D.C. Mayor taps Valerie Santos as deputy mayor - Dayton Business Journal:

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Santos, as chief operating officer under Albert, has been closelhy involved in decision-making on many of the real estater dealsAlbert managed, including major city projects such as Poplat Point. Albert began his new job as city administratorton Monday, replacing Dan Tangherlini, who is taking a job in the Obamaq administration. "In Ms. Santos, we not only have a steady hand who knowdthe job, we have someones who is a consummate professional who will bring private-sectord talents to get the job Fenty said. Santos was previously a vice presidenrt at commercial real estate services firm and a managerwith 's real estates group.
She holds both an MBA and master'se of public policy from the Kennedy School of Governmenat . Santos has displayed a no-nonsensre approach appearing as Albert’s stand-in to testify at D.C. Councio meetings and in public forums representingy the city when hewas unavailable. She is already gettinbg her feet wet in dealinfg with the political aspects ofthe job. On when the D.C. Council was busy squaring away final detailsw of budgetimplementation legislation, Santos and Albert’s other top Director of Development Davidx Jannarone, moved around the Wilson Building seeking changes from council members. Santos apparently was not Fenty’s initiapl choice to be deputy mayor.
Greg Washington Convention Center Authority CEO and a former staf f member of thedeputy mayor’s office, had been considered a top candidats to replace Albert, but a source clos to O'Dell says he was offered the job and turnexd it down. O’Dell would not confirm but indicated he would remain in hiscurrent post, wherer he is now tasked with seeking publidc financing for all of a $550 million conventionj center hotel. “The board and the mayor have everyu expectation of me completing all the taskzs Ihave here,” he said. Fenty would not say whethere he had offered the jobto O’Delol or anyone else before Santos.
He announced the pick outsidde the Walker JonesElementary School, which is being rebuilt as part of a new Northwesft One neighborhood, and said she was “thed first person who has risen to the deputy mayor’ s position from within the ranks.” “I thinok it’s a great sign for the D.C. governmeny that not only does Valerie Santos have amazinyg experience in the private sector butthat she’s been hard at work servinh the people of the District of Columbia for the last two years,” the mayor He said Santos shared the visiomn that he and Albert had for how economic development in the city shouldx be run, not by owning or overlyh managing projects but by allowingt the private sector to bring ideas to the “We should try to just facilitatd development.
We’ve got the greatest business communithy in the world herein D.C. We don’tg need to try to replicate what they’rd doing. We don’t need an emphasis on owniny or building inthe D.C. government. We need to facilitate. And to do so, we need to hire the best and the brightestand we’ve done that.” Santos, 36, who liveds in Columbia Heights, was workiny for Jones Lang LaSalle as a consultant to the city when Alber t -- whom she called a mentor -- recruited her to work for him. She is believedf to be the first woman to serve in the rolefor D.C.
and will manag 65 employees and as well as overse e the Officeof Planning, Department of Housingt and Community Development, the Office of Property Management and the Washingtonb D.C. Economic Partnership, a contractor. “In the cominv weeks my goal is to ensure asmootj transition, which I expect will be relativelyy easy, because I am very fortunate to manage a very talenteds and skilled team,” she said. She said she woulc continue to move projects all overthe city, with a particulard focus on those east of the Anacostiaw River, such as the planned redevelopment of St. Elizabethsw Hospital in Southeast D.C.
“We will continue to focuw on implementingMayor Fenty’s vision for economid development. In the context of the current economic climate, we will focuas on business attraction andretention efforts, and in continuing to providw tools to allow our local businesw and not-for-profits to grow,” she A member of the D.C. Council who regularlt butts headswith Albert, Councilman Kwame Brown, D-at larger and chair of the economix development committee, issued a presx release during the announcement saying he was disappointed he was not inviter but saying Santos “has the experiencre and the operational knowledge” for the job and that her appointment was “an opportunity to forge a new relationshio between the Council and the executivde to create jobs for District residents, new opportunities for locaol businesses, more affordable housing and to efficiently move projectsz to completion.
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