About Ashley

Ashley began consulting in 2020 after a decade of direct service to local governments in Southern California. Prior to joining Raftelis, Ashley spent nearly four years as a consultant conducting dozens of organizational assessments and strategic plan engagements. Through specifically tailored retreat planning and facilitation, she seeks input and consensus from elected officials, staff, and members of the community to help local governments establish collective priorities. The combination of practitioner and consulting experience enables her to effectively relate to client needs and provide appropriate solutions, rooted in industry best practices.

Ashley has assessed a wide variety of local government operations including development review, human resources, city clerk’s office, fire department, library, public works, and municipal utilities. Her work helps local government organizations increase effectiveness and deploy resources efficiently to achieve community priorities. This work includes analysis of staffing and organizational structure, peer comparison analysis, creation of process maps, policy and procedure updates, and process improvement workshop facilitation. She has also used qualitative and quantitative methods to assess both employee and customer experiences and identify actionable recommendations for enhanced service delivery.

Ashley began her career in Orange County, California, where she served the cities of Villa Park, Huntington Beach, Laguna Niguel, and Costa Mesa in progressively responsible roles within the City Manager’s Office. Ashley expanded her experience in organizational development at the City of Santa Maria, where she led an effort to align employee competencies and performance metrics to the city’s mission and values.

Ashley is a proponent of continuous improvement and professional development. She is involved in organizations that promote good government and cultivate leaders, including the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and Women Leading Government (WLG). Ashley served as president of the Municipal Management Association of Southern California (MMASC) in 2018, leading the organization as it established a strategic plan and achieved record membership levels. During her experience on the executive board, she served as annual conference co-chair, hosted numerous regional networking events, and led the planning committee for the inaugural Women’s Leadership Summit in conjunction with WLG.

Ashley earned a master’s degree in public administration from University of Southern California and a bachelor’s in human and organizational development with an emphasis in public policy from Vanderbilt University.