Arlington County Board Chair Katie Cristol is a community advocate and public policy professional. She was elected to the Board in November 2015 and previously served as Chair of the County Board in 2018. Katie is the Co-Chair of Arlington’s Project PEACE, an interagency collaboration to address domestic and sexual violence in our community.

Regionally, Katie is a transit leader, advancing cross-jurisdictional transportation solutions as as immediate Past Chair of the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission and as a Past Chair of the Operations Board of The Virginia Railway Express, the Commonwealth’s only commuter rail system. Katie also represents Arlington on the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Virginia Municipal League as the Chair of the Urban Section.

She is an inaugural member of the E Pluribus Unum Fellowship for racial equity; her fellowship project centers on grantmaking for equity practices and community needs assessments in the County. Her work has also been recognized by the Arlington Gay and Lesbian Alliance with their 2020 Equality Award, and by the Greater Washington Region Clean Cities Coalition with their 2021 Northern Virginia Visionary Award.

Katie has been an advocate for women’s issues, including reproductive health, political representation and support for survivors of sexual assault, for over a decade. She was appointed to the Arlington Commission on the Status of Women by the County Board in 2012, and supported the Commission’s efforts to garner attention for critical issues such as women’s professional advancement and childcare affordability, and to recognize the achievements of women in the community.

Katie came to the Arlington County Board with a background in education policy, working for a number of years with local, state and national agencies and organizations focused on improving student success through systemic chage. A longtime reading buddy at Randolph Elementary School, Katie served as the school’s liaison to the Arlington Public Schools Advisory Council on Instruction. During her time on the Arlington County Board, Katie served on the first Joint Subcommittee on Facilities of the Arlington School and County Boards, and helped create a joint citizen advisory body on facilities.

Katie holds a public policy master’s degree from Princeton University, a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia, and is a 2012 graduate of Arlington Neighborhood College. She lives with her husband Steve and their son off Columbia Pike, one of the most diverse corridors both in Arlington and the metropolitan region.

Learn More:

Arlington Magazine, 5 Questions with Katie Cristol

Interview with the Columbia Pike Documentary Project

Northern Virginia Magazine, Cristol City

Interview with 26 Square Miles: An Arlington Podcast