About Gina

Gina is an award-winning and accredited public relations professional with more than 34 years of experience and leadership in crisis communications, community outreach, advocacy, stakeholder engagement, marketing, and media relations in the public and private sectors. Gina’s leadership experience includes communications program management for $2 billion in public transportation and water infrastructure projects, including the Port of Long Beach Gerald Desmond Bridge Replacement Project and the Orange County Groundwater Replenishment System. The GWRS has been covered by international media including National Geographic, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, BBC, CNN, and NPR to name a few. Prior to joining Raftelis, Gina served the residents of Santa Barbara County as the first executive Communications Manager in the County of Santa Barbara’s 171-year history. She advised the County Executive Team on strategic communications programs, crisis communication, media relations, issues management, internal communications, branding and culture change. During her tenure, the County Emergency Operations Center was activated 15 times and included two federally declared disasters, a global pandemic, and two mass casualty incidents. Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, DePinto served as public information officer for the city of Phoenix, public relations director for Farnam Companies, Inc. (animal health and pet products), and coordinated publicity for Olympic and World Champion figure skater Dorothy Hammill prior to relocating to California. Gina has a bachelor’s degree in organizational communication from Arizona State University and is accredited in public relations from the Public Relations Society of America. Gina is currently a member of the California Association of Public Information Officials (CAPIO), Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), and the California Gold Coast Chapter of PRSA.