Leadership Team

Peter Gentala is the President of Center for Arizona Policy.

By far, the best thing about Peter is that he is married to Allison Gentala. Peter and Allison have been married for 27 years. Their greatest love, joy, and pride is their eight children.

Peter’s professional lifework focuses on the intersection between law and policy. He has litigated constitutional, public-law, and victim-advocacy cases at every level of the federal court system, including two cases decided by the Supreme Court of the United States. In the realm of public policy, he has served as professional staff to elected lawmakers and has authored or co-authored countless pieces of proposed and enacted legislation, including state constitutional provisions.

Peter’s calling as a lawyer began at the Alliance Defending Freedom, where he represented individuals who were targeted for living out their faith in Jesus.

Center for Arizona Policy brought Peter into the world of public policy. He initially served at CAP from 2004 to 2008 under CAP’s two prior Presidents, Len Munsil and Cathi Herrod.

For seven years, Peter served as the General Counsel of the Arizona House of Representatives, a role he held in the administrations of three different Speakers of the House. During this time, Peter was also the policy advisor for the Judiciary and Rules Committees.

Protecting vulnerable children is one of Peter’s main passions. From 2015 to 2020, Peter was the General Counsel and Vice President of Government Affairs and Public Policy at Childhelp—one of the oldest and largest nonprofit organizations focused on the prevention, intervention, and treatment of child abuse. Peter has also served as an appointed member of the Community Advisory Committee of the Arizona Department of Child Safety and on the Board of Directors of the Arizona Child and Family Advocacy Network, an organization dedicated to supporting the multidisciplinary teams that treat the victims of criminal child abuse. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Christian Family Care.

Most recently before returning to CAP, Peter served at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation Law Center as Senior Legal Counsel, where he represented survivors of abuse and exploitation in court and encouraged federal and state lawmakers to bring accountability to exploiters—and those who profit from or facilitate exploitation.

Peter’s bachelors’ degree is from Dallas Baptist University. Peter’s law degree is from Regent University, where he also received a Master’s Degree in Public Policy.

“For me, the best part of being a lawyer is learning more about the heart of the best lawyer—Jesus Christ. I’m glad He is my advocate. He’s the only one who could ever successfully plead my case.”