Penn alumnus and former University Vice President Pedro Ramos has been appointed managing director for the City of Philadelphia, the second most important post in the city according to the city charter.
Ramos will be the highest ranking Latino official in the history of Philadelphia government.
"The best person for the job was unquestionably Pedro Ramos," said Deborah Bolling, a spokeswoman for Mayor John Street. "He is incredibly intelligent. Pedro has been a very strong ally of this administration."
Ramos' predecessor, Phil Goldsmith, submitted his letter of resignation in January and will officially leave in April.
As managing director, Ramos will be charged with coordinating operations between all city departments.
Ramos comes to the job with an impressive resume. For the last year, Ramos has served as city solicitor. From 2002 to 2004, he worked at Penn as a vice president and chief of staff. Previously, he had been president of the Philadelphia Board of Education and a partner at a local law firm.
"I just try to focus and work hard on what I'm doing, and I've been very lucky that these opportunities have come my way," Ramos said.
But with Philadelphia's current fiscal difficulties, Ramos faces some tough struggles.
"Given the city's fiscal predicament, the challenge continues to be to try to maintain services with fewer resources," Ramos said, adding that "the number of city employees is at a 40 to 60 year low."
Street has announced that there will likely be even more city jobs cut this year.
Ramos hopes to make the city's operating departments -- which can often trap citizens in a maze of bureaucracy -- more customer-friendly and efficient. A social services project is under way with plans to create a data warehouse cutting across departments. He also hopes to continue a reducing employee overtime hours as much as possible, which was one of Goldsmith's main goals.
Ramos graduated from the College in 1987 with a degree in urban studies. While at Penn, he was president of the Latino Students Association and chairman of the United Minorities Council. He also wrote a weekly column for The Daily Pennsylvanian.
A native Philadelphian, Ramos was the oldest son of two Puerto Rican immigrants. He grew up in a rough North Philadelphia neighborhood, later attending Central High School.
