Joseph M. Nicchitta was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Los Angeles County in May 2026. He is responsible for overseeing the County’s $52+ billion budget, including federal and state advocacy efforts to protect public safety net services and cross-departmental planning to sustain the County’s finances through a number of difficult challenges.

In addition, Mr. Nicchitta maintains labor relations with the County’s 64 bargaining units representing more than 84,000 employees, and is charged with the successful implementation of key priorities of the Board of Supervisors. Other key areas of focus include rebuilding wildfire-impacted communities and planning for major regional events such as the FIFA World Cup 2026 and the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games—both of which will require countywide coordination to ensure public safety as LA County welcomes visitors from around the world.

Prior to stepping into the role of Interim CEO and beginning in 2020, Mr. Nicchitta served as Chief Deputy Chief Executive Officer/Chief Operating Officer. In this position, he  provided operational, administrative and programmatic leadership for many of the County’s highest profile initiatives and played a central role in the County’s pandemic response and recovery, including the planning, allocation and distribution of more than $2 billion in federal relief funding.

From May 2018 to August 2020, Mr. Nicchitta was the Director of the County’s Department of Consumer and Business Affairs, where he led development and adoption of the Board-approved rent stabilization program for the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County and helped advance the OneLA Initiative, a public-private partnership supporting small, minority-owned, women-owned, and veteran-owned businesses in competing for government contracts. Earlier, he served within the Chief Executive Office to lead the Office of Cannabis Management following the 2016 legalization of commercial and personal-use cannabis under Proposition 64.

He began his County career in 2012 in the Office of County Counsel, working primarily on land use and environmental matters, affordable housing, First Amendment and Establishment Clause issues, public and civic art, and museum law, after practicing as a litigation attorney in private practice.

Mr. Nicchitta earned a Juris Doctor from the New York University School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts in Comparative Literature from the University of California, Berkeley.