Austin Beutner

Beutner was born in New York and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the son of immigrants from Germany who came to America in the 1920s for economic opportunity. He is a graduate of East Grand Rapids High School.[4] His mother was a retired schoolteacher and his father was a retired manufacturing engineer.[5] His mother was Jewish and his father was Roman Catholic although he did not find out that his father's family was Christian until he was an adult.[5][6] He is married to Virginia Woltz Beutner;[7] they have 4 children.

Beutner attended Dartmouth College, where he majored in economics.

After graduating in 1982 he went to work at Smith Barney as a financial analyst. At the age of 29, he became partner at The Blackstone Group. In the 1990s he co-founded the investment banking group Evercore Partners, which went public in 2006.[8]

After the fall of the Soviet Union, Beutner went to work for the U.S. State Department. The Clinton administration tapped him to lead a team into Russia and help transition them from communism to a free-market economy, including the decommission of weapons and other material.[9][10]

In 1996 Beutner co-founded Evercore Partners, an American independent investment banking advisory firm, with former Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Roger Altman. When Evercore went public (NYES-EVR)[11] in 2006, the IPO reportedly made Beutner more than $100 million.[12]

In January 2010, Beutner was appointed by Antonio Villaraigosa to be the first deputy mayor of Los Angeles, with oversight of twelve city agencies, including the Port of Los Angeles, Department of Water and Power and the Housing Authority, with over 17,000 employees.[13] As deputy mayor he focused on making the city more business-friendly and streamlining permitting processes.[14] In 2013, with Villaraigosa's term ending, Beutner launched a campaign to run for Mayor of Los Angeles, but dropped from the race after a year having captured only 2% of likely voters.[15] The election was a year away when Beutner suspended his efforts.

In 2013, Beutner and former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Mickey Kantor co-chaired the 2020 Commission[16] to study and report[17] on the financial matters in Los Angeles. One of the report's recommendations was to reform the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP). In 2016 Beutner and Kantor penned an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times aimed at bringing about reform and changes to the DWP, noting that "The city deserves a public utility that is operated in the long-term best interests of its customers, employees and our environment."[18]

Beutner has lectured on his experiences in business, government, and journalism at the University of Southern California Bedrosian Center on Governance,[19] the UCLA Anderson School of Management[20] as well as the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.[21] Beutner is a senior lecturer at the Harvard Business School where he teaches Relational Coordination Leadership and Corporate Accountability[22] In 2016, Beutner gave the commencement address[23] to the 2016 graduating class of the USC Price School of Public Policy.

On May 1, 2018, Beutner was selected as the Superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) by the Los Angeles Board of Education.

In 1994 Austin Beutner founded The Beutner Family Foundation with a focus on philanthropy and education for economically disadvantaged people.[24]

In 2012 Beutner founded Vision To Learn,[25] a; non-profit that provides children with free eye exams and free glasses by bringing its mobile eye clinics to schools and to other neighborhood youth and community organizations.[26] Since 2012 Vision To Learn has helped more than 100,000[27] school kids with free eye exams and glasses.

Beutner serves on the board of trustees and former chairman of the board of the California Institute of the Arts, chairman of the board of directors of The Broad Stage, chairman of the Governor's Council on Physical Fitness & Sports and co-chairman of the CalArts Community Arts Partnership. He is also chairman and founder of the Mammoth Mountain Community Foundation. Additionally, he serves on the boards of directors of Autism Care & Treatment Today! and Inner City Education Foundation for Public Schools. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. In March 2016, Beutner signed an amicus brief in support of The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) expansion and the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) which would provide relief for millions of immigrant families and their communities.[28] In July 2017, Buetner created a task force for the Los Angeles Unified School District to look for solutions for declining attendance and other problems. Beutner co-chairs the task force with SEIU President Lophanza Butler. "We are here to support Michelle King, and offer suggestions," Beutner said in an interview with LA School Report.[29] King stated that she is "excited and energized by the opportunity to collaborate with these community partners in the bold and transformative work of educating our future leaders."[30]

On April 25, 2018, Beutner along with music mogul, producer and rapper Percy "Master P" Miller and his non-profit Team Hope NOLA, led a four-state tour to provide free eye exams and glasses to children in Atlanta; Charlotte, N.C.; Jackson, Miss.; and New Orleans. Beutner and Miller visited four schools on the trip, all of which demonstrate the need. 46% of kids at a middle school in Atlanta needed glasses and did not have them, 16% at an elementary school in Charlotte, 16% at an elementary school in New Orleans, and 21% at an elementary school in Jackson.

In March 2013, a group led by Beutner and Eli Broad announced their intent to purchase the Los Angeles Times from its parent Tribune Publishing.[31] They were unsuccessful.

In 2014, Beutner took over as publisher and CEO of the Los Angeles Times when Eddy Hartenstein left to become the non-executive chairman of the board of Tribune Publishing.[32] When Tribune Publishing acquired the San Diego Union-Tribune in 2015, Beutner was named its CEO and publisher, as well as CEO of the newly formed California News Group.[33]

He was fired as publisher and chief executive officer of the Los Angeles Times on September 8, 2015. He wrote on Facebook that the dismissal was not voluntary: "I am not departing by choice, nor is this some 'mutual agreement' on my part and Tribune Publishing".[34]

In 2015, more than 50 community leaders protested Beutner's firing, including philanthropists, business leaders and two former Los Angeles mayors.[35][36] Media analyst Ken Doctor called Beutner's departure "a small tragedy for American journalism.[37]" Tom Johnson, former publisher of the LA Times, wrote "To see Beutner's leadership abruptly ended by Tribune is both tragic and very sad. Reversing the dynamic momentum Beutner had ignited is reprehensible."[38]

During Beutner's 13 months as publisher, the Times won two Pulitzer Prizes — for cultural criticism and for feature writing — along with other national journalism awards for coverage of the California drought, the plight of Mexican farm workers and other stories. The California Newspaper Publishers Association awarded the Times its 2015 general excellence award.[39]

In 2016, Beutner was invited to speak about the role of the media in homeland security and his experiences in the media and public service at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security.[40] His keynote address[41] was published in Watermark, the quarterly magazine of the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School – Center for Homeland Defense and Security.

In September 2017, Beutner was the keynote speaker of the Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Officers Association[42] and United Firefighters of Los Angeles City[43] first Leadership Symposium.[44]

In 2018, the Los Angeles Downtown News[45] journal recognized Beutner "as a visionary with extensive political and business connections."

Current boards:

• Chairman and founder, Vision To Learn (March 2012 – present)
• Chairman and founder, Mammoth Mountain Community Foundation (2009 – present)
• Granada Hills Charter High School Education Foundation (2012 – present)
• Hopkins Center for the Arts Board of Overseers, Dartmouth College (March 2013 -
• National Park Foundation (July 2015 – present/2021)
• The Nature Conservancy (February 2013 – present)
• The Pacific Council on International Relations (2013 – present)
• U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team Foundation (March 2014 – present)

Past board affiliations:

• Chairman of the board of trustees, California Institute of the Arts (CalArts)
• Chairman, The Broad Stage
• Chairman, Carlthorp School
• Chairman, California Governor's Council of Physical Fitness and Sports
• ACT Today!
• Inner City Education Foundation
• The Los Angeles Fund for Public Education