Lou Giraudo

It is difficult to summarize the vast contributions Lou Giraudo has made to the companies he has led, to the civic organizations he has guided and, more broadly, to the San Francisco community of which Lou and his family have been an integral part for over 75 years.  A supremely accomplished business executive, Lou has transformed and grown companies as diverse as Pabst Brewing Company, Andre Boudin Bakeries, Inc., The Save Mart Companies, Inc. and Asentia Winery Group.  Lou’s model for the success of these companies has always focused on reinvigorating historic brands in organic, thoughtful and authentic ways.  Lou also presently serves on the Executive Committee of the Golden State Warriors NBA basketball team, where he was part of the leadership group that guided the relocation of the team to its current venue in Mission Bay.

Lou’s heart and soul have always been in his civic and charitable activities.  He has served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of San Francisco, as a member of the Board of Regents of St. Ignatius College Preparatory High School, and as a trustee of the Kalmanovitz Public Charitable Trust.  He has served as President of the San Francisco Police Commission, President of the Public Utilities Commission and President of the San Francisco Board of Permit Appeals.  Over the course of a long career, Lou has on many occasions volunteered his time in public service to mediate a broad array of public sector contract, labor and political disputes, including the mediation of a political stalemate that led to the approval of two new hospitals in San Francisco in 2013.

For the past 20 years, Lou and his wife Suzanne have been major supporters of an institution that truly reflects Lou’s values.  He and Suzanne were founders of De Marillac Academy, an independent, tuition-free Catholic school for the underserved children, youth and families of the Tenderloin and surrounding communities.  De Marillac helps to set young people on a path to success in life that they might otherwise never have imagined.  Lou has predicated his life’s work on the importance of giving back to the city and the communities that have sustained him and his family.

As a lifelong denizen and devotee of San Francisco, Lou’s affinity for Fisherman’s Wharf derives from enduring memories and a practiced sense of the critical importance it holds for the future vitality of the greater city.  Lou’s long-standing commitment to the wharf is no better evidenced than by his complete renovation of the Boudin bakery on Jefferson Street – the largest private sector investment in the wharf in the past twenty-five years.  Lou developed the vision for creating a bakery production facility “on display” that would capture the interest of all visitors, a bustling Bakers Mall and Market, and an upstairs bistro.  The facility is the heart of Fisherman’s Wharf today, and it is the team’s ambition to activate similar concepts and strategies for the benefit of the entire wharf.