As the Former Mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa is a respected voice in politics and a prominent policymaker with a keen understanding of America’s mainstream and emerging communities. During his two terms as mayor, Villaraigosa worked for eight years to make major strides in transportation, crime reduction, infrastructure, energy and resource sustainability, right-sizing government, business development and education reform. He came to the mayor’s office with a breadth of experience, having served as a member of the Los Angeles City Council and as well as on the California State Assembly as Democratic Whip, Majority Leader and Speaker of the Assembly. Using his expertise in the political sphere, in June of 2016 Villaraigosa launched Building Bridges, Not Walls, a new voter activation committee designed to empower Californians to engage in the national political process in advance of the November 2016 General Election. In 2018 he declared that he was a candidate for Governor of California.

Villaraigosa was a member of President Obama’s Transition Economic Advisory Board and was the 2012 Chairman of the Democratic National Convention. He has served in academia, as a fellow at Harvard University and a professor in public policy at the University of Southern California.