Candidate for
Council Member; City of Los Angeles; District 4

David's family first settled in the neighborhoods just south of Los Feliz. He majored in economics at UCLA; studied Public Policy and Administration at Rutgers; won a prestigious United Nations graduate internship; and was a Netkal Fellow at USC's School of Social Work.

David is Director of Development and Public Affairs at one of LA's largest non-profit health care providers: Kedren Acute Psychiatric Hospital and Community Health Center. Part of his work is building professional coalitions to address public issues from healthcare access to chronic homelessness. A skilled organizer and mediator, David has the ability to bring people together, and a track record of success in doing so.

Although he's never been part of the crowd at City Hall, David knows public policy and public budgets. As Senior Deputy to County Supervisor Yvonne Burke, he worked for years on issues like public health, housing, children and family services, transportation, and senior services. He helped oversee the County budget, and worked for a time as a Special Investigator for the Auditor-Controller, rooting out waste and fraudulent expenditures.

David serves on LA's Wilshire Center-Koreatown Neighborhood Council (WCKNC). He is Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky's appointee to LA County's Consumer Affairs Advisory Commission and Speaker Emeritus John Pérez's appointee to the California State Health Professions Education Foundation Board of Trustees. He's President of the UCLA Asian Pacific Alumni Assn., and Board Member for the Anti-Defamation League, Asian Business Assn., Korean American Scholarship Foundation, and LA County Library Foundation.

In this diverse city, David Ryu stands out for his ability to work successfully across ethnic and community lines. He brings people together to get things done + just the kind of effective, independent leadership we need on the City Council.