COVER STORY

Promoting Santa Monica

Andrew Thomas dons mantle as CEO of Downtown SM to usher in new era

By Bridgette M. Redman

Downtown Santa Monica, Inc. (DTSM) has opened a fresh chapter with the arrival of its new CEO, Andrew Thomas, a placemaker who spent 10 years working with DTSM as director of operations earlier this century. “The Board is excited to welcome back Andrew Thomas, whose wealth of experience in the placemaking industry and deep understanding of the core values of Santa Monica will allow him to make an immediate impact in DTSM,” said Barry Snell, chair of the DTSM Board of Directors. “We trust Thomas will help the Board as it embarks on a thorough reassessment of the organization’s programs so we can continue to best serve our community, the property owners and businesses.” DTSM is a public-private nonprofit that works with the City of Santa Monica to manage services and operations in downtown Santa Monica and on Third Street Promenade. Thomas was hired after a national search following the resignation this past January of Kathleen Rawson, the CEO who served the organization for 25 years. Thomas, a resident of Culver City, started in the new role on Sept. 1. It’s a position that appeals to him in part because Santa Monica has always had a special place in his heart. “I was here from 2001 to 2011,” Thomas said. “While I worked here I got married, I had both my kids. Even when I wasn’t working in Santa Monica, we were regulars here as visitors, shoppers, diners, and just general users of the district and community. There was an emotional attachment for me here.” As someone who has continually worked as a placemaker, Thomas was professionally drawn to Santa Monica because it is such a unique locale. “It’s a destination that’s known across the world,” Thomas said. “It has an iconic, global brand. When people come to visit Southern California, Santa Monica is always the top of mind. This was an amazing opportunity, and I was thrilled for the opportunity to be able to pursue it.” While praising Santa Monica as a unique destination, Thomas also acknowledges that the organization is in a time of great challenge coming out of the pandemic and amid other crises in the community. “There are concerns in our community surrounding vacancy in properties, public safety, the conditions of infrastructure and sustainability,” Thomas said. “All these challenges are pretty exciting and I’m excited to work with our board, our stakeholders, our businesses, our commercial property owners, with residents, with everybody here who calls this community home to see if we can address some of these challenges.” While he said Santa Monica has changed since he worked for DTSM 11 years ago, it was comforting to return and still see so many familiar faces. Everyone, he said, has been welcoming and demonstrated how much they really love and care about Santa Monica. He is encouraged by the deep investment he sees people have in the district meeting all its promise and potential. As they move forward, Thomas plans to pursue both foundational and institutional goals for the organization. The foundational ones exist as questions that are central and core to their mission, such as how do they ensure the district is clean and safe? How do they make sure it is welcoming? How do they make sure that Santa Monica is a front-ofmind destination for everyone? How do they market their district? How do they ensure that they are good stewards and

custodians of the Santa Monica brand? The institutional goals are tied up in plans to enhance Santa Monica, to ensure that businesses can thrive, that they have first-class activations and events there. Thomas plans to work hard at rebuilding the organization because they’ve lost several people throughout the past year. There is a need to hire talented people so that they can meet their services agreement with the City of Santa Monica and fulfill their operational plan. “Then we have an obligation to respond to the needs of our community and our stakeholders,” Thomas said. “There’s no shortage of stakeholders to serve in our district and people to listen to and learn from. I’m excited to do all those things, to ensure that our downtown is the best possible place for everyone to come and experience.” Because there are so many new people in key positions throughout the city, from the city manager to the police and fire chief, Thomas wants to reinforce existing relationships while building the new ones. He explained that the COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging for businesses, their organization and their partners. “Everybody has had to respond to those challenges,” Thomas said. “Now as we sort of come out of these COVID times, how can we find the most optimal ways to work together to deliver services and benefits here in our community? We’re all getting to know each other now. Everybody’s here for the same reason—we want to work hard and deliver for our community.” While there are challenges, Thomas said he has observed a lot of excitement and seen many reports of new investment and development downtown. Hotels are being built and refurbished, residential housing is planned and other developments are in the works for the next five to ten years. “That’s encouraging to me in that it really demonstrates a very deep faith and confidence in this community even if we are having challenges with leasing and vacancy,” Thomas said. “People know that this is a special place here in the city, in the region and beyond.” A graduate of Tulane University, Thomas was most recently the founding executive director of the Westwood Village Improvement Association for the past 11 years. He managed a budget of $1.7 million annually from assessments on 120 properties within that district. He was also the past president of the California Downtown Association and the former Chair of the Los Angeles Business Improvement District Consortium. Thomas describes himself as a sincere broker who is patient and doesn’t raise his voice, get upset or hold grudges. “I believe in leading with kindness and with humility, and an open mind,” Thomas said. “Santa Monica is certainly a place with many voices and many stakeholders. I'm here to listen and try to help and facilitate. I have a track record of that. I hope I can bring people together to really benefit our community, because we all have a stake in it. One of my mantras is that our downtown is really a shared responsibility. DTSM has a role to play and the City of Santa Monica has a role to play and our residents have a role to play and our business owners and our commercial property owners and our real estate brokers, everybody has a role to play in the success of downtown. I hope that I can work to bring people together so that we can achieve our goals and create the kind of downtown that we can all be proud of.” Several months into his job, Thomas is thrilled to be back at DTSM. He said he was meeting new people every day and planned to continue that outreach as he settles in. “For the folks that haven’t had a chance to get to know me yet, hang in there,” Thomas said. “Come find me or I’ll come find you. I want everybody to know that I’m here, I’m open, I’m approachable. I expect everyone in our organization to be as well.”

Downtown Santa Monica, Inc.

downtownsm.com