A lifelong Angeleno, Wendy Greuel started her career in public service in the office of former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, eventually becoming deputy to the Mayor. While in the Mayor’s office, Wendy worked to start LA’s Best, a nationally recognized afterschool program that provides a safe and supervised environment for children in neighborhoods most vulnerable to gangs, drugs, and crime. Wendy’s commitment to education and her determination to strengthen our schools has remained one of her top priorities throughout her career.

Wendy worked as a senior advisor at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. During her time there, she worked under two Housing Secretaries, former San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros, and current Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo. With inspiration from both leaders, Wendy helped secure over a billion dollars in support to victims of the Northridge Earthquake in 1994.

In 1997, Wendy transitioned into the private sector, working in the film industry as an executive at DreamWorks Pictures for five years. In 2002, she was elected to the Los Angeles City Council. While on the Council, Wendy ensured essential City services, such as public safety, transportation improvements and environmental protections and helping small business thrive.
One of her most prominent accomplishments was her leadership on business tax reform. As the architect of this plan, she worked tirelessly to cut the City’s business tax, which returned nearly $100 million to local businesses. These reforms eliminated the business tax for over 60% of the City’s small businesses and made the tax system more equitable with neighboring jurisdictions, all while allowing Los Angeles to remain a lucrative destination for businesses.

In 2009, Wendy was elected Controller for the City of Los Angeles. As soon as she was elected, Wendy focused on delivering results for Los Angeles by providing greater transparency and openness. She has already conducted more than 40 audits and uncovered nearly $100 million dollars that the City has lost to waste, fraud and abuse over the last two years.
She has tackled even the most controversial issues, like the City’s use of an overpriced and out-of-city vendor during the Michael Jackson funeral. In light of the salary scandal that happened in the City of Bell, Wendy unveiled an online searchable database of salaries for nearly 37,000 Los Angeles city employees. More recently, in the face of allegations against Los Angeles Coliseum executives for conflicts of interest and excessive perks, Wendy has undertaken a top-to-bottom audit of its finances.

Every day, Wendy remains committed to her job as Controller, fighting to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in our City. She currently lives in Studio City and is married to Dean Schramm, and they have an eight-year old son named Thomas.

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