DMPED: Biography - Valerie Santos

Valerie Santos is the District of Columbia’s Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, where she is responsible for implementing Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’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.

The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development is the District’s lead agency in coordinating the District's policies and initiatives with respect to affordable housing, business attraction and retention, workforce and economic development. As such, the Deputy Mayor is responsible for overseeing 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, the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, the Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking, and the Commission of Arts and Humanities.

The team in the Office of the Deputy Mayor is charged with bringing federal, nonprofit and private and community partners together to expand the District's economic base, attract and retain businesses, 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 in neighborhoods throughout the District. Examples include: proposed O Street Market in Shaw, the redevelopment of the Minnesota-Benning Metrorail Station site and the multi-site New Communities Initiative.

Prior to becoming Deputy Mayor, Santos served as the Planning and Economic Development Office’s Chief Operating Officer. Before joining the District government in 2007, 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. 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 .