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Replaced! Neil Albert, the former DMPED.
(His replacement is Valerie Santos, pictured here and here.)
Ah well, the rumors and speculation about Greg O’Dell proved to be wrong.
As previously reported on City Desk, this morning the mayor named Valerie Santos his new Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED). The position opened up after former DMPED Neil O. Albert took over as City Administrator when his predecessor Dan Tangherlini left to work at the Treasury.
Previously, Santos worked as Albert’s chief operating officer where she oversaw “the day-to-day execution of Mayor Fenty’s economic development strategy, including coordinating its public-private development, affordable housing, business attraction and retention, and neighborhood revitalization initiatives,” according to the city’s announcement.
As LL reported earlier, “Santos, 36, is the first person to rise to deputy mayor rank from within the District government.” Prior to working in District government, she 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. She is a graduate of Santa Clara University and earned her MBA at Harvard Business School and a Masters in Public Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government,” according to the city announcement.
Bisnow also notes that she’s a San Francisco native, and a current Ward 1 resident in D.C. “She mentioned St. Elizabeth’s, Poplar Point, the Waterfront, and Minnesota Ave/Benning Road as being among her expected priorities, although she says she looks forward to leading her 65 employees very much in Neil’s footsteps,” Bisnow reported.