Hazel Miranda

Hazel Miranda has decades of experience working in California state government, serving in senior roles in both the Executive and Legislative branch. She has deep knowledge and extensive leadership experience that benefits our clients in charting realistic and strategic paths through the most challenging regulatory and legislative environments.

Before co-founding Compass Advisors, Hazel served Chief of Staff to two Presidents of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) where she advanced the President’s policy agenda, managed a team of subject matter experts, collaborated with stakeholders, regulated entities and agency staff to further the CPUC’s mission and address some of the state’s most difficult issues confronting the provision of essential utility services.

Hazel also served as the Chief of Staff to the Chair of the California Air Resources Board, (CARB), where she enacted the Chair’s policy vision, guided the day-to-day affairs of the Chair’s office and assisted in managing the activities of the agency’s governing Board. Prior to serving in this role, Hazel was a Deputy Legislative Secretary covering energy, climate, telecommunication and natural resource issues in the Office of California Governor Gavin Newsom. In that capacity, Hazel negotiated historic budgetary and legislative priorities including the $5 billion 2021 Broadband for All and the $54 billion 2022 California Climate Commitment legislative packages.

Hazel provides our clients with unparalleled insight and expertise in understanding the interaction between policy, politics and people. Her thoughtful and comprehensive approach to tackling pressing policy issues were fully displayed during her time serving as Director of Governmental Affairs at the CPUC for five years, where she effectively shaped substantial legislatively driven reforms to the CPUC and steered monumental utility safety oversight and clean energy legislation. Hazel’s ability to successfully manage these challenges was developed during her time as a Policy Advisor to Commissioner Andrew McAllister at the California Energy Commission, an energy regulatory analyst at the CPUC, a Legislative Director in the California State Assembly and a Richard G. Polanco Fellow, where she worked for Senator Martha Escutia on matters related to energy and the Latino Caucus.
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Hazel has a Masters of Public Affairs from Princeton University and a Bachelors of Arts in International Relations and Spanish Literature from the University of California, Davis.