Hector De La Torre is the Executive Director of the Gateway Cities Council of Governments, a joint powers authority of 27 cities and several unincorporated communities in southeast Los Angeles (LA) County created to address regional issues of transportation, environment, housing and homelessness, and economic development. He is also a member of the board at LA Care, the largest public nonprofit health plan in the United States, and a trustee at his alma mater Occidental College in LA.

De La Torre served in the California State Assembly from 2004 to 2010, representing the largely Latino 50th District in southeast LA County. He chaired the Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services, the Rules Committee and helped create and chair the Accountability and Administrative Review Committee during his tenure. De La Torre was recently the Executive Director of the nonprofit Gasol Foundation focused on children's wellness, and the national non-profit Transamerica Center for Health Studies. 

Prior to his service in the Assembly, he served as Mayor and as a member of the South Gate City Council, Judicial Administrator in the LA Superior Court, chief of staff to the Deputy Secretary of Labor in the Clinton Administration, and a teacher at Edison Junior High in south LA.

De La Torre received his bachelor's degree in Diplomacy and World Affairs from Occidental College and attended the Elliot School of International Affairs at The George Washington University. He lives in South Gate.