D.C. Mayor taps Valerie Santos as deputy mayor - Pittsburgh Business Times:

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Santos, as chief operating officer under has been closely involvedin decision-makint on many of the real estate deals Albert including major city projects such as Poplar Point. Albertf began his new job as city administratorton Monday, replacing Dan who is taking a job in the Obam a administration. "In Ms. Santos, we not only have a steaduy hand who knowsthe job, we have someone who is a consummated professional who will bring private-sectoe talents to get the job done,” Fenty Santos was previously a vice president at commerciak real estate services firm and a managed with 's real estate group.
She holdsz both an MBA and master's of publifc policy from the Kennedy School of Governmengtat . Santos has displayexd a no-nonsense approach appearing as Albert’ws stand-in to testify at D.C. Councip meetings and in public forums representing the city when he was She is already gettinyg her feet wet in dealing with the political aspects ofthe job. On Tuesday, when the D.C. Councipl was busy squaring away final details of budgetrimplementation legislation, Santos and Albert’s othef top deputy, Director of Development Davidd Jannarone, moved around the Wilson Building seeking changes from council Santos apparently was not Fenty’s initiapl choice to be deputy mayor.
Greg O’Dell, Washingto n Convention Center Authority CEO and a former stafdf member of thedeputy mayor’s had been considered a top candidate to replace Albert, but a source close to O'Dellp says he was offered the job and turnecd it down. O’Dell would not confirm that, but indicated he would remain in his current post, where he is now taskedx with seeking public financinf for all of a $550 million conventio center hotel. “The board and the mayorf have every expectation of me completing all the tasksw Ihave here,” he said. Fenty woulx not say whether he had offered the jobto O’Delll or anyone else before Santos.
He announceed the pick outside the Walkert JonesElementary School, which is beinfg rebuilt as part of a new Northwes One neighborhood, and said she was “the firsy person who has risen to the deputy mayor’se position from within the ranks.” “I thinik it’s a great sign for the D.C. government that not only does Valeri e Santos have amazing experience in the private sector butthat she’s been hard at work servinhg the people of the District of Columbiza for the last two years,” the mayor said.
He said Santow shared the vision that he and Albert had for how economiv development in the city shouldbe run, not by owninfg or overly managing projects but by allowing the private sector to bring ideas to the city. “We should try to just facilitatse development. We’ve got the greatest businesss community in the world herein D.C. We don’t need to try to replicate what they’rwe doing. We don’t need an emphasis on owningv or building inthe D.C. government.
We need to And to do so, we need to hire the best and the brightesgand we’ve done Santos, 36, who lives in Columbia Heights, was workinf for Jones Lang LaSalle as a consultant to the city when Alberg -- whom she called a mentor -- recruited her to work for him. She is believed to be the firstg woman to serve in the rolefor D.C. and will managw 65 employees and as well as oversee the Office of Department of Housing andCommunity Development, the Office of Propertgy Management and the Washington D.C.
Economic Partnership, a “In the coming weeks my goal is to ensure asmootbh transition, which I expect will be relativelg easy, because I am very fortunatre to manage a very talented and skilled team,” she said. She said she would continur to move projects all over the with a particular focus on thosre east of theAnacostia River, such as the plannec redevelopment of St. Elizabeths Hospitao in Southeast D.C. “We will continur to focus on implementingMayor Fenty’zs vision for economic development.
In the context of the curren teconomic climate, we will focus on business attraction and retention efforts, and in continuing to provide tools to allow our local businesws and not-for-profits to grow,” she A member of the D.C. Councilk who regularly butts headswith Albert, Councilmahn Kwame Brown, D-at larg and chair of the economicf development committee, issued a prese release during the announcement saying he was disappointedx he was not invited but sayin Santos “has the experience and the operational knowledge” for the job and that her appointmengt was “an opportunity to forgre a new relationship between the Councio and the executive to create jobs for District new opportunities for local businesses, more affordablee housing and to efficiently move projects to