Julie Gutman, Esq., Born and raised in Chicago, Gutman received her Jurisprudence Degree from Stanford Law School. As Board of Public Works Commissioner and Senior Labor Advisor to Mayor Villaraigosa since July 2007, Gutman has worked diligently to promote good jobs, workforce development programs, and labor harmony. She will join PTV this May as our new Executive Director. (For full biography see below)

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Press Contact:
Marc Willams
(323) 821-4333
3655 Grand Ave, Suite 290
Los Angeles, CA, 90007

April 16, 2010

JULIE GUTMAN, COMMISSIONER AND SENIOR ADVISOR TO MAYOR VILLARAIGOSA, NAMED EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF “PROGRAM FOR TORTURE VICTIMS,” THE FIRST HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATION OF ITS KIND IN THE COUNTRY

Gutman, an attorney with a long track record of social justice work, brings wealth of talents to lead human rights organization.

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Program for Torture Victims (PTV) today announced that Julie B. Gutman, a distinguished lawyer and tenacious advocate for justice, will be its new Executive Director.

As the new executive director, Gutman will direct a strategic planning process and lead an effort to raise visibility, funds, and resources for this 30-year human rights organization dedicated to helping survivors of state sponsored torture and working toward a future without torture.

“Julie Gutman is a mover and shaker and we are thrilled that she will take the helm at PTV,” Niels Frenzen, President of the Program for Torture Victims Board of Directors and Clinical Professor of Law at University of Southern California’s Gould School of Law, said.

“Her leadership is invaluable at this critical time for immigrants and survivors of state sponsored torture. The Board could not ask for a more talented, accomplished, and passionate individual, with a history of working vigorously for people living on the margins. We are looking forward to a great future under her leadership as we work together to advance and expand the mission of PTV.”

A Mayoral appointee, Gutman currently serves as Vice-President of the City of Los Angeles Board of Public Works Commission and Senior Labor Advisor to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. A complete biography is attached.

Gutman will occupy her new post at PTV beginning in mid-May.

“As my trusted advisor, Julie worked tirelessly on behalf of those in need by promoting workforce development initiatives to create good middle class jobs,” Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said. “Julie possesses the rare combination of a devoted public servant and a smart, savvy lawyer. Her relentless advocacy helped the city avert major strikes while mediating mutually beneficial labor-management agreements for a myriad of workforce sectors including security officers, janitors, bus drivers, trash and recycling employees, airport service workers and utility workers,” Mayor Villaraigosa added.

State Assembly Speaker John A. Perez, whose assembly district is home to PTV, said he first worked with Gutman when she was a trial attorney at the National Labor Relations Board, where she had the reputation for being “a brilliant and zealous advocate for worker and immigrant rights.”

“Julie is an outstanding choice for this position. She is a dynamic and effective leader, the kind who inspires trust and confidence. She brings to this position her intelligence and savvy, and an unsurpassed ability to bring people together to find the most effective outcomes. I am so proud of her, and confident that she will excel as Executive Director of PTV,” Speaker Perez added.

Founded 30 years ago by two international pioneers in torture treatment – Ana Deutsch, MFT, and Jose Quiroga, MD – PTV provides psychological, medical, asylum trial preparation, and case management services to survivors of statesponsored torture from over 65 countries.

The first human rights program of its kind in the country, PTV is the only torture treatment program in the greater Los Angeles area, a region that is home to the largest population of refugees, asylum seekers, and torture survivors in the United States. PTV also engages in cutting edge research, trains attorneys, mental health professionals and physicians, and seeks to engage in greater outreach, public education and advocacy on the treatment and prevention of torture. PTV is located at El Mercado La Paloma in downtown Los Angeles.

“It has been an honor and privilege to serve Mayor Villaraigosa and I am looking forward to continuing the path of public service at PTV in Los Angeles, ‘the great city of second chances.’” Gutman said.

“The dedicated staff of PTV have worked valiantly for 30 years to provide a new lease on life for adults and children who have come to Los Angeles under the worst possible condition, as survivors of state-sponsored torture, oftentimes arriving with no home, no job, no health insurance, no family, and severely traumatized both physically and psychologically.”

“I will work with the Board and staff to take this heroic human rights organization to another level. We hope to decrease the backlog, promote innovative approaches to individual and group services, collaborate with our allies on outreach, education and advocacy for the prevention and treatment of torture, support torture survivors in the asylum process, and foster their re-entry into society and the workforce, restoring human dignity to shattered lives.”

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Julie B. Gutman Biography

As Board of Public Works Commissioner and Senior Labor Advisor to Mayor Villaraigosa since July 2007, Gutman has worked diligently to promote good jobs, workforce development programs, and labor harmony. She has represented the Mayor in bringing unions and private sector employers together, working around the clock to avert major strikes in Los Angeles and to mediate mutually beneficial collective-bargaining agreements, particularly in industries with workers living on the margins. Gutman has spearheaded legal, legislative, and administrative strategies to successfully strengthen and promote Los Angeles prevailing wage, living wage, and apprenticeship compliance programs as the model for the state. Recognizing that “nothing stops a bullet like a job,” she has also participated in developing groundbreaking construction careers policies and negotiating project labor agreements that provide for construction without work stoppages while also providing a pathway to good middle class jobs through local hire, job training, and apprenticeship opportunities to promote a strong and diverse local workforce.

Gutman’s commitment to social justice has been a career-long pursuit. After graduating from Stanford Law School, she founded a new practice at a community based law office in East Palo Alto, where she served as supervising attorney and community economic development director. While at the East Palo Alto Community Law Project, she successfully fought redevelopment projects that would have resulted in mass displacement of residents and businesses from a low-income, racially diverse community. Gutman worked to promote community preservation along with development, spearheading the formation of a local development corporation. She was appointed to the city’s economic development task force to analyze redevelopment projects and engage in master planning to leverage local, state and federal resources for housing and economic development.

For 10 years, Gutman served as a trial attorney at the National Labor Relations Board in Los Angeles, where she vigorously advocated for worker and immigrant rights. She was the only lawyer to achieve a 100% win record in voluminous unfair labor practices trials and federal district court injunction litigation, including injunctions against the mass discharge of low-income and immigrant workers. Winning annual outstanding performance awards, Gutman was selected as a model NLRB attorney to conduct training nationwide.

In addition, Gutman served as an adjunct faculty member at Stanford Law School, clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Stanley Weigel, and was awarded an American Bar Association fellowship. She is a fluent Spanish speaker who learned the language while doing human rights work in Guatemala. Gutman serves on the Advisory Board of the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy. She is also an active marathon runner, raising funds for good causes as she runs the roads, rivers, and reservoirs of Los Angeles and beyond.

Born and raised in Chicago, Gutman graduated Magna Cum Laude with bachelor’s degrees in History and Law & Society from Brown University. She received her J.D. from Stanford Law School.

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