NR-262-2009_New LAEDCChairlloydGrief

News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Monday, April 27, 2009

LAEDC Elects Lloyd Greif as 2009/2010 Chair of

L.A. County’s Premier Business Leadership Organization

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Maura O’Connor Elected Vice Chair

Los Angeles, CA — The Board of Directors of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) today announced the election of Lloyd Greif as the new chairman of the LAEDC, a private, non-profit organization whose mission is to attract, retain, and grow businesses and jobs in the regions of L.A. County. Effective this month, Lloyd Greif succeeds Ray Holdsworth, vice chairman of AECOM, who has chaired the LAEDC Board for the past two years. Maura O’Connor was also elected vice chair.

“The LAEDC is the recognized champion of economic development for Los Angeles County and as our organization continues to play a leadership role in the advancement of critically important economic development initiatives, Lloyd’s experience and commitment will be invaluable to growing and sustaining a healthy, vibrant economy,” said Holdsworth.

“The LAEDC is integral to the economic health of Los Angeles County and I am privileged to be entrusted with leading the Board and building on Ray’s extraordinary leadership,” said Greif. “I am a Los Angeles native who has resided here continuously my entire life—I have a long-running love affair with southern California. During the past half-century, I have witnessed the region rebound from numerous recessions. The next year will be characterized by challenges, but L.A. County is the entrepreneurial capital of the world and I am confident we will weather the current economic storm in great shape. Don’t underestimate the resilience and perseverance of the entrepreneurial spirit!”

Greif has served as a member of the LAEDC’s Board of Directors since 2000 and chair of its Finance Committee since 2003. His previous civic involvement includes serving on the board of the New Los Angeles Marketing Partnership (New LAMP) created by then-mayor Richard Riordan.

Greif founded Greif & Co., a leading purveyor of merger & acquisition and corporate finance advisory services to middle-market growth companies, in 1992 following a successful, decade-long investment banking career as vice chairman of Sutro & Co. Incorporated, the oldest investment banking firm in the West, where he was head of investment banking and a member of the five-person Management Committee that ran the firm. Previously, he was a management consultant with Touche, Ross & Co.

Greif has been recognized by numerous organizations for his leadership. In 2002, he received the Rabbi Edgar F. Magnin God & Country Exemplar Award from the Boy Scouts of America, in 2000 received the Corporate Excellence Award from Loyola Law School and in 1999 received a commendation from the City of Los Angeles for his “dedication and outstanding contributions to the Los Angeles community.”

He is also chairman of the Advisory Council of the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at USC’s Marshall School of Business, a member of the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Police Foundation, and a member of the Board of Overseers of Loyola Law School, among numerous other accolades and affiliations.

O’Connor’s involvement with the LAEDC includes serving as chair of its Industrial Land Use Committee. Under her leadership, the committee has explored CEQA reform initiatives and testified at the L.A. Planning Commission and Redevelopment Agency hearings on the need to preserve the region’s industrial land.

In addition to her civic involvement, O’Connor is a partner in the Real Estate Practice Group in the Los Angeles office of Seyfarth Shaw LLP. Her practice focuses on real estate financing, workouts and foreclosures, acquisitions, development, and leasing. She has extensive experience in complex financing transactions, infrastructure and industrial projects, purchases of environmentally contaminated properties, and sophisticated real estate workouts and foreclosures. O’Connor has been highlighted as one of the top ten real estate lawyers in southern California in 2005 by Real Estate Southern California, which also named her a “Woman of Influence” in 2006 and 2007. She has also been named one of the Distinguished Alumni of the University of Minnesota Law School.

“The leadership of Ray Holdsworth has significantly helped grow the visibility, revenues and impact of the LAEDC. Under his leadership, we helped retain nearly 20,000 jobs for the County, and launched the California Transportation and Logistics Institute and Los Angeles County Public Landowners Assistance Network,” said Bill Allen, LAEDC president and CEO. “Ray’s passion for economic development is evident in his many accomplishments as chairman of the LAEDC. I am certain that Lloyd and Maura will continue to elevate the organization as they have for many years as key committee chairs and active board members. I look forward to working closely with them and the entire LAEDC Board to promote job growth across L.A. County at this critical time.”

About Greif & Co.: Founded in 1992, Greif & Co. is an independent, Los Angeles-based investment banking firm whose raison d’être is to provide the highest quality financial advisory services and execution to meet the specialized corporate finance needs of middle-market growth companies. Renowned as the “Entrepreneur’s Investment Bank,” Greif & Co. takes pride in its track record of consistently generating premium results from merger & acquisition and corporate financing transactions for entrepreneurially owned and operated businesses in a broad spectrum of industries nationwide. For more information, please visit www.greifco.com.

About Seyfarth Shaw: Seyfarth Shaw has over 775 attorneys located in nine offices throughout the United States including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Irvine, Chicago, New York, Boston, Washington D.C., Atlanta, and Houston as well as Brussels, Belgium. Seyfarth Shaw provides a broad range of legal services in the areas of labor and employment, employee benefits, litigation and business services to clients ranging from 200 of the Fortune 500 companies to federal, state and local governmental entities. For more information, please visit www.seyfarth.com.

About the LAEDC: The LAEDC, the region’s premier business leadership organization, is a private, non-profit organization established in 1981 under section 501(c)(3). Its mission is to attract, retain, and grow business and jobs for the regions of Los Angeles County. Since 1996, the LAEDC has helped retain or attract more than 151,942 jobs, providing $7.5 billion in direct economic impact from salaries and $127 million in annual tax revenue benefit to local governments and education in Los Angeles County. Visit www.laedc.org or call (888) 4-LAEDC-1.