ROCKARD DELGADILLO
City Attorney, City of Los Angeles
Degrees: A.B. Harvard ‘82; J.D. Columbia ‘86.
Harvard–related activities: related activities: Elected Director, HAA 2005- present; Harvard Club of LA, ongoing; Football Team (1978-82) (Academic All-American and Honorable Mention All-American 1980-81); Baseball Team (1979-80); Track & Field (1980-82); Big Brother (1981-82).
Achievements and Honors: Hispanic Business Magazine “The 100 Influentials,” (2004); Greater LA African American Chamber of Commerce Community Service Award, (2004); Hispanic National Bar Association Latino Lawyer of the Year, (2003); Para Los Niños Amigo Award, (2002); Challenger’s Boys and Girls Club Service Award, (2002); Columbia University Medal of Excellence, (1998); LA Business Journal Government Official of the Year, (1996); Harvard University Robert F. Kennedy Award, (1982).
Major Charitable or Other Activities: Honorary Chairman, Raising Excellence and Children’s Hope; Chairman of the Board, Franklin High School Educational Foundation, Volunteer, Catholic Big Brothers of America.
Greatest Personal Rewards and/or Reflections on Harvard: My time at Harvard taught me that we all belong to a community greater than ourselves. Therefore, those of us with the privilege of being educated at institutions like Harvard must give back to those less fortunate, whether through public service or private action. What follows are my reflections on how I have tried to “give back.” After completing my education, I went to work as an attorney in the Los Angeles office of O’Melveny & Myers, where I had the great fortune calling Warren Christopher my mentor. It was an amazing experience, but I hungered for something more. I realized what that something was in April 1992, when I saw my City, my home, being consumed by civil unrest, fire, and racial strife. So I left the firm to become the Director of Business Development for Rebuild LA, a non-profit formed to bring investment into neighborhoods ravaged by the unrest. From there, I become the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development under former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan. For nine years, these jobs provided me the opportunity to restore my City’s economic vitality and bring jobs back to the poorer communities. I worked hard to convince corporations to invest in places like South LA we had many economic successes over those years with more than twenty billion dollars in new investment.. But it wasn’t enough. You see, I could convince the investors on a spread-sheet and in the board room that money could be made in the inner-city. But then, as was often the case, they wanted to be taken there. And when they saw the control that gangs and violence had on certain neighborhoods, many of them never returned. Which is why, when the opportunity to become City Attorney presented itself, I seized it. I realized, as City Attorney, I could take on the demons that plague our community and really, truly have a positive impact on people’s lives. I realized that by removing the gangs, and returning neighborhoods to the people, investment, jobs and vitality would come soon thereafter. The forces of bigotry, apathy, poverty and hate are always standing by, waiting to turn back the clock on each and every one of us. We can sit around complacently and let them take the fight to us, or we can take the fight to them.