Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
(ex-officio)

As a labor leader, civic leader and elected official, he’s led the fight to improve schools, protect the rights of working people, improve mobility and public transit, and make neighborhoods safer, better places to live. Before being elected mayor in 2005, he won the 14th District Los Angeles City Council seat. In 1998, Villaraigosa was elected Speaker of the California State Assembly. Villaraigosa received a Bachelor’s Degree in History from UCLA and is a graduate of the People’s College of Law.

As mayor, Villaraigosa has led the fight to keep Los Angeles one of the nation’s safest big cities by keeping the police force strong and crime at historic lows.

He also spearheaded the effort to pass Measure R, a $40 billion investment in building a 21st century transit system in Los Angeles.

He has supported a better variety options for students and families and founded the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, one of the largest school turnaround projects in the country.

Under Villaraigosa, Los Angeles has reached critical environmental milestones such as implementing the Clean Truck Program and sourcing 20 percent of its energy from renewable resources.

As the current president of the US Conference of Mayors, the Mayor has been working with Mayors from around the country – both Republicans and Democrats – on a Common Sense Jobs Agenda to put Americans to work.