New Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce board chair Thomas Sayles is no stranger to the world of business and public policy. In the early 1990s, Sayles was California’s secretary of business, transportation and housing under then-Gov. Pete Wilson. The former attorney was tasked with improving the state’s dismal business climate and helped form special strike teams to clear red tape for major businesses threatening to leave the state. He then returned to the private sector, first in the executive ranks at Sempra Energy, then, in 2011, joining USC as senior vice president for university relations. At the university, he was involved in getting the big USC Village development project going. In 2009, then Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa named Sayles to the governing board of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, where he served as president until 2013. Later that year, he was appointed to the Los Angeles 2020 Commission, which issued reports on the local economy and the city’s fiscal condition. The Business Journal interviewed the 64-year-old Sayles just days after he was handed the gavel as the chamber’s board chair.
Question: What are your main goals as 2016 board chair of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce?
Answer: My primary mission as board chair is to support job creation. Sometimes we lose sight of this whole job-creation issue: It’s really about people. There’s a tremendous need for jobs in South L.A. and East L.A. Having grown up in South L.A., I saw firsthand the need for jobs and economic opportunities. It’s improving these communities that fuel my persistence. There are real people involved, real lives involved.
What do you see as the key to job growth in Los Angeles?
I see the key as creating regulatory certainty, in terms of the approval process. If a job creator comes in with a project, those that must give their approval should say this project will take a finite period of time to get approved, whether that’s a year or 18 months. It’s the uncertainty that makes projects all the more likely to be dropped or taken elsewhere. If we had regulatory certainty in this city, there would be significantly more job creation.
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned during your career in public life?
Patience and persistence are the biggest lessons. There were times when I was impatient and not persistent; as a result, those things tended not to work out. It’s when I was able to employ both patience and persistence that I’ve been most successful. I also believe that, ultimately, good ideas prevail: But they only prevail if you are both patient and persistent. If you’re in the public sector for quick results, you’re probably in the wrong place. That doesn’t mean I don’t get frustrated, but that frustration results in me being more persistent.
What was your most frustrating point professionally and how did you rebound from it?
There were times in the process of getting the USC Village project approved that I was pretty frustrated. But given the significance of this project to the community and the university, it forced me to go to my inner strength. It was a good idea that needed to be moving forward. Now that I see it going up, it’s like that frustration never existed.
We last spoke more than a year ago about USC’s proposed biomedical park near County-USC Medical Center. What has happened with that project since?
We think there’s momentum building. In order to create more jobs, we need to create biotech clusters around (Los Angeles County); everyone seems to be getting behind that now. The project itself is beginning to take shape, though it’s taking longer than any of us would have thought. A feasibility study is being done. We have investors lined up. We’ve identified land that we can swap with the county to facilitate the creation of the park and we have faculty anxious to get involved. This biomedical park has the ability to transform the area, not just for USC but for the Boyle Heights community as well.
The chamber has made a top priority of defeating the measure known as the Neighborhood Integrity Initiative, which would place a two-year moratorium and other limits on major development projects. Why?
It will have a chilling effect on development in the city. It’s something we can’t afford, especially in areas that are more challenged, such as South Los Angeles and East Los Angeles. It’s important that the chamber stands up against this.
What are your other priorities?
I want to do more to reach out to startup tech companies, to provide whatever assistance we can on getting permits and on other public-policy issues. I also want to make the chamber as inclusive as possible; I want to collaborate more with ethnic chambers and other organizations.
What do you do when you are not working on USC-related issues or chamber business?
I’m an avid moviegoer; I try to see at least one movie a week. I have two young grandchildren I try to spend time with. And I exercise and read a fair amount.
Where’s your favorite place to spend time in Los Angeles, other than USC?
I love the Century City mall. I live near it so I can walk to the mall. Of course, it’s under renovation now, but when it was operating fully, I really loved going there and seeing all the people walking around. The other place I love is the Grove. I love these outdoor shopping centers: They are gathering places for all sorts of people and they are pretty unique to Los Angeles.
What makes Los Angeles such a good place to do business, or at least start a business?
I was born and raised here and I believe L.A. is the best place to do business. We have extremely bright and creative people; I’m fortunate to work at an institution that helps educate those people. We have such diversity of backgrounds in L.A. as well as a huge trove of civic resources.
