B.A., Diplomacy and World Affairs, Occidental College
M.P.P., Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government
Mr. Sarkissian is a Los Angeles based public affairs professional with over 20 years
of experience in political and issue campaigns, project management, non-profit development,
government and media relations. He has worked on political and issue campaigns in
CA, CO, OR, NV, IA, PA, and MT, and has had leadership roles in primary and general
Presidential campaigns in ’04, ’08, ’12 and '20.
Locally, he works with political, small business, and non-profit clients to apply the metric-based approaches of campaigns towards his client's projects, or areas of need. He is currently the Vice President of Institutional Development for Asian Hall of Fame where he is helping develop the organization's programming, and writing proposals and grants to secure corporate and foundation partners to advance the organization's mission of elevating Asian excellence.
While at Occidental College, he was a two-time recipient of the Richter scholarship to conduct international research and was one of 16 undergraduate Interns at the United Nations. At the Kennedy School, his His Policy Area of Concentration was “Housing, Urban Economic Development, and Transportation”, and his Methodological Areas of Concentration included: “Campaigns, Elections, and Public Opinion”, and “Press Relations.”
As a former Coro Fellow in Public Affairs, Mr. Sarkissian thoroughly enjoys working at the intersection where government, media, academia, non-profits, small business, and other key stakeholders meet to help shape public policy on local, state and national issues. He likes to teach political science with an emphasis on the intersectionality of all stakeholders in our country's current events. He likes to encourage his students to go beyond textbook learning and class discussion by applying their learning and taking appropriate actions to advance the issues and causes they care about.
Sarkissian is fluent in English and Armenian and conversational in Spanish. He loves to travel and has been to over 20 countries, 30 states, 100 cities and 5 continents in the past 20 years. He can't wait for the pandemic to be less of a "current event" so he can travel freely and continue adding to his travel list.