Neil Giuliano

Neil G. Giuliano is an American gay rights activist and former four-term Republican mayor (1994-2004) of Tempe, Arizona. Giuliano has served as President/Chief Executive Officer of Greater Phoenix Leadership since 2015, which for forty years has been the forum for CEO leaders to collaborate with the government, education and philanthropy sectors to create and sustain a safe, healthy and prosperous community.

From 2010-2015, Giuliano was Chief Executive Officer of San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF), one of the largest AIDS service organizations in the world. SFAF provides comprehensive HIV/AIDS and sexual health programs and services in the city where HIV first reached epidemic levels. Prior to his work in San Francisco, Giuliano was bi-coastal (NYC & LA) as president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and executive producer of GLAAD Media Awards from 2005-2009. At GLAAD, the third largest LGBT advocacy organization in the US, he expanded the organization’s media and anti-defamation work to include religious and faith-based communities, sports and advertising media.

Before becoming a national activist and NGO executive, Giuliano was a city council member, 1990-1994, and then the youngest person ever elected mayor of Tempe, Arizona, a post he held from 1994-2004. The creation of Tempe Town Lake, The Tempe Performing Arts Center and the implementation of the regional light rail system were all advanced under his leadership. Tempe was named an All-American City in 2003, considered the “Oscar” for local government achievement. Concurrently to holding public office, Giuliano worked at Arizona State University, including roles as Director of Federal Relations and as Co-Director of the October 13, 2004 Presidential Debate between President George Bush and Senator John Kerry. He created and taught a course in Personal Leadership Development at ASU for twenty years and has been a leadership coach and philanthropy advisor via his firms Vision Achievement and Philanthropy Design, respectively.

Giuliano is the author of “The Campaign Within: A Mayor’s Private Journey to Public Leadership” (Magnus Books 2012) and has received numerous awards and honors for his work in public policy and community activism, including the Barry Goldwater Equality Award from Equality Arizona, Tempe Humanitarian of the Year in 2014, 2017 Most Admired Leader Award from the Phoenix Business Journal and in November 2017 was named the 69th Man of the Year by Valley Leadership. He served as a distinguished lecturer at the William J. Clinton School of Public Service at the Clinton Presidential Library and as an endurance cyclist completed the 545-mile/seven-day San Francisco to Los Angeles bike ride six times. He currently resides in Tempe, Arizona.