Member Spotlight: Fesia Davenport, Chief Executive Officer, County of Los Angeles
Fesia Davenport was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Los Angeles County in January 2021. She is responsible for managing the strategic direction and day-to-day operations of the nation’s largest county government, including the oversight of Los Angeles County’s $46 billion- plus budget and coordinating implementation of key priorities of the Board of Supervisors.
In a County career spanning more than two decades, she has successfully facilitated cross-departmental, public-private, and intergovernmental collaborative efforts aimed at implementing a range of major initiatives involving data sharing to prevent homelessness and track outcomes for justice involved individuals, probation reform, and providing legal defense services for undocumented residents at risk of imminent removal. She also played a leadership role in the launch of several new organizational units within the County, including the Office of Child Protection, the Center for Strategic Partnerships, the Office of Immigrant Affairs, the Chief Sustainability Office and the Women and Girls Initiative.
As Chief Executive Officer, under the direction of the Board of Supervisors, she has led LA County’s response to and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic across multiple departments, overseeing $1.22 billion in CARES Act funding and $1.9 billion in American Rescue Plan Act funding to bring urgently needed equity-focused assistance to residents, small businesses and hard-hit communities. She is responsible for leading the County in carrying out a series of transformative Board-directed initiatives, including the Anti-Racism, Diversity and Inclusion Initiative and the Poverty Alleviation Initiative, both housed in the CEO’s office.
At the Board’s direction, she coordinated across multiple County departments in a successful landmark effort to return the valuable oceanfront property known as Bruce’s Beach to the rightful descendants of the family that had been wrongfully stripped of their property 100 years ago. CEO Davenport has also been instrumental in establishing the Board’s Care First, Jails Last vision as a budgetary and operational policy, and in assisting with the launch of an unprecedented four new County departments in a single year.
The LAEDC is grateful to have CEO Davenport as an LAEDC member, and we look forward to continued partnership as we work to champion equitable economic growth across Los Angeles County. Recently CEO Davenport spoke to our board at Board of Governors meeting on the importance of economic development in the County.
Membership with the LAEDC directly supports our mission. It allows you to partner with like-minded organizations and an expert team of economic development professionals and economists to promote innovation around economic and workforce development, small business assistance, and Los Angeles’ leading and emerging industry clusters.