2019 · while on Council
CEO · $78,740
Thomas Small is listed as Culver City Forward CEO, 40 hours per week: $77,724 reportable compensation plus $1,016 estimated other compensation.
One political network · Money + governance
Thomas Aujero Small
$300,865 paid by Culver City Forward, 2019–2021. IRS filings show Thomas Small serving as the nonprofit's paid CEO/President while he was still a Culver City councilmember, then as a director after leaving office. The same filings place real-estate investor Michael Hackman in senior governance roles and identify The Culver Studios, where Culver City Forward says Hackman had a business interest, as a contributor.
Follow the money
Paid nonprofit leadership while holding public office.
The filings document Thomas Small's compensation, board roles, a developer-linked contributor disclosure and a later personal loan from Thomas Small to the nonprofit. They raise questions readers can examine through the linked records; they do not by themselves establish wrongdoing.
Thomas Small's three-year compensation
$300,865
2019: $78,740 combined compensation · 2020: $182,292 reportable compensation · 2021: $39,833 reportable compensation.
2020 · while on Council
CEO / President · $182,292
Michael Hackman is Chairman; Kelly Kent is Secretary; Yolanda Gorman and Justinian Jampol are board members.
2021 · after Council
Director · $39,833
Thomas Small and Michael Hackman are directors; Kelly Kent remains Secretary; Yolanda Gorman is Co-Chair. Schedule L also reports a $10,000 loan from Thomas Small to Culver City Forward.
Hackman + Culver Studios
Governance + contributor link
Culver City Forward's 2020 Schedule O states that Michael Hackman had a business interest in The Culver Studios, a contributor to Culver City Forward.
2021 loan
Thomas Small → Culver City Forward · $10,000
Schedule L lists the loan to the organization; its supplemental statement says Thomas Small loaned Culver City Forward $10,000 in 2021.
Thomas Small + Kelly Kent
Recurring Culver City Forward governance
Kelly Kent appears beside Thomas Small in successive Culver City Forward IRS filings. In 2020, Thomas Small is CEO/President and Kelly Kent is Secretary while Michael Hackman is Chairman. In 2021, Thomas Small becomes a Director and Kelly Kent remains Secretary while Michael Hackman is also a Director and Yolanda Gorman is Co-Chair.
Source-linked Culver City public record
Thomas Aujero Small
Former Culver City councilmember and mayor; former Culver City Forward CEO
Public-record profile of Thomas Aujero Small: Culver City Council service, MOVE Culver City role, Culver City Forward compensation, regional transportation roles and 2026 campaign connections.
Documented record
- Served on the Culver City Council from 2016 through 2020 and as mayor in 2018–19.
- Was on the council that unanimously moved the MOVE Culver City quick-build pilot forward in 2020.
- Public tax filings identify him as Culver City Forward's compensated executive; a contemporary interview identified the organization as Michael Hackman's brainchild.
- VerdeXchange listed regional transportation-policy roles and recorded his tactical-urbanism panels.
- The supplied 2016 campaign filings reconcile to $27,587.30 in monetary and $2,335 in nonmonetary contributions; the two classes remain separate.
Primary and contemporaneous sources
Contribution dates.
- Aug 5, 2026 · PUZA FOR CITY COUNCIL 2026$1,160.00
File card
Money, groups, facts, sources.
Former Culver City councilmember and mayor; former Culver City Forward CEO
- See the linked record.
- PUZA FOR CITY COUNCIL 2026$1,160.00
- Served on the Culver City Council from 2016 through 2020 and as mayor in 2018–19.
- Was on the council that unanimously moved the MOVE Culver City quick-build pilot forward in 2020.
- Public tax filings identify him as Culver City Forward's compensated executive; a contemporary interview identified the organization as Michael Hackman's brainchild.
- VerdeXchange listed regional transportation-policy roles and recorded his tactical-urbanism panels.
- The supplied 2016 campaign filings reconcile to $27,587.30 in monetary and $2,335 in nonmonetary contributions; the two classes remain separate.
Relationships
Documented associations.
Source-linked organizations, endorsements, events, funding relationships and other connections involving this person.
candidate recipient
Small / VerdeXchange / Measure HLA donor network
Small's Form 497 reports $1,160 contributions on Aug. 13, 2026 from Todd Wexman, Yuval Bar Zemer and David Abel. Project research also connects all four through VerdeXchange; the VerdeXchange source should remain attached to this shared record.
Open shared record →participant
WFP convening and regional political relationships
Relationship: participant. Project records connect Bryan “Bubba” Fish to California Working Families Party activity and document a Fish social-media post identifying Fish, Stephanie Loredo, Thomas Small, Chelsea Byers and a Zohran Mamdani cardboard cutout in the same political/social context.
Open shared record →Organizations
Documented organization connections.
Organization records involving this person, including documented roles, campaign relationships and reporting relationships.
Campaign-finance relationships
Political contribution network.
Reported contribution links between this person and other political figures in the project database.
- Received from Alex Fisch — $1,160.00 Thomas Aujero Small for Culver City Council 2026
- Gave to Fred “Freddy” Puza — $1,160.00 PUZA FOR CITY COUNCIL 2026
Documented event crossover
2019 Mayors Innovation Project roster
The Winter 2019 Policy Meeting roster lists Thomas Small and Kate Stewart, who separately appears in the Vote16 Research Network directory. This establishes co-presence on the meeting roster only.
Cultural + architecture network
A documented overlap among political, architecture, cultural and civic institutions.
These relationships predate the 2026 campaign in many cases. Each link below states the relationship actually documented by the source.
Michael Webb
2016 political supporter → Jacaranda colleague → 2026 book co-author.
Jacaranda Music
Long-running Small leadership role connecting a substantial music/cultural advisory network.
Peter Sellars
Jacaranda Advisory Council + separately documented 2026 Small endorsement.
Whitney Sander
Architect of Small’s Residence for a Briard + listed 2016 supporter.
Thomas Mann House
U.S. Advisory Board + Culver City event + democracy-programming trail.
2026 book
Music and Architecture in Harmony, co-authored with Webb and published by ORO Editions.
Institutional roles
Regional planning, mobility and civic organizations
Culver City Forward
Public Thomas Mann House biography identifies Small as CEO of Culver City Forward.
LA Metro Sustainability Council
The same biography identifies Small as chair.
Urban Land Institute Los Angeles
The biography identifies Small as a member of ULI Los Angeles's Mobility Committee.
Source: Thomas Mann House governing-bodies biography. Culver City's mayoral title is a rotating City Council role, not a separately elected mayoral office.
Institutional + development network
Metro, ULI-LA and regional urban-policy connections
Small's public record links Culver City elected office and Culver City Forward to regional transportation, sustainability, land-use, real-estate and development institutions. The links below distinguish formal roles from event participation and policy statements.
LA Metro
Sustainability Council
2018: member and elected Chair.
2019–2021: documented Chair.
2025: documented Vice Chair.
Current roster: primary representative for Other (Small Cities), organization listed as Culver City.
Urban Land Institute
ULI Los Angeles
Public biographies identify Small as a Mobility Committee member. ULI-LA's FY24 Impact Report later lists Thomas Small — Culver City Forward on its Advisory Board as of June 30, 2024.
Development policy
TOD + public-private partnerships
Small's own 2018–19 remarks connect his Metro role to first/last-mile mobility, Hayden Tract businesses, Ivy Station, transit-oriented development, density, the General Plan and public-private partnerships.
Follow the connections
Regional institutional trail
Thomas Small → Metro Sustainability Council → Culver City mobility/TOD → ULI-LA Mobility Committee → ULI Futurebuild / VerdeXchange → ULI-LA Advisory Board → regional real-estate, development, public-agency and university network.
Ballona Creek trail
Thomas Small → Culver City Forward → Ballona Creek → Streets For All / Michael Schneider → LA Metro → LADOT / LA Public Works → Caltrans.
This path comes from Small's own 2021 description of the partnership and agencies involved.
ULI Futurebuild, 2022
Small moderated Rapid Urban Prototyping with James T. Butts, Jenna Hornstock (SCAG), Alex Fisch and Vince Bertoni (Los Angeles City Planning). He also appeared on a climate/urban-planning panel with Bertoni and Rick Cole, with Eli Lipmen of MoveLA responding and former ULI-LA executive director Gail Goldberg moderating.
Campaign finance + architecture crossover
A documented 2016 network-to-donor connection
The reconciled 2016 campaign-finance record connects one of Small's publicly documented architecture-community supporters directly to his campaign finance.
February 24, 2016
Zoltan Pali → Small
$1,000 monetary contribution to the Committee to Elect Thomas Small for Culver City Council 2016.
Architecture network
Zoltan Pali
Pali was separately named in the published 2016 architecture-community support network around Small. The contribution occurred on the date of Small's architecture/development-themed fundraiser.
Evidence type
Support + contribution
This is stronger than event or professional adjacency: separate records document both architecture-community political support and a campaign contribution.
Documented network
Political, development, mobility and institutional connections.
Source-linked records connect Thomas Small's campaign money, public roles, nonprofit work and institutional relationships across multiple years.
Campaign money
Architecture-network donor crossover
Architect Zoltan Pali, separately identified in Thomas Small's 2016 architecture-community support network, contributed $1,000 to Thomas Small's council campaign on February 24, 2016.
Development + land use
ULI, TOD and public-private partnerships
Thomas Small's own public remarks connect his Metro and ULI roles to transit-oriented development, Ivy Station, density, Hayden Tract businesses, General Plan policy and public-private mobility partnerships.
Mobility advocacy
Regional transportation network
Thomas Small's Culver City Forward work connects Ballona Creek advocacy with Streets For All, Metro, LADOT, Los Angeles Public Works and Caltrans. His Metro Sustainability Council role spans multiple years and changing leadership titles.
Recurring connections
Campaign support and money connect with architecture and design; those records connect with ULI and regional development institutions; Thomas Small's public record includes mobility, TOD, density and public-private partnerships; and his post-Council nonprofit work continues through many of the same regional policy institutions.