently serves as Ambassador for Global Climate Diplomacy for C40 Cities, leading negotiations on behalf of the world's largest cities at UN COP30 and COP31.

He served as U.S. Ambassador to India from 2023-2025, leading the second-largest U.S. diplomatic mission in the world and overseeing record expansions of trade, visas, military exercises, and health cooperation between the two largest democracies in the world and reaching an unprecedented number of Indians through creative social media interactions and extensive work across the world’s most populous country.

Prior to his diplomatic service, Garcetti had a distinguished career as a local leader, first serving 12 years on the Los Angeles City Council, where he led the revitalization of Hollywood and was elected as City Council President four times, then elected in 2013 as the youngest mayor in Los Angeles history and re-elected in 2017 with the widest margin ever recorded.

While mayor, Los Angeles was named the best run city in America by Bloomberg’s What Works Cities and Garcetti was named Public Official of the Year by Governing Magazine.  Garcetti oversaw a period of record economic growth, passed the largest public transit infrastructure initiative in American history, implemented bold climate action, won the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games for Los Angeles and left the city with a record budget surplus.  During the COVID-19 pandemic, Garcetti was praised for leading Los Angeles’ aggressive response, building the largest testing and vaccination sites in the world and adopting many of the earliest public health protections while keeping critical sectors of the economy going

In 2019, Garcetti was elected by his global peers to serve as Chair of C40 Cities – a network of the mayors of 97 of the world’s biggest cities, comprising nearly a quarter of the world’s GDP.  At COP26 in Glasgow, he represented the world’s urban leaders delivering the Cities Race to Zero pledge, a commitment of over 1,000 global cities to implement net-zero carbon futures. He is the co-founder of Climate Mayors, a nonpartisan network of more than 700 American mayors protecting their communities from climate change. He also founded Accelerator for America, a “do-tank” focused on infrastructure investments and economic growth in America’s most-overlooked communities.

Garcetti has won numerous awards for his leadership on technology adaptation, and is a sought-after senior advisor and frequent speaker to investors, innovators, and executives of cutting edge transportation, AI, and energy technology companies.

Garcetti served 12 years as a naval intelligence officer, and was selected as Rockefeller Next Generation Leadership Fellow, an inaugural Asia 21 Fellow of the Asia Society, a Young Fellow of the French-American Foundation, a Rodel Fellow at the Aspen Institute, and a Reboot Fellow. In 2005, he was awarded the New Frontier Award from the Kennedy Library to a young elected official who best embodies President John F. Kennedy’s vision of service.

Garcetti earned a B.A. and M.A. in international relations at Columbia University and studied as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University and the London School of Economics. He taught international relations at the University of Southern California and Occidental College before becoming a public servant. He is an accomplished composer, a published photographer, and a card-carrying member of the Screen Actors Guild, with more than a dozen television and film acting credits. He and his wife have been long-time foster parents.

Please note that no refunds will be issued after 5 p.m. on Otober 5, 2026 due to the need to confirm final numbers for food and other event details. Additionally, if a complimentary ticket for Ambassador Circle members and Sponsors is canceled after this date, a $65 charge per ticket will apply.