Ms Santos handles economic planning
A Filipino American is Washington D.C.’s Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development!
Valerie Santos, 36, was appointed by DC Mayor Adrian Fenty last June to be in charge of implementing the mayor’s economic development vision and managing a development pipeline worth more than $13 billion, comprised of public-private housing, retail, office and parks projects throughout the District.
Born and raised in San Francisco , Santos finished college at Santa Clara University. She completed her MBA at Harvard Business School and a Masters in Public Policy at Harvard University ‘s Kennedy School of Government.
She moved to Washington D.C. in 2003 and in 2007, she served as the District’s Planning and Economic Development Office’s Chief Operating Officer. Before joining the District government, Santos was a vice president at Jones Lang LaSalle, where she specialized in urban public-private development. Previously, she was a manager with Ernst & Young’s real estate group and an associate with Hamilton Rabinovitz & Alschuler.
“My father is from Zamboanga and my mother is from Bulacan,” says Santos , who spent a year in the Philippines as a community organizer and a Jesuit volunteer. “I enjoyed working at the grassroots community level.”
In her capacity as Deputy Mayor, she heads the District’s lead agency in coordinating policies and initiatives with respect to affordable housing, business attraction and retention, workforce and economic development. As such, she oversees a cluster of agencies that include the Department of Small and Local Business Development, the Department of Housing and Community Development, the Office of Planning and the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs.
In appointing Santos, Mayor Fenty said: “I believe we have hired the best and the brightest, and she will do a fantastic job.” Fenty made the announcement during a news conference outside the still-under-construction Walker Jones Elementary School at New Jersey Avenue and L Street Northwest. “We’ve had some fantastic people from outside, but I think it’s a great sign for the D.C. government that she’s been hard at work serving the people of the District of Columbia for the last two years,” Fenty added.
Santos replaces Neil Albert, who started as city administrator. Dan Tangherlini, former city administrator, is now with the Obama administration, working for Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
Santos, Albert’s former chief operating officer, said her focus would be on business attraction and retention, and providing existing businesses with the tools they need for growth, “thereby creating jobs and new revenue for our city’s tax base.” While projects are moving forward citywide, she said there would be special concentration on initiatives east of the Anacostia River.
She will be in charge of bringing federal, nonprofit and private and community partners together to strengthen the District’s tax base, attract and retain businesses of all sizes, bring good-paying jobs for residents and promote the city as a competitive, welcoming place to do business.
Projects within the office’s portfolio include the $2 billion Southwest Waterfront redevelopment, the $1 billion redevelopment of the 10-acre former Convention Center site and more than $70 million worth of waterfront parks and infrastructure projects. The portfolio also includes various housing and mixed use projects of all sizes located throughout the District including the proposed O Street Market in Shaw, the redevelopment of the Minnesota-Benning Metrorail Station site and the multi-site New Communities Initiative.
Santos was recruited by Albert to the D.C. government from her position as a vice president at Jones Lang LaSalle, where she specialized in urban public-private development. She called Albert her “mentor.”
At-large D.C. Councilman Kwame Brown, who has frequently clashed with Albert as chairman of the economic development committee, said in a statement that he “was disappointed that I wasn’t invited to the announcement,” but that he fully supported Santos, “who will face some of the toughest economic challenges our city has ever confronted.”
“I believe this is an opportunity to forge a new relationship between the council and the executive to create jobs for District residents, new opportunities for local businesses, more affordable housing and to efficiently move
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