User:Rhi.taggart/sandbox

Emanuel A. Pleitez (born December 15, 1982) is a 2013 mayoral candidate for the city of Los Angeles. He was born and raised in South and East LA, and was the first of his family to attend college, graduating from Stanford in 2006. He is currently the Chief Strategy Officer of Spokeo, an LA-based tech company.

Early Life and Education
Pleitez was born in South Los Angeles and raised in the Eastside neighborhood of El Sereno. He is the son of Mexican and Salvadoran immigrants, but was brought up along with his younger sister by their single mother.

He attended Woodrow Wilson High School in El Sereno and earned 19 varsity letters as well as several academic scholarships. He went on to study at Stanford University.

During his time at Stanford Pleitez was involved in many student groups, including the Hispanic Undergraduate Business Association, ASSU student government, and Alpha Kappa Psi, a professional business fraternity. He also took time off from school to work in the political field; he served as a field organizer on John Kerry’s presidential campaign, as well as the Special Assistant to then councilman Antonio Villaraigosa during the councilman’s 2005 mayoral race.

While at Stanford, Pleitez was honored with the Jerry I. Porras Visionary Leadership Award and the Cecilia and Tony Burciaga Community Development award. He graduated from Stanford with a B.A. in Urban Studies in 2006.

Career
Beginning in 2007 Pleitez worked as a Financial Analyst at Goldman Sachs. He left Goldman Sachs when President Obama was elected in 2008, after being selected to serve as a member of the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team. He worked specifically on Treasury Department Agency Review. Following the presidential transition, Pleitez ran for Congressional Representative of the 32nd District of California against incumbent Gil Cedillo and Judy Chu.

After the congressional campaign (which ended in May 2009), Pleitez was appointed to the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board (PERAB) as Special Assistant to Chairman Paul Volcker. There, he a "delivered recommendations to President Obama on workforce development, tax reform, financial regulatory reform, infrastructure financing, and residential retrofitting."

In August of 2010 Pleitez went on to work as a Management Consultant in the Los Angeles office of McKinsey and Company. He left McKinsey and Company in February 2012 to accept his current position of Chief Strategy Officer of Spokeo, a privately held tech company based in Pasadena.

Non-profit Work
Emanuel Pleitez has been involved in many non-profits. While in school at Stanford he was the program coordinator for El Centro Chicano. From April 2006 – January 2007 he served as a Leadership Network Developer at the Hispanic Heritage Foundation. He currently serves as the Chair of the LOFT Institute. In 2008 he became the Board of Directors Chair for the Salvadoran American Leadership and Educational Fund (SALEF), a position he still retains. In 2009 he volunteered as a Development Assistant with the United Farm Workers Foundation.

In 2011 Pleitez founded Inspira, a web series featuring inspirational stories of Latino leaders. He currently serves as the Executive producer and Host alongside Gabriela Fresquez. He also serves as an advisor to various non-profits, including LA CAUSA, New Leaders Council, No Labels , and the Woodrow Wilson High School Alumni Foundation.

2013 Los Angeles Mayoral Election
Pleitez announced his mayoral candidacy early in July of 2012. He cites a “void in the field of candidates” as well as a desire to “inspire and reenergize LA” and to ” represent those voices asking for integrity, hard work, and fair representation of all Angelenos” as some of his reasons for running.

Personal Life
Emanuel Pleitez married his wife Rebecca in 2010 after meeting her in Washington DC.