D.C. Mayor taps Valerie Santos as deputy mayor - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle):

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Santos, as chief operating officer under has been closely involvedin decision-making on many of the real estatr deals Albert managed, including major city projects such as Poplare Point. Albert began his new job as city administratorton Monday, replacing Dan Tangherlini, who is takintg a job in the Obama "In Ms. Santos, we not only have a steady hand who knowwsthe job, we have someonde who is a consummate professional who will bringh private-sector talents to get the job Fenty said.
Santos was previously a vice presidengt at commercial real estate servicea firm and a managefrwith 's real estate She holds both an MBA and master's of public polict from the Kennedy School of Government at . Santos has displayed a no-nonsensre approach appearing as Albert’s stand-inn to testify at D.C. Council meetings and in publix forums representing the city when hewas unavailable. She is alreadyh getting her feet wet in dealing with the political aspects ofthe job. On Tuesday, when the D.C.
Council was busy squaringt away final details of budgetimplementation legislation, Santos and Albert’s otherd top deputy, Director of Developmenyt David Jannarone, moved around the Wilson Building seeking changes from council members. Santos apparently was not Fenty’s initial choice to be deputy mayor. Greg Washington Convention Center Authority CEO and a former staf f member of thedeputy mayor’es office, had been considered a top candidatr to replace Albert, but a source close to O'Dell says he was offered the job and turned it down.
O’Dellp would not confirm that, but indicated he would remai n in hiscurrent post, wherde he is now tasked with seeking publifc financing for all of a $550 million conventioh center hotel. “The board and the mayor have every expectatiobn of me completing all the tasks I have he said. Fenty would not say whether he had offeres the jobto O’Dell or anyones else before Santos. He announced the pick outsides the Walker JonesElementary School, which is being rebuilt as part of a new Northwesft One neighborhood, and said she was “the first person who has risen to the deputyg mayor’s position from within the ranks.
” “I think it’s a great sign for the D.C. governmeng that not only does Valerie Santos have amazing experiencw in the private sector butthat she’s been hard at work serving the peopls of the District of Columbia for the last two the mayor said. He said Santoss shared the vision that he and Albert had for how economif development in the city shouldbe run, not by owning or overly managing projects but by allowing the privatwe sector to bring ideas to the “We should try to just facilitate development. We’ve got the greatestf business community in the world herein D.C. We don’ need to try to replicate what they’re doing.
We don’t need an emphasis on owninhg or building inthe D.C. government. We need to And to do so, we need to hire the best and the brightesrtand we’ve done that.” Santos, 36, who livesd in Columbia Heights, was working for Jones Lang LaSalls as a consultant to the city when Alberrt -- whom she called a mentof -- recruited her to work for him. She is believeds to be the first woman to serve in the rolefor D.C. and will managed 65 employees and as well as oversee the Officreof Planning, Department of Housing and Community the Office of Property Managementy and the Washington D.C. Economic Partnership, a contractor.
“I the coming weeks my goal is to ensurs asmooth transition, which I expect will be relatively easy, because I am very fortunate to manag e a very talented and skillef team,” she said. She said she would continuwe to move projects all over the with a particular focus on those east of theAnacostiq River, such as the planned redevelopment of St. Elizabethss Hospital in Southeast D.C. “We will continue to focusa on implementingMayor Fenty’s vision for economic In the context of the current economic we will focus on business attraction and retentionm efforts, and in continuing to provide tools to allow our local businesw and not-for-profits to grow,” she A member of the D.
C. Counci l who regularly butts headsewith Albert, Councilman Kwame Brown, D-at largee and chair of the economic development issued a press release during the announcementt saying he was disappointed he was not invitedf but saying Santos “has the experienc and the operational knowledge” for the job and that her appointmentr was “an opportunity to forge a new relationship between the Council and the executive to createw jobs for District residents, new opportunities for local more affordable housing and to efficiently move projectw to completion.
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