Austin Beutner in conversation with Steve Hymon: Keeping Los Angeles Competitive in the Global Economy
Thursday, October 6, 2011 at 7:45 AM (PT)
Pasadena, CA
Join us for another DRUCKER BUSINESS FORUM
Co Presented by KPCC Southern California Radio in Pasadena
Keeping Los Angeles Competitive in the Global Economy
AUSTIN BEUTNER
In conversation with Steve Hymon
Austin Beutner is one of Los Angeles’ leading civic leaders and currently the City’s First Deputy Mayor and Chief Executive for Economic and Business Policy.
Thursday, October 6th, 2011
Breakfast: 7:45-8:30am
Forum: 8:30-9:30am
Crawford Family Forum at KPCC
474 South Raymond Avenue
Pasadena, CA 91105
Austin Beutner has three decades of experience in the private and public sector building and leading organizations and helping businesses grow and create jobs. As one of Los Angeles’ civic leaders, Austin has worked to build a stronger community including his recent role as the City’s First Deputy Mayor and Chief Executive for Economic and Business Policy.
Inspired by his desire to make Los Angeles “A City that Works,” Austin served as the City’s “Jobs Czar” from January 2010 to May 2011 for a salary of $1 a year. During those 16 months he had oversight of 13 city departments ranging from Housing and Homeless, Planning, Building and Safety, to the Los Angeles Convention Center, Los Angeles World Airports (LAX, Ontario, and Van Nuys), the Port of Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. In each department he brought an innovative “do more with less” approach to solving some of the City’s largest problems.
In a time when many Los Angeles residents and businesses are suffering from the impact of the recession, Austin sought to make changes to City government which would reinvigorate the local job market. He built a team of experienced public and private sector professionals, and created a culture of service and coordination, in which his office proactively offered support to Los Angeles’ employers. He implemented important policy changes, cutting taxes and red tape, to attract job-creating companies to the City. Additionally, he refocused the City’s efforts to support small and local businesses.
Austin has spent most of his career working in the financial industry. At age 29, Austin became the youngest partner at Blackstone, one of the world’s leading advisory firms. At 33, he accepted a position with the U.S. State Department, serving the Clinton Administration in Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. He led a team that helped the new Russia transition to a market economy. He went on to found the investment banking firm Evercore Partners, together with former Deputy Treasury Secretary Roger Altman. As President and Co-Chief Executive Officer, Austin helped build Evercore into a global leader, with businesses in the U.S. and around the world.
Austin is deeply involved in his community, serving as Chairman of the Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Commission on the NFL Stadium, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of CalArts, Chairman of the Board of the Broad Stage, Chairman of the Governor’s Council on Sports & Physical Fitness, Co-Chairman of CalArts Community Arts Partnership, and Chairman of Mammoth Mountain Community Foundation. He also serves on the Boards of ICEF Public Schools and ACT Today.
He and his wife have four children.
Steve Hymon is a political consultant and serves as editor for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s award-winning blog, The Source. A former journalist, he covered City Hall in Los Angeles and was part of a team of reporters at the L.A. Times who won the Pulitzer Prize for their
stories on poor care at the former King/Drew Medical Center.
The Drucker Business Forum is produced by The Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management at Claremont Graduate University.The series is co-presented by KPCC.
