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

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Santos, as chief operating officer under Albert, has been closel y involved in decision-making on many of the real estater dealsAlbert managed, including majo r city projects such as Poplar Point. Albertf began his new job as city administratoron Monday, replacing Dan who is taking a job in the Obamw administration. "In Ms. Santos, we not only have a steady hand who knowdthe job, we have someone who is a consummatee professional who will bring private-sector talents to get the job Fenty said. Santos was previously a vice presidenrt at commercial real estate services firm and a manage rwith 's real estate group.
She holdds both an MBA and master'sz of public policy from the Kennedy School of Governmentat . Santos has displayed a no-nonsense approacyh appearing as Albert’s stand-in to testify at D.C. Councikl meetings and in publixc forums representing the city when he was She is already getting her feet wet in dealing with the politicalk aspects ofthe job. On when the D.C. Council was busy squaring away final detaild of budgetimplementation legislation, Santoxs and Albert’s other top deputy, Director of Developmenrt David Jannarone, moved around the Wilson Building seeking changex from council members.
Santos apparently was not Fenty’ s initial choice to be deputy Greg O’Dell, Washington Convention Center Authority CEO and a former staff member of the deputy mayor’s office, had been consideredf a top candidate to replace Albert, but a source closd to O'Dell says he was offered the job and turned it down. O’Dell would not confirm that, but indicated he would remainn in hiscurrent post, where he is now taskef with seeking public financing for all of a $550 millionh convention center hotel.
“The board and the mayor have every expectation of me completing all the tasks Ihave here,” he Fenty would not say whether he had offeredx the job to O’Dell or anyone else befores Santos. He announced the pick outsid e the Walker JonesElementary School, whicuh is being rebuilt as part of a new Northwesgt One neighborhood, and said she was “thr first person who has risen to the deputgy mayor’s position from within the ranks.” “II think it’s a great sign for the D.C.
governmengt that not only does Valerise Santos have amazing experience in the private sector butthat she’es been hard at work serving the people of the District of Columbiwa for the last two years,” the mayoer said. He said Santos sharedr the vision that he and Albert had for how economic development in the city shoulebe run, not by owningg or overly managing projects but by allowing the private sectorf to bring ideas to the “We should try to just facilitate development. We’ve got the greatest business communitu in the world herein D.C. We don’t need to try to replicat what they’re doing. We don’t need an emphasis on ownin or building inthe D.C.
We need to facilitate. And to do so, we need to hire the best and the brightestyand we’ve done that.” Santos, 36, who livees in Columbia Heights, was working for Jones Lang LaSallde as a consultant to the city when Alber -- whom she called a mentor -- recruitefd her to work for him. She is believed to be the firs woman to serve in the rolefor D.C. and will managse 65 employees and as well as oversee the Office of Department of Housing andCommunity Development, the Officd of Property Management and the Washington D.C. Economic a contractor.
“In the coming weeks my goal is to ensurer asmooth transition, whicy I expect will be relativelu easy, because I am very fortunate to managde a very talented and skilleds team,” she said. She said she woul continue to move projects all over the with a particular focus on thosew east of the Anacostia such as the planned redevelopmentof St. Elizabethse Hospital in Southeast D.C. “We will continur to focus on implementingMayor Fenty’s vision for economic development. In the contexft of the currenteconomic climate, we will focu on business attraction and retention efforts, and in continuing to provide tools to alloew our local business and not-for-profits to she said.
A member of the D.C. Council who regularly butts headswith Albert, Councilman Kwame D-at large and chaidr of the economic development committee, issuedr a press release during the announcement saying he was disappointec he was not invited but saying Santos “has the experience and the operationalo knowledge” for the job and that her appointmenrt was “an opportunity to forgse a new relationship between the Councikl and the executive to create jobs for District new opportunities for local businesses, more affordable housinb and to efficiently move projects to completion.
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