Los Angeles is one of the most extraordinary cities in the world. We are the global capital of entertainment and creativity. Home to innovators, entrepreneurs, immigrants, workers, artists, and dreamers from every corner of the globe. We have enormous advantages: talent, diversity, natural beauty, world-class industries, and one of the largest economies anywhere.
But too many Angelenos feel this city is becoming harder to afford, harder to navigate, and harder to believe in.
Families are struggling with the cost of housing. Businesses are leaving. Neighborhoods are lined with empty storefronts. Homeless encampments are everywhere despite billions in spending. Public safety concerns continue to rise. Basic services have become unreliable. Rebuilding after the fires has moved too slowly. City Hall has become disconnected from the realities of daily life.
I refuse to believe that this is as good as it gets.
The core issue facing LA isn’t resources. It’s a failure of execution, accountability, and leadership.
That’s why I decided to run for mayor.
I am not a career politician. I’m the only candidate with both public-company and nonprofit CEO experience. For 35 years, I’ve led organizations through growth, crises, and complex challenges where people depended on real solutions, not excuses.
I built the largest education software company in the world, Cornerstone, here in Los Angeles where I served as CEO for 20 years, including a decade leading it as a publicly traded company. I grew it from my one-bedroom apartment into a multinational corporation with thousands of employees serving millions of people across the globe.
As Chairman of Team Rubicon for nearly a decade, I helped scale it into the largest veteran-led global disaster response organization powered by 180,000 volunteers — including 30,000 in southern California.
Through my nonprofit Better Angels, we’ve prevented 4,500 Angelenos from becoming homeless, served 15,000 unhoused, and are developing affordable housing at a fraction of the city’s cost and timeline. We rapidly built a wildfire relief navigator platform to help 5,000 displaced residents access critical resources in one place because they needed action, not bureaucracy.
Through my internship initiative at LATech.org, we created over 2,000 internships and career pathways into the tech sector for young Angelenos in underserved communities.
Throughout my career, I’ve believed leadership means stepping forward when problems need solving — not waiting for someone else to act. That’s the mindset I’ll bring to City Hall.
It starts with accountability. Residents should know whether streets are being cleaned, permits are being processed, housing is being built, or encampments are being resolved. City Hall should not operate like a black box. If you can track your Uber, you should be able to track what the government is doing with your tax dollars.
But accountability alone isn’t enough. We also need to restore confidence in LA as a place where businesses, jobs, and families can thrive again. That means making it easier to open a business, build housing, create jobs, and bring production back to the entertainment capital of the world. It means safer and cleaner neighborhoods, faster permitting, and leadership that treats urgency like urgency. My 7×7 Plan outlines how we can begin making City Hall work better from Day One in my administration.
Los Angeles is the second-largest city in America, with a budget larger than many states and millions of residents relying on basic services every day. Managing a city of this scale requires more than slogans, outrage or ideology — it requires serious executive leadership. Yet too many Angelenos feel forced to choose between the political establishment and an outsider unprepared for the magnitude of this job.
But there is another choice: proven leadership with real-world experience, accountability, and a record of results.
I understand why many Angelenos feel frustrated, cynical, or checked out. After years of rising costs, homelessness, bureaucracy, and broken promises, people have stopped expecting the government to solve problems.
But we cannot afford to give up on this city.
Los Angeles has always been a place of possibility, where people came to build, create, and pursue a better future.
I went to school here. Started multiple businesses here. Raised my kids here. Coached 21 AYSO teams here. This city has given me incredible opportunities. I want future generations to feel that same sense of possibility.
I still believe in that version of LA. But restoring it requires leadership willing to challenge the status quo, move with urgency, and focus relentlessly on results.
That’s the difference I will bring to City Hall.
Los Angeles should not just be surviving. It should be thriving. This city is too important to settle for dysfunction, spectacle, or more of the same. Join me, and we will make LA as amazing as it should be.
Adam Miller is a candidate for mayor of Los Angeles.