San Diego Chamber launches CEO search in a new political landscape
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Former San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders is retiring as the president and CEO of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce. Photo: Daniel Knighton/Getty Images
The San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce is looking for a new president and CEO for the first time in 12 years, after former San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders announced his retirement Monday.
Why it matters: The region has undergone a political seachange in the 12 years since it hired the Republican and former San Diego police chief to lead its largest pro-business advocacy group.
Context: When Sanders left City Hall, Republicans held the mayor's and city attorney's office and four of the city's nine city council seats — now, there isn't a Republican elected official in the city, and none even qualified for the November ballot.
Driving the news: Sanders will step down from his position at the end of the year, and the organization aims to announce a new leader by the end of February, according to a press release.
- Jessica Anderson, the Chamber's executive VP and COO, is expected to step in as acting director until a new CEO can take over.
Between the lines: San Diego's blue transformation was underway when Sanders took the job, but he quickly asserted himself as the voice of the region's business community, successfully halting multiple progressive initiatives along the way.
- In 2013, Sanders' chamber led a campaign to overturn a council vote to charge a fee on commercial development to pay for affordable housing, dubbing it the "jobs tax."
- That same year, he and other business leaders championed the move to kill zoning changes to combat pollution in Barrio Logan, arguing the changes threatened the nearby shipyards.
- In 2014, the chamber collected enough signatures to force voters to approve a minimum wage increase, delaying the hike for two years.
Yes, but: Each of those victories proved temporary — the city has since increased the housing fee, passed a Barrio Logan plan and increased the minimum wage.
- The chamber's political spending this year included the successful reelection campaigns of Mayor Todd Gloria and Councilman Stephen Whitburn, and the unsuccessful push to raise sales taxes in the city.
State of play: The chamber maintained its influence and access at city hall under Sanders, even as Democrats gradually took over every elected position in the city.
- Before moving to the chamber at the start of this year, Anderson was Gloria's chief of policy, and she held multiple high-level positions under former Mayor Kevin Faulconer.
- Paula Avila, Gloria's current chief of staff, was a chamber executive focused on cross-border issues under Sanders before she moved to City Hall.