Katie Cristol To Leave Arlington Board To Head Tysons Community Group

ARLINGTON, VA — Arlington County Board member Katie Cristol, who decided not to seek re-election to a third term, announced Tuesday that she will be stepping down from her role on the board on July 4.

Cristol is leaving the board before her term expires at the end of December to become CEO of the Tysons Community Alliance, a new public-private partnership in the Tysons area.

Similar to a business improvement district in Arlington, the Tysons Community Alliance is a nonprofit organization founded in late 2022 to promote economic and social development in the Tysons area.

“In my nearly seven and a half years in office, I have developed an immense appreciation for the dedication of Arlington’s appointed and elected officials and its civic, neighborhood, philanthropic, and private sector leaders,” Cristol said in a statement Tuesday. “Though I will miss our collaborative partnerships, I feel great optimism about the county’s future under their stewardship.”

First elected to the board in November 2015, Cristol served as Arlington County Board chair in 2018 and 2022.

According to Virginia law, the Arlington County Board must fill Cristol’s vacancy by appointment within 30 days of her departure date of July 4. The county said the board will hold a public hearing to appoint a new member who will serve the remainder of Cristol’s term, which ends on Dec. 31.

"While the Board can appoint anyone qualified to serve as a Member of the County Board, it will not consider current candidates to the Arlington County Board in its appointment process to fill Board member Cristol's seat when it becomes vacant in July," a county spokesman said in a statement.

Early voting in the Democratic primary to pick the two candidates to run in November's general election to replace Cristol and Arlington County Board Chair Christian Dorsey, who also decided not to seek re-election, begins on Friday.

Since it is viewed as a part-time position, Arlington County board members are not prohibited from holding other jobs. But Cristol told The Washington Post that she decided to leave the board early because she wanted to devote her full attention to the new position in Tysons.

Plans to create the Tysons Community Alliance were put in place about a year ago, when officials decided to move on from the nonprofit Tysons Partnership and create a broader group that would advocate for local residents, businesses and nonprofits.

Last October, Fairfax County government officials joined representatives from Tysons businesses, residential neighborhoods and nonprofits to create the Tysons Community Alliance, appointing Tysons Partnership acting Executive Director Richard Bradley as the acting CEO of the newly named group. Bradley will stay in the acting role until Cristol starts in her new role on July 5.

“We are thrilled to have Katie Cristol as the new CEO for the Tysons Community Alliance,” Josh White, chair of the alliance, said in a statement Tuesday. "She is a well-respected leader and consummate professional with experience in catalyzing communities and urban management planning efforts in transportation, sustainability and economic development."

Cristol said she looks forward "to doing the work I love in our dynamic Northern Virginia region."

"Particularly exciting to me is how the TCA has already brought together the private and public sector and created a foundation of collaborative partnership on which to build," she said in a statement. "In the months ahead, we’ll be growing the efforts already underway in coalition building and strategic planning, while starting to deliver tactical results and improvements for the Tysons community."

Fairfax County Board of Supervisor Dalia Palchik, whose Providence District includes most of the Tysons area, advocated for the creation of a more community-based improvement district.

"Katie Cristol will bring the necessary energy and broad approach to the TCA. She is an organized and strategic leader who knows how to move the needle to get key initiatives across the finish line," Palchik said.