Lisa Middleton

Lisa Middleton (born 1952) is an American politician, who served as the Mayor of Palm Springs from 2021 to 2022. A member of the Democratic Party, Middleton has served on the Palm Springs City Council since 2017, and is the first openly transgender person elected in California for a non-judicial position.

After serving as Mayor Pro Tempore of Palm Springs from 2020 to 2021, Middleton succeeded Christy Holstege as the city's mayor on December 9, 2021 and became the first openly transgender mayor in California.

Education
Middleton has a Master of Public Administration from University of Southern California. She has also completed the UCLA LGBT Leadership Institute.

Career
Middleton worked for 36 years with the State Compensation Insurance Fund of the State of California. When she retired she was the senior vice president of internal affairs with executive responsibility for internal audit, fraud investigation, public records and governance. She was also a member of California's Fraud Assessment Commission, which she chaired in 2010.

Middleton also serves on the Riverside County Transportation Commission, the Sunline Board of Directors as Chair, and as an alternate to the Metrolink Board of Directors. She was appointed in April 2019 by Governor Gavin Newsom to the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) Board of Administration. She is a member of the League of California Cities (Cal Cities) Board of Directors and the President (September 2021 – 2022) of the Cal Cities Riverside County Division.

Awards
She was included in the 2016 Pride Honors Awards recipients from Palm Springs Pride with the Spirit of Stonewall Community Service Award.

Personal life
After 13 years together, Lisa and her wife Cheryl, a retired nurse, were married in July 2013. They have two children, a son and a daughter. Middleton is transgender and transitioned in the mid-1990s.