The CEO Council announced Nov. 4 will initially focus on ways to boost affordable housing and workforce development. The hope is that the combined clout of the top-level executives on the council will lend weight to the strategies and solutions it endorses.
Initially, the council is being led by chamber Chief Executive Maria Salinas and Board Chair Raul Anaya, who is also president of business banking and president of the greater Los Angeles region for Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America. The pair spearheaded the effort to create the council over the past year or so as an attempt to help the local economy recover from the ravages of the Covid pandemic and resulting business lockdowns. The council has been meeting informally for several months as it has ramped up in size.
“We are looking to unify the business community at the CEO level,” Salinas said. “This council will help establish policies to enable the region and its economy recover, rebound and thrive over the long term.”
As of Nov. 3, 89 executives — about two-thirds of them chief executives and most of the rest presidents or other top-level executives — had publicly committed to participate on the council. Salinas said another dozen executives have indicated they wish to serve on the council but still needed to go through governance approvals from their respective companies.
Many of the participating executives are familiar names in Los Angeles civic circles, including Alan Rothenberg, chairman of Century City-based 1st Century Bank; Jerry Neuman, partner in the downtown office of multinational law firm of DLA Piper; Sean Burton, chief executive of Century City-based development company Cityview; and Elise Buik, chief executive of downtown-based United Way of Greater Los Angeles.
But there are also chief executives who have not been fixtures on L.A.’s civic scene, such as Ken Moelis, chief executive of New York-based investment firm Moelis & Co.; Jay Wintrob, chief executive of downtown-based Oaktree Capital Management; and Larry Miller, chief executive of Gardena-based mattress store Sit ‘N Sleep.
Anaya said the council’s members represent 13 different industries.
But notably absent from the council is substantial representation from the region’s most prominent industry: entertainment. Only one company — Burbank-based payroll services firm Entertainment Partners Inc. and its chief executive, Mark Goldstein — hails from that signature industry. No major studios are represented, including Burbank-based Walt Disney Co., which is the county’s largest publicly traded company by market cap and the largest Fortune 500 company still headquartered in the county.
Both Salinas and Anaya said they are hoping to grow the council’s roster of C-suite members in coming months and years, including making more inroads in the entertainment industry. Salinas said the chamber has reached out to Disney and held preliminary discussions with executives there, but as of Nov. 3, there was no firm commitment from Disney to join.
Another challenge for the new council: succeeding in making a mark on both the local business community and the region as a whole over the long term. The last group of local chief executives to leave such a mark was the Committee of 25 in the middle decades of the last century, which among other things laid the groundwork for the redevelopment of downtown’s Bunker Hill.
Since then, the business community has become more diverse and geographically spread out, making it more difficult to marshal a unified voice. One of the more notable recent attempts was the creation of the Los Angeles County Business Federation, or BizFed, in 2008; that organization is now headquartered in Commerce. But BizFed is an umbrella organization of local business groups; it does not have dozens of corporate chief executives on its board.
Anaya acknowledged this difficult history.
“For too long the business community has not been at the table to help shape our region,” he said. “We aim to change that.”
Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce CEO Council Members
| COMPANY | NAME | TITLE |
|---|---|---|
| 1st Century Bank | Alan Rothenberg | Chairman |
| Bank of America | Raul Anaya | President, Greater L.A. |
| Barry’s Ticket’s | Barry Rudin | Chief executive |
| BiasSync | Michele Ruiz | Co-founder and chief executive |
| Bobrick Washroom Equipment | Mark Louchheim | Chairman and chief executive |
| Bond Companies | Larry Bond | Chief executive |
| Bristol Capital Advisors | Paul Kessler | Owner |
| Business Finance Capital | Jackie Dilfer | Chief executive |
| Byte | Scott Cohen | Chief executive |
| Capital Group | Tim Armour | Chief executive |
| CBRE | Lew Horne | President |
| Cedars Sinai Hospital | Thomas Priselac | President and chief executive |
| Cityview | Sean Burton | Chief executive |
| Cordoba Corporation | George Pla | Chief executive |
| DLA Piper | Jerry Neuman | Partner |
| East West Bank | Dominic Ng | Chief executive |
| Edison International | Pedro Pizarro | President and chief executive |
| Emser Tile | Brian Ghodsian | President |
| Entertainment Partners | Mark Goldstein | Chief executive |
| Ernest Packaging Solutions | Tim Wilson | Chief executive |
| Ernst & Young | Andy park | Managing partner |
| Fazio Enterprises | Steve Fazio | Chief executive |
| Gensler | Andy Cohen | Co-chief executive |
| Goldman Sachs | Gene Sykes | Managing director |
| Hawthorne Advertising | Jessica Hawthorne-Castro | Chief executive |
| Holthouse, Carlin & Van Trigt | Phil Holthouse | Chief executive |
| Houlihan Lokey | Scott Beiser | Chief executive |
| IDEATE California | Jose Atilio Hernandez | President |
| Inter-Con Security | Henry Hernandez | Chief executive |
| Jet Center Los Angeles | Levi Stockton | President |
| JM Eagle Co. | Walter Wang | Chief executive |
| JP Morgan | Bob Graziano | Vice chairman |
| kathy ireland worldwide | Stephen Roseberry | President and chief marketing officer |
| L A Rams | Kevin Demoff | Chief operating officer |
| LA Clippers | Gillian Zucker | President of business operations |
| LA Community College District | Francisco Rodriguez | Chancellor |
| LA84 | Renata Simril | President and chief executive |
| LAACO. LTD | Karen Hathaway | President and managing partner |
| Leif Organics | Adel Villalobos | Chief executive |
| LMU | Timothy Law Snyder | President |
| Lockton Insurance Brokers | Timothy Noonan | President and chief executive |
| Los Angeles Chargers | AG Spanos | President, business operations |
| Los Angeles Tourisim & Convention Board | Adam Burke | President and chief executive |
| Lowe Enterprises | Robert Lowe | Chairman |
| Matt Construction | Steve Matt | Chief executive |
| Mattel | Ynon Kreiz | Chief executive |
| McDonald's (Franchisee) | Frank Sanchez | Chief executive |
| Mercury Air Group | Joe Czyzyk | Chairman and chief executive |
| Mercury Insurance | Gabe Tirador | Chief executive |
| Moelis & Co. | Ken Moelis | Chief executive |
| Morley Builders | Charlie Mutillo | Chief executive |
| NewMark Merrill Companies | Sandy Sigal | President and chief executive |
| NNA Services | Tom Heymann | Chief executive |
| Northern Trust | Michele Havens | President |
| Northgate Markets | Oscar Gonzalez | Chief executive |
| Oaktree Capital Management | Jay Wintrob | Chief executive |
| OSI Systems | Deepak Chopra | Chief executive |
| Parking Co of America | Alex Chaves | Chief executive |
| Penske Media Corporation | Jay Penske | Chief executive |
| Plastpro Inc. | Shirley Wang | Chief executive |
| Prodoscore | Sam Naficy | Chief executive |
| Prospect Medical Holdings | Sam Lee | Chief executive |
| Red Chamber Co. | Ming Shin Kou | Owner and chief executive |
| Renewable Resources Group | Nicole Neeman Brady | Managing principal |
| Revolution Office | Jon Rashap | Chief executive |
| Saybrook Capital | Jonathan Rosenthal | Chief executive |
| Sit 'N Sleep | Larry Miller | Chief executive |
| Snak King Co. | Barry Levin | Chief executive |
| SoCalGas Company/Sempra | Scott Drury | Chief executive |
| SpaceX | Gwynne Shotwell | President and chief operating officer |
| Stamps.com | Ken McBride | Chief executive |
| Sugarfina | Diana Derycz-Kessler | Owner |
| Superior Grocers | Mimi Song | President and chief executive |
| TELACU | Michael Lizarraga | Chief executive |
| The Pritzker Group | Tony Pritzker | Chief executive |
| The Ratkovich Company | Brian Saenger | President and chief executive |
| The Willoughby Group | Denita Willoughby | Chief executive |
| Thrive Market | Nick Green | Chief executive |
| TigerConnect | Brad Brooks | Chief executive |
| Transcend Health | Michael Ochoa | Chief executive |
| Troy Capital Partners | Josh Berman | Chief executive |
| Union Bank | Greg Seibly | President |
| United Airlines | Janet Lamkin | President, California |
| United Way of Los Angeles | Elise Buik | Chief executive |
| Univision of Los Angeles | Luis Patiño | President |
| US Bank | Rudy Medina | Market president |
| Vanir Group | Dorene Dominguez | Chairwoman and chief executive |
| Walter N. Marks Inc. | Walter Marks, III | Chief executive |
| Wells Fargo | Alice Juarez | Region President – Los Angeles |
