Kelli Bernard
Chairperson
Kelli Bernard is Director of Economic Development with the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power
Kelli Bernard
Kelli Bernard has over 15 years experience in economic and real estate development in the City of Los Angeles. She currently serves as Director of Economic Development of the Department of Water & Power. Kelli is responsible for developing and managing the Department’s economic development initiatives, including its Cleantech Initiative and ensuring that LADWP continues to play a prominent role as an economic catalyst for the City. Prior to LADWP she served as Director of Planning and Economic Development for LA City Council President Eric Garcetti where she was responsible for overseeing key development projects in the district, facilitating CD13′s economic development initiatives, and providing staffing for the Council President on Citywide planning and land use issues. Ms. Bernard also provided to strategic counsel to developing faith-based economic development organizations. She was formerly Vice President of Real Estate at Genesis LA, a non profit economic development corporation, where she was responsible for Genesis LA’s real estate development services, which include development strategies, project management, financial modeling, leveraging local resources and structuring public/private partnerships. Ms. Bernard is experienced in the areas of economic development, land use planning, housing, redevelopment and public affairs. She also has in-depth knowledge of public/private partnerships, public funding and local, state and federal regulatory and legislative issues.
Ms. Bernard has served as vice president of Lee Andrews Group, Inc., as senior business development representative in the office of former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, as the planning deputy to a Los Angeles city council member, and with the Vermont Slauson Economic Development Corporation. She also served as an international fellow with Africare in Zambia. She is involved in a number of community organizations, including The Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust and The Urban Land Institute. Ms. Bernard holds a Masters Degree in Urban Planning from University of California, Los Angeles and a BA in Sociology from University of California, Berkeley.
David Riccitiello
Treasurer
David Riccitiello
David Riccitiello is Deputy Chief Executive Officer for Regional Operations and Economic Development for the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles.
Riccitiello oversees about 90 employees serving 31 project areas across the city of Los Angeles from the Harbor to Canoga Park. He also manages the agency’s Economic Development and Engineering departments.
Since joining the agency in 1985, Riccitiello has focused on bringing positive changes to the needy communities served by CRA/LA, building a reputation for assembling and completing numerous major real estate projects that have helped transform Downtown Los Angeles and other parts of the city.
He has had key roles in the creation of such notable projects as the Staples Center, L.A. Live, the Marriott/Ritz Carlton hotel, the Grammy Museum, the Broad Museum, the YWCA Job Corps Center, Ralph’s Fresh Fare and Market Lofts, Grand Hope Park, the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising and Bunker Hill’s Upper Second Street construction. He also guided creation of the CleanTech Corridor Initiative, the Central Avenue Action Plan and the Downtown Development and Street Standards ordinance.
Other projects created under his leadership include the 801 S. Figueroa Office Tower, 777 Office Tower, Renaissance Tower Apartments, Metro Lofts Apartments and the renovation of the historic Boyle Hotel in Boyle Heights. He is particularly proud of his part in some of the agency’s many affordable housing projects, including Villa Del Pueblo, Villa Esperanza, Villa Flores, The Metropolitano, Young Apartments, Parkside Apartments, Grand Avenue Apartments, the New Carver Apartments and the New Genesis Apartments.
Before joining the agency, Riccitiello served three years as Community Development and Planning Director for the City of Gallup, New Mexico. He previously was a project planner for the McKinley Area Council of Governments.
Riccitiello has a B.A. in Environmental Design from the State University of New York at Buffalo, a B.S. in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a master’s degree in management from the University of New Mexico’s Anderson School of Management.
Michael Swords
Secretary
Michael Swords
Michael Swords serves as the Executive Director of Strategic Research Initiatives and Global Partnerships within the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research (OVCR) at UCLA. In that capacity, he is responsible for developing large, multi-disciplinary research centers and institutes. He is also responsible for developing partnerships with government agencies, foundations, industry and non-profits, both here in the United States and abroad.
Mike is also the Board President for CleanTech Los Angeles (CTLA) which is a multi-institutional collaboration between UCLA, USC, Caltech, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Mayor’s Office of Economic Development, Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency (CRALA), Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, Los Angeles Business Council (LABC), Central City Association (CCA) and the Los Angeles Economic Development Council (LAEDC) to establish Los Angeles as the global leader in research, commercialization, and deployment of clean technologies. He also serves on the Board of the Los Angeles League of Conservation Voters (LALCV), the Executive Advisory Committee for the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation and Executive Committee for the Los Angeles CleanTech Incubator.
Prior to joining the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, Mike worked as an officer in UCLA’s Office of Federal Government Relations and was a legislative aide on Capitol Hill. He graduated with a BA from Whittier College and completed UCLA’s Anderson School of Management’s Executive Education program in December of 2008.
