EVENT NOTICE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATE: June 6, 2011 CONTACT: Michelle Long-Coffee, Dir. PR & Advertising (310) 287-4597 | [email protected] 9000 Overland Ave. - Culver City, CA 90230 MAYORAL HOPEFUL TO SPEAK AT WLAC’S 43rd COMMENCEMENT Former First Deputy Mayor Austin Beutner To Address Graduates Austin Beutner, Former First Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles, will address the West Los Angeles College class of 2011 at commencement on Wednesday, June 8 at 5:00 p.m. The ceremony will be held on the campus athletic field. Beutner recently resigned his position as First Deputy Mayor to explore a run for the office of Los Angeles Mayor when current Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa finishes his final term in 2013. He has already received an endorsement from former Mayor Richard Riordan. Currently, he serves as Chairman of the Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Commission on the Downtown Events Center, Chairman of the Board of Trustees for CalArts, Chairman of the Board of Directors for The Broad Stage, Chairman of the Governor’s Council on Sports and Physical Fitness, Co-Chairman of the CalArts Community Arts Partnership and Chairman of the Mammoth Mountain Community Foundation. Beutner co-founded Evercore, a powerhouse investment and advisory firm with offices across the country and in London and Mexico. Prior accomplishments include being the youngest person, at age 29, to become a partner at The Blackstone Group, one of the world’s leading advisory firms. He also served the U.S. State Department in Russia during the Clinton Administration. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he led a team that helped the new Russia transition to a market economy. Committed to building a stronger Los Angeles, Mr. Beutner accepted a full-time position as the City’s First Deputy Mayor and Chief Executive for the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Business Policy for a salary of $1.00 per year. During his tenure, he dedicated himself to bringing an innovative “doing-more-with-less” approach to solving some of the City’s largest economic problems. West Los Angeles College, an accredited community college located just south of Overland and Jefferson, has been providing excellent university transfer and career training programs to the community for over 40 years. For more information on “West,” visit www.wlac.edu. ### .