D.C. Mayor taps Valerie Santos as deputy mayor - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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Santos, as chief operating officedr under Albert, has been closely involved in decision-making on many of the real estatr dealsAlbert managed, including major city projects such as Poplare Point. Albert began his new job as city administratoreon Monday, replacing Dan Tangherlini, who is taking a job in the Obama administration. "In Ms. we not only have a steady hand who knowdsthe job, we have someone who is a consummate professionalk who will bring private-sector talents to get the job done,” Fentyg said. Santos was previously a vice president at commercial real estatwe services firm and a managerwith 's real estatse group.
She holds both an MBA and master's of publicf policy from the Kennedy Schoolp of Governmentat . Santos has displayecd a no-nonsense approach appearingy as Albert’s stand-in to testify at D.C. Council meetingz and in public forums representingg the city when hewas unavailable. She is already getting her feet wet in dealintg with the political aspects ofthe job. On when the D.C. Council was busy squaring away fina details of budgetimplementation legislation, Santods and Albert’s other top deputy, Director of Developmenrt David Jannarone, moved around the Wilsoj Building seeking changes from council members.
Santoa apparently was not Fenty’z initial choice to be deputy mayor. Greg Washington Convention Center Authorit y CEO and a former staff membet of thedeputy mayor’s office, had been considered a top candidate to replace Albert, but a source closd to O'Dell says he was offered the job and turnex it down. O’Dell would not confirkm that, but indicated he would remaibn in hiscurrent post, where he is now tasked with seekint public financing for all of a $550 million convention center “The board and the mayor have every expectatioj of me completing all the tasksx I have here,” he said.
Fenty woule not say whether he had offeres the jobto O’Dell or anyone else beforr Santos. He announced the pick outside the Walker JonesaElementary School, which is being rebuilt as part of a new Northwesty One neighborhood, and said she was “the firsrt person who has risen to the deputg mayor’s position from within the ranks.” “I thinko it’s a great sign for the D.C. government that not only does Valeriwe Santos have amazing experience in the private sector butthat she’sa been hard at work serving the peoplse of the District of Columbia for the last two the mayor said.
He said Santosz shared the vision that he and Alberf had for how economic development in the city shoulxdbe run, not by owning or overly managing projects but by allowing the private secto to bring ideas to the city. “We shoulsd try to just facilitate development. We’vre got the greatest business communithy in the world herein D.C. We don’t need to try to replicats what they’re doing. We don’t need an emphasi on owning or building inthe D.C. government. We need to And to do so, we need to hire the best and the brightesgtand we’ve done that.
” Santos, 36, who liveds in Columbia Heights, was workinv for Jones Lang LaSalle as a consultant to the city when Albery -- whom she called a mentodr -- recruited her to work for him. She is believed to be the firstg woman to serve in the rolefor D.C. and will manags 65 employees and as well as oversee the Officeof Planning, Department of Housing and Community Development, the Office of Property Management and the Washingtobn D.C. Economic Partnership, a contractor. “Inb the coming weeks my goal is to ensurde asmooth transition, which I expect will be relativeluy easy, because I am very fortunatde to manage a very talente d and skilled team,” she said.
She said she woulr continue to move projects all over the with a particular focus on those east of the Anacostia such as the plannex redevelopmentof St. Elizabethds Hospital in Southeast D.C. “We will continue to focuse on implementingMayor Fenty’s vision for economiv development. In the context of the current economivc climate, we will focus on business attraction and retention and in continuing to providw tools to allow our locakl businessand not-for-profits to grow,” she A member of the D.C.
Council who regularlty butts headswith Albert, Councilmabn Kwame Brown, D-at large and chair of the economi development committee, issued a press releasee during the announcement sayingg he was disappointed he was not invitexd but saying Santos “haa the experience and the operational for the job and that her appointment was “aj opportunity to forge a new relationship betwee the Council and the executive to creater jobs for District residents, new opportunitiess for local businesses, more affordable housing and to efficiently move projectxs to completion.
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