Lance Christensen brings two decades of public policy and political experience to the California Policy Center where he serves as the Vice President of Education Policy and Government Affairs. Christensen was also one of the principal architects of the recent school choice initiative proposal in California and candidate for California Superintendent of Public Instruction on the November 2022 statewide ballot.

Before his tenure at CPC, Christensen worked as a legislative consultant in the California State Senate and as a finance budget analyst at the Department of Finance. More recently, Christensen served as chief of staff and senior policy advisor to former California State Sen. John Moorlach. He was also the inaugural director of Reason Foundation’s Pension Reform Project, setting the stage for major reforms in state and local retirement programs across the country. Christensen’s research and commentary on education issues and state and municipal fiscal policy is regularly published in national and local publications, and he appears frequently on radio, television and podcasts.

Christensen earned his bachelor’s degree in English from Brigham Young University and a master’s degree from Pepperdine University’s School of Public Policy, specializing in international relations. Based in northern California and frequently working in Sacramento and Orange County, Christensen is fully engaged in his community, coaching any number of youth leagues, sitting on various boards and serving in lay positions in his church. He is a happily married father of 5 children, all of whom are seventh-generation Californians.