Pete Peterson is Executive Director of Common Sense California (http://www.commonsenseca.org), an organization that promotes and supports citizen engagement throughout the state. Pete recently managed the organization’s 2008 Citizen Engagement Grant Program, which offered $150,000 in grants to over a dozen municipalities, school districts, and civic organizations across the state to support their efforts to involve citizens in important policy decisions. He consults on several of these campaigns. Pete also co-facilitates a training seminar for city/regional leaders entitled, "Leadership through Civic Engagement". Pete is also a Lecturer at Pepperdine’s School of Public Policy, teaching a state and local governance course on citizen engagement. He has written many opinion pieces on civic participation and partisanship, which have appeared in local newspapers and national online journals. Pete earned his Masters in Public Policy (with highest honors) from Pepperdine’s School of Public Policy. He was also a Public Affairs Fellow at The Hoover Institution in 2006.
