The office of the governor is about to change hands for the first time in 12 years, likely representing a seismic shift - not just in ideology, but in management, leadership and appointments. A day of in-depth discussion on the challenges facing New York in health care, affordable housing, public education and government reform.
This conference was made possible thanks to the generous support of Edison Properties. Additional support provided by the Milano Foundation.
Bio
Eric Bluestone
Eric Bluestone, as a partner in The Bluestone Organization, is a third generation builder developer of housing in the New York City metropolitan area. The Bluestone Organization has developed market rate and affordable for-sale and rental housing projects in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and Western Nassau County, through numerous City and State and Federal programs, both as Builder/Developer, and as General Contractor for local not-for-profit organizations.
Eric graduated from the Wharton School of Finance, and prior to joining the family business was involved in various real estate related professions, including commercial real estate and mortgage brokerage, real estate syndication, and real estate management.
Eric is a past President of the Queens and Bronx Builders Association, an Executive Board Member of the New York State Association for Affordable Housing, and the 2007 President of the New York State Builders Association.
Commissioner Shaun Donovan
Mr. Donovan was appointed Commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) in March 2004 by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. HPD is the largest municipal developer of affordable housing in the nation. Since 1987, HPD has provided over $6.3 billion to support the repair, rehabilitation and new construction of hundreds of thousands of units of housing.
Commissioner Donovan is leading HPD in implementing Mayor Bloomberg's ten-year $7.5 billion New Housing Marketplace Plan, which will provide 165,000 affordable homes for 500,000 New Yorkers. The housing plan is the largest municipal housing plan in the nation’s history, and is cultivating innovative partnerships and pioneering new tools in affordable housing.
Fred P. Hochberg
Fred P. Hochberg is the dean of Milano at The New School for Management and Urban Policy.
Hochberg has more than twenty-five years of experience in business, government, civil rights activities, and philanthropy. From 1998 through 2000, he served as deputy and then acting administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA), an agency elevated to cabinet rank by President Bill Clinton, with more than 4,000 employees and 100 offices across the country.
At the SBA, he directed the delivery of a comprehensive set of financial and business development programs for entrepreneurs, with particular outreach to women and minorities. He also served on President Clinton's Management Council.
Eduardo LaGuerre
LaGuerre, 58, was born in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, and came to the United States at age three and grew up in "El Barrio" in East Harlem. He attended the State University of New York at Stony Brook and earned master's degrees from the University of Puerto Rico (in Puerto Rican studies) and the City University of New York Graduate Center (in the psychology of education).
He was a prison education counselor and an assistant superintendent in New York City before moving to Yonkers 16 years ago. LaGuerre is executive director of NAICA Legal Services and president of five different nonprofit organizations.
Janny Scott
Janny Scott has been a reporter for The New York Times since 1994. She is currently assigned to cover ideas and intellectual life for the culture department. Over the past year she has also written extensively about media coverage of the Monica Lewinsky matter and about public attitudes toward President Clinton. Before going to work in the culture department, she covered metropolitan news and occasionally wrote first-person pieces about life with children in New York City.
Ms. Scott worked at the Los Angeles Times from 1985-1994, during which time she covered medicine and public health for five years.
Emily Youssouf
After graduating from Milano, Youssouf landed at Standard & Poor's, where she became Vice President of the Tax-Exempt Housing Finance Group. Over the next 20 years she held senior positions at Credit Suisse First Boston, Prudential Securities, and Merrill Lynch.
In 2003, Mayor Michael Bloomberg appointed Youssouf President of the New York City Housing Development Corporation, a job to which she has brought her an extensive investment banking background in housing finance, loan securitization, and innovative financing.
Under Youssouf's leadership, HDC has become the number one issuer of bonds for multi-family affordable housing in the country. She manages the organizations assets of $6 billion.
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