Suja Lowenthal, a former Long Beach City Councilmember and the senior advisor to the city manager of Santa Monica, will serve as Hermosa Beach’s new city manager, the city announced in a statement last week.
Mayor Jeff Duclos said that he and fellow council members were impressed by Lowenthal’s experience in fields relevant to issues facing Hermosa. Along with her time in city government in Long Beach and Santa Monica, Lowenthal also served as an alternate member on the California Coastal Commission.
“We are thrilled to have found such a great fit for our city at such a pivotal time in our development,” Duclos said in a statement. “Suja’s extensive knowledge of all the various facets of local government, her experience as a Coastal Commissioner, her work in the fields of transportation, education and water management, and her experience in business development and public-private partnerships will be of great benefit to us.”
Once she begins, Lowenthal will replace interim City Manager John Jalili, who spent decades working for the City of Santa Monica, including serving as city manager there from 1985 through 1999. Jalili was in Hermosa while the city sought a more permanent replacement for former City Manager Sergio Gonzalez, who left in March after less than a year on the job.
Gonzalez came to Hermosa from South Pasadena with solid recommendations as a replacement for Tom Bakaly, who left after about four years in Hermosa to helm the Beach Cities Health District. Gonzalez appeared to mostly get along with the five-member council and occasionally came up with innovative suggestions for tough issues facing them. But he was hesitant to relocate his family, including two girls in elementary school, from the San Gabriel Valley, and he struggled with a lengthy commute that occasionally required more than three hours a day on the road.
Following Gonzalez’s resignation, Duclos and Mayor pro tem Stacey Armato formed a search committee with an attitude of “Be quick but don’t hurry.” They said they would focus on finding a candidate who could guide the city through a number of looming projects and had the right personality to mesh with the council and the rest of the city staff.
According to a statement last year from the City of Santa Monica, Lowenthal’s current position focused on the Santa Monica Airport, of which the city has long sought local control. Prior to that, Lowenthal worked as Transit Planning and Community Engagement Monitor for Santa Monica from 2012 to 2017. As the head of the Big Blue Bus, as Santa Monica’s local transit agency is known, Lowenthal was responsible for the city’s mobility strategic goal and handled public outreach for transportation issues. This period saw the opening of the Metro Expo Line, providing the first rail connection between Santa Monica and downtown Los Angeles in generations.
Before working in Santa Monica, she served on the Long Beach Unified School District Board of Education from 2001 to 2006, and on the Long Beach City Council from 2006 to 2016. She also worked for several water agencies, including the West Basin Municipal Water District, which serves the South Bay. She said she was excited about the opportunity to work in Hermosa and had already begun preparing.
“Having spent time studying Hermosa’s city government and its strategic plan, I am ready to get to work on implementing the city’s long-range plans and enhancing city services,” Lowenthal said in a statement.
Lowenthal is a native of Madras, India and immigrated to the United States in 1977. She has earned degrees from UCLA, Cal State Los Angeles, and USC, where she earned a doctorate in planning, policy and development. She and her husband live in Long Beach and have five children. Lowenthal will earn $219,000 per year, the same salary as Gonzalez.
The City Council unanimously approved Lowenthal’s hiring at Tuesday night’s meeting. Jalili noted that Lowenthal’s hiring followed an extensive, nationwide search conducted by consultant Avery and Associates, who interviewed 47 candidates. The council narrowed the field and interviewed eight candidates before selecting Lowenthal.
Craig Cadwallader, president of the local Surfrider chapter, said he’d worked with Lowenthal both in Long Beach and Santa Monica and was impressed with her abilities.
“I have followed Suja for some time and I think she is truly a gift to this city,” he said. “She’s smart, she’s efficient and fair, and I think she’ll do a great job as city manager.”
Lowenthal will begin Sept. 17. She received a standing ovation after council voted to appoint her.
“Wow,” she said. “Thank you so very much for this honor. I am just delighted to be joining this community….I’m walking into an amazing city.”
This made my day better, thank you! Thank you for being amazing!