Department Commission

The Los Angeles City Tourism Board of Commissioners is composed of five members appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the City Council.

The Board of Commissioners is responsible for: 1) advising the Mayor and City Council on tourism, marketing the City, and Convention Center business and operations; 2) directing the Executive Director and overseeing contracts with the private operator and convention and visitor's bureau; 3) advising on matters related to developing a strategic plan for tourism and hotel development; and 4) providing recommendations on rates.

Notice to City Tourism Department Industry Professionals

If you are compensated to interact with the City Tourism Department, City law may require you to register as a lobbyist and report your activity. Any individual may qualify as a lobbyist, regardless of occupation, education, training, or professional title. A lobbyist may hold a position that includes but is not limited to attorney, CEO, consultant, government liaison, business owner, permit applicant, engineer, expediter, land developer, festival and event servicers, mobility and accommodation servicers, destination programmers, architects, entertainment managers, various real estate professionals and others.

More information is available online through the Ethics Commission’s lobbying program and publication pages. For assistance, please contact the Ethics Commission.

The Board meets on the first and third Wednesdays of every month at 9:00am. Please refer to the meeting agendas below for information on how to attend Board meetings.

2022 Board Meetings Calendar

Meeting Agendas and Minutes

Jon F. Vein, President

Jon Vein is an entrepreneur, civic leader and philanthropist. Jon co-founded and served as the CEO of MarketShare, a leading cloud-based, big data marketing analytics and software company. With eight offices around the world, MarketShare had a significant impact on allocating over $200 billion in marketing investments for more than half of the Fortune 50 companies. In 2016, after MarketShare was acquired by Neustar, Mr. Vein moved on to pursue other endeavors in the public and private sectors. In 2016 and 2017, Jon was recognized as one of the 500 Most Influential People in Los Angeles by The Los Angeles Business Journal, and he was a winner of the 2016 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Prior to MarketShare, Jon served as Chief Operating Officer of Michael Ovitz's AMG (Artists Management Group) and APG (Artists Production Group), overseeing all divisions, including talent, animation, sports, music, publishing and feature film production. Before joining AMG/APG, he was Chief Operating Officer of Film Roman, the premier independent animation production company in the United States.

An Emmy Award winner, Jon produced many film and television projects, including King of the Hill, The Simpsons, and the acclaimed Swimming with Sharks. Jon started his entertainment career as a founding partner of noted entertainment law firm Dern & Vein.

Jon serves on the boards of many other organizations, including the US Fund for UNICEF’s Southern California Region, the California Science Center and the California Cultural and Historic Endowment. Jon graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a B.S., double-majoring in Material Sciences and Engineering and Electrical Engineering-Computer Science with high honors, and received his J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School.

Otto Padron

Otto Padron is President and COO of Meruelo Media Holding, LLC based in Los Angeles, California. His wide experience, leadership and vision was instrumental in the ratings and financial turnaround of this iconic broadcast TV station, KWHY 22 (Canal 22) as well as the station’s successful alignment to the Spanish language network, MundoFOX in August 2012. Before joining the Meruelo Media team, Commissioner Padron founded OTV Creative offering production, operation and general consulting services in the areas of entertainment, intellectual property content creation and broadcast management.

As the only executive to have successfully headed programming for both major US Spanish language networks, Univision and Telemundo, Commissioner Padron brings an experienced perspective and matchless insight into the Hispanic viewer profile, content and cultural preferences. Commissioner Padron is a graduate of Florida International University’s Chapman School of Business, a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army Reserve, and an Iraq combat veteran.

Bricia Lopez

Bricia Lopez is a restauranteur, cultural ambassador, and a key figure in Los Angeles’ gastronomic scene. Through her family’s James Beard award-winning restaurant, Guelaguetza in Los Angeles’s Koreatown she and her siblings have put Oaxacan cuisine and culture at the forefront of today’s dynamic culinary scene. Her influence extends to the beverage industry too. The New Yorker called Bricia the “Queen of Mezcal and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti declared her the official “Mezcalera” of the City of Los Angeles. Her cookbook - Oaxaca, Home Cooking from the heart of Mexico - is set to publish in the fall of 2019.

More recently she expanded her success into the digital world by launching The Super Mamas Podcast with her sister, Paulina that has become a lifestyle media company, complete with annual events, and corporate partnerships with major brands like Target, Delta, and AT&T.

Bricia and her siblings also launched an online shop where they sell their bottled mole paste and proprietary cocktail mix, I Love Micheladas. Their products can be found in hundreds of retailers across California.

Bricia has been featured in several prominent press outlets, including Conde Nast Traveler, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Forbes, Food & Wine, Los Angeles Magazine, Los Angeles Times, Sunset Magazine, GQ and The Ringer.

She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and son and travels frequently to Oaxaca.

David W. Stone

David Stone is the co-founder of the boutique entertainment industry management firm, TFC Management. He started his career as an agent at the famed William Morris Agency where he grew from a young associate to senior partner at WME (William Morris Endeavor) before departing to launch his own firm. His clients include some of the preeminent writers, creators and producers in the world of entertainment.

David grew up in Pasadena, California and attended Wesleyan University where he double majored in English Literature and Film Studies. While there he served as the Chair of the Student Judicial Board and the Captain of the Men’s Soccer Team. David later received his MFA from the University of Southern California, Peter Stark Producers Program in the Film School. Prior to starting in the agency business, David interned at both CNN and the Sundance Institute and worked in the independent film production world.

David currently serves on the Wesleyan University President’s Advisory Council and has continued in his role as an Adjunct Professor in the University of Southern California Film School. David was honored by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society as the LLS 2016 Man of the Year for the Los Angeles Chapter.

He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Natalie, his daughter Ella, and his son Benton.

Germonique R. Ulmer

Germonique R. Ulmer is the managing director of social impact for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles where she drives the museum’s community engagement, audience development and government affairs efforts. As a public affairs professional with a deep commitment to building stronger communities, she has spent her career working to advance equality and justice working for national organizations and within local government.

While serving as vice president of public affairs at the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Washington, DC, Germonique led communications strategies demonstrating the unique role older buildings play in driving cultural tourism and lifting local economies while also working to increase the recognition of historic sites that represent the stories of underrepresented communities. She has led national strategic communications campaigns advocating for social and economic justice while with the Center for Community Change. As the deputy press secretary in the executive office of the former Mayor of Washington, DC, she had a front row seat to the significant redevelopment and economic growth in our nation’s capital.

Germonique has served on nonprofit boards, volunteered on a U.S. presidential campaign and is a founding board member of a DC public charter school for journalism and media arts. She has served as a university guest lecturer and holds a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism and Film from the University of Georgia and a M.A. in Journalism and Public Affairs from American University. She lives in the San Fernando Valley with her husband, Kwame Ulmer, and their two children.