New Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development

Mayor Fenty announced his appointment for the New Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development of the District: Valerie Santos will replace Neil Albert in that position. Ms Santos was Deputy Mayor Albert's chief operating officer.

According to the press release

Prior to 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. 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.

The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development is the District’s lead agency in coordinating business and economic development issues and 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.

And from Bisnow:

[Santos] 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. It was Mayor Fenty who said we should look on today as the kickoff of the “Santos Era.”