Real Estate & Housing Summit 2020

In August 2019, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo nominated Eric Gertler to serve as President and CEO of Empire State Development. A member of the ESD board since June 2018, Gertler assumed his role as Acting Commissioner and President & CEO-designate on Sept. 3, 2019.

Gertler brings extensive private and public sector leadership to ESD, from roles including Executive Chairman of U.S. News and World Report, managing member of Ulysses Ventures, a multi-strategy investment fund based in New York City, Executive Vice President of the New York City Economic Development Corporation and Managing Director of the Center for Economic Transformation. A media executive, entrepreneur and published author, Gertler has written and spoken extensively on key policy issues and economic development priorities including workforce development, infrastructure investment, entrepreneurship and innovation.

Gertler is a graduate of Brown University and holds degrees from the Sorbonne and the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris. He earned a law degree, with honors, from American University, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review.

Mooney is a senior economic development, public policy and government affairs professional and attorney with extensive experience in economic development initiatives collaborative relationships/public-private partnerships, government and regulatory affairs, with demonstrated successes in strategic planning, project management, oversight and implementation.

Senior Vice President-Group Director at Signature Bank. Responsible for business development in all aspect of commercial banking- Deposits, Escrow Accounts, Public and Equipment Finance, Asset Based Lending, Permanent Mortgages .

William V. Cuddy, Jr. has been a commercial real estate professional for 33 years serving the needs of his clients on a regional, national and international basis. As Executive Vice President working from CBRE’s Westchester/Fairfield office, he provides brokerage and consulting services to corporations and institutions.

Arthur Collins is the co-founding principal of Collins Enterprises, LLC. He is the principal in charge of all development activities for the company. His responsibilities include sourcing new projects as well as budgeting, design, construction and timely delivery of the company’s redevelopment and development initiatives in all markets.

Mr. Collins has 30 years experience in managing development and construction for major residential and commercial projects in the New York market and in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. As a planning and development feasibility consultant, Mr. Collins has also helped cities such as New Orleans, Yonkers, N.Y., and large corporations maximize their financial returns through innovative land use concepts and building design. Mr. Collins initiates company policy and charts strategic direction along with the other company directors.

Mr. Collins started his career in the early 1980’s as a planner in a major architectural and urban design firm in Dublin, Ireland, designing redevelopment projects around the country. He then worked as a site planner for Do H. Chung and Partners, who continues to be the primary planner for the Collins’ projects today. Mr. Collins is an active member of the Urban Land Institute, and Collins Enterprises is a sponsor of the Connecticut/Westchester local chapter. He is asked often to speak at conferences and seminars dealing especially with creative land use and urban redevelopment.

He has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Oregon and a Masters degree in Urban Design from the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Collins serves as a trustee of the Conway School, a graduate institution in land planning in Massachusetts, and a Real Estate advisor for the Kent School Board of Trustees in Connecticut.

Cleary Consulting is a professional planning firm offering a full range of planning and environmental services for government and the private sector. Established in 1990, Cleary Consulting was designed as, and remains today, a small, responsive, personal service consulting firm. Founded by Patrick Cleary, a professional planner with over 35 years of experience in the field, the firm relies on a management philosophy which minimizes in-house staff and relies upon existing relationships with affiliated professionals to “custom fit” project personnel. In this way, Mr. Cleary is able to extensively participate in the technical elements of each project.

John R. Nolon is Distinguished Professor of Law at Pace Law School where he teaches property, land use, and sustainable development law courses and is the Founder of and Counsel to the Law School’s Land Use Law Center. He served as an Adjunct Professor at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies for 15 years beginning in 2001, where he developed a curriculum concentration of five land use law and policy courses. Professor Nolon served as the James D. Hopkins Professor from 2009-2011 and the Charles A. Frueauff Research Professor of Law during the 1991-92, 1997-98, 1999-2000, and 2000-01 academic years. He received the Richard L. Ottinger Faculty Achievement Award in 1999, won the Goettel Prize for faculty scholarship in 2006, and was designated Outstanding Professor of the year in 2015. Professor Nolon received his J.D. degree from the University of Michigan Law School where he was a member of the Barrister’s Academic Honor Society. He has served as a consultant to President Carter’s Council on Development Choices for the 1980’s, President Clinton’s Council on Sustainable Development, New York Governor George Pataki’s Transition Team, and Governor Elliot Spitzer’s Transition Team. He is a member of the Editorial Board of THE LAND USE AND ENVIRONMENTAL LAW REVIEW, published by Thomson-West. He is also on the New York Planning Federation’s Advisory Council, which has presented him its Lifetime Achievement Award. Professor Nolon received a Fulbright Scholarship to study sustainable development law in Argentina in 1994-95 and has published over a dozen articles, chapters, and books on that subject. He has received national awards for his work with municipal land use leaders from the American Planning Association and the International City Management Association.