San Jose Downtown Association names new CEO

He’s Swiss born, an avid cyclist and is moving into the heart of San Jose. He’s also an expert on business improvement districts, marketing, business retention and support for the arts.

Alex Stettinski, a native of Geneva, is the new CEO of the San Jose Downtown Association, the San Jose Mercury News reported. Stettinski replaces outgoing CEO Scott Knies, who is stepping down after 34 years with the advocacy group.

Stettinski will also manage the city’s Property Based Improvement District, an agency financed by thousands of local property owners that works to clean up downtown streets. He’ll also head the San Jose Downtown Foundation, which decorates doors and utility boxes with student art.

The executive director of Downtown Reno Partnership was hired from among nearly four dozen candidates after a six-month national search.

“When I walk the streets of downtown San Jose, I see so much potential, and I believe I will bring a fresh outlook to problem-solving and placemaking,” said Stettinski, who moved to California in 1989 to attend graduate school at UC Berkeley.

The search committee was drawn to Stettinski’s success with business improvement districts, along with his focus on marketing, business retention and support for the arts, said Alan “Gumby” Marques, president of the San Jose Downtown Association board.

Stettinski took the reins of the Downtown Reno Partnership when the business improvement district was founded in 2018.

He previously served as executive director of the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce and was vice president of operations and strategic planning for Visit West Hollywood. He also spent six years as executive director of the Avenues of Art & Design, now known as the West Hollywood Design District.

“The committee was particularly interested in learning of a Clean and Safe program Alex built in Reno which brought various community leaders together to identify compassionate and award-winning solutions to homelessness,” Marques said.

The San Jose Downtown Association, founded in 1986, now represents more than 2,000 businesses. Knies was hired as its first executive director two years later after the creation of its business improvement district, which collects fees from property owners to pay for local economic upgrades.

Its successes include the summer Music in the Park series, the Downtown Ice Skating Rink, the outdoor movie series Starlight Cinemas, the Downtown Farmers Market and the Dine Downtown restaurant week, which starts July 21 this year.

Also, the Downtown Association has curated more than 100 murals downtown, created dog parks, and last year helped create the SoFA Pocket Park, in association with Veggielution and the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, in a rundown former parking lot on South First Street.

[San Jose Mercury News] — Dana Bartholomew

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