Robert Sainz

With an unwavering commitment to advocating for vulnerable populations, Robert Sainz serves as the President and Executive Director of New Ways to Work, a nonprofit focusing on advocacy and technical assistance to improve workforce and education programs and systems. Serving young adults who often live in the shadows, the agency has an intense focus on those from foster, probation, and homeless systems. Having recently concluded a 30-year public sector career in the City and County of Los Angeles, Robert previously served as Assistant General Manager for the City of Los Angeles Economic Development Department where he managed over $70 million annually in public agency grant funds, resulting in programs and services for thousands of Angelenos.

Behind the glitz and glam that have become synonymous with the LA brand, Robert has a proven history of digging beyond the surface—tackling the most devastating social problems that face residents living in communities with diminished resources. Whether addressing juvenile delinquency, youth and adult unemployment, or youth disconnection from education and work, the LA native specializes in building coalitions and partnerships that maximize resources to produce quantifiable results.

Thanks to a clear vision for how to reengage young people, Robert established the City of Los Angeles YouthSource System, Los Angeles Performance Partnership Pilot (LAP3) and is a founding member of LA:RISE - an innovative model serving homeless and re-entry populations. He also established HIRE LA, one of the nation’s largest public-private youth employment initiatives that combined the visibility of corporate America with solutions designed by policy experts. As part of his extensive tenure with the second largest city in the nation, Robert also served as the Executive Director of the Los Angeles Youth Opportunity Movement and worked as the Assistant and Interim Executive Director of the City of Los Angeles Commission for Children, Youth and Their Families.

Never straying from a challenge, Robert began his career in the Los Angeles County Management Trainee Program in 1990 and later assumed the role of Probation Director leading the department’s Office of Community Relations and Office of Prevention Services. As a national voice on workforce development, Robert served as past President and Trustee in the US Conference of Mayor’s Workforce Development Council and as an advisory member for the National Dropout Prevention Council. He is also a board member of School & Main; Alliance for a Better Community; and cofounder of the Reconnecting LA’s Youth (RELAY) Institute at California State University, Northridge. Robert is married; father of three children, and grandfather of two.