Mara Cohen was appointed to the Los Angeles Innovation and Performance Commission in 2025. A political scientist specializing in urban issues, Cohen is inspired by LA City workers who have dedicated their careers to public service. She welcomes their ideas to drive innovation, improve performance or generate new revenue.
Prior to joining LA’s Innovation and Performance Commission, Cohen served on the Community and Family Services Commission for the City of Los Angeles, advising on programs that create paths to financial security and end generational poverty for Los Angeles residents. She was also a member of the Transition Advisory Team for Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.
Cohen is a Board Director of Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County, one of the nation’s largest and most-respected public interest law offices. She is also a Board Director of HIAS, the world’s oldest refugee organization, working to ensure refugees and asylum seekers find welcome, safety, and opportunity. She serves on the board of the Southern California Educational Fund, working alongside One LA-IAF to develop leadership, organizing skills and alliances across diverse communities across Los Angeles. She is a member of the Los Angeles Advisory Board of Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), the preeminent NGO devoted to the protection of unaccompanied and separated child migrants.
Cohen is a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University. Previously, as a faculty member of LMU’s Urban Studies Program, Cohen engaged hundreds of undergraduate students in innovative social science research and served as a mentor to students who are undocumented, first-generation college students or members of other underrepresented groups, connecting them to tuition assistance, internships and other opportunities.
Her research on exit polling, housing, redevelopment and racial and ethnic politics has been published in leading peer-reviewed journals, anthologies and general media outlets including Urban Affairs Review, Social Science Quarterly, Political Research Quarterly, Public Opinion Quarterly, National Civic Review, the Boston Globe, Los Angeles Daily News, LA Business Journal and elsewhere. She has consulted for Los Angeles World Airports, the Southern California Association of Governments, the City of Los Angeles Human Relations Commission and the National Conference of State Legislatures and other entities.
Cohen graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Colorado College. She earned her Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of California, Los Angeles where she was awarded a Graduate Research Fellowship in Minority Politics. She was a Fellow with the Irvine Foundation’s Sustainable Communities Program and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Southern California.