Janine Heft is a Senior Associate with California Consulting and a longtime leader in Orange County government affairs and public policy.
In 2010, she was nominated to the Orange County Assessment Appeals Board by then
Supervisor John Moorlach and was confirmed unanimously by the OC Board of Supervisors for
three consecutive terms. During her tenure, she was responsible for hearing property tax
appeals for the County of Orange and issued rulings in over 100 cases.
In July 2016, she announced her candidacy for the Laguna Hills City Council, and in November of that year, she was elected as the top vote getter. She served as Mayor in 2019-2020 and 2022-2023.
In 2022, she was elected by her fellow Orange County Mayors as President of the Association of
California Cities – Orange County (ACC-OC), advocating for OC cities in Sacramento and
Washington DC, and conducting meetings with key state and federal leaders to advocate for the
nation’s sixth largest county. She currently serves on its Executive Committee as Immediate
Past President.
She also served as a Board Member of the Transportation Corridor Agency (TCA), which
operates The Toll Roads of Orange County. She was named Director from 2017 to 2021, Vice
Chair from 2021 to 2023, and later that year, was unanimously elected as Chair. In that role,
she led the search for a new CEO and was responsible for overseeing a multi-billion-dollar
annual budget and several large capital projects.
Professionally, Janine is a veteran of the real estate and financial services industry. She has
worked for some of the nation’s premiere financial services and real estate firms, including CB
Richard Ellis, Kaufman & Broad, and Mullin Consulting. In 2004, she co-founded Personalized
Mortgage Express, a full-service commercial and residential mortgage lending company, serving
as CEO and Broker of Record.
She is also a longtime volunteer and board member in many civic, charitable, and professional
organizations, including being recently appointed to the Board of Directors of the nationally
acclaimed Pacific Symphony.