« Occupy Brooklyn This Weekend, If You Don't Get Run Over | Main | AKRF contract for Supplementary EIS: up to $1.7 million (paid by FCR) »
November 9, 2011
A switch at Empire State Development: new Chief of Staff Justin Ginsburgh now has Atlantic Yards in his portfolio
Atlantic Yards Report
"Attention passengers: we have rearranged the deck chairs for your comfort. We hope you are enjoying your cruise on the Titanic Atlantic Yards."
According to a new Empire State Development (Corporation) organizational chart, dated 10/26/11, new Chief of Staff Justin Ginsburgh, whose appointment was announced 9/6/11, now has overall responsibility for Atlantic Yards.
The project previously was in the portfolio of Executive Director Peter Davidson, to whom Arana Hankin, Director, Atlantic Yards Project, reported.
The chief of staff is a newly created position. Before coming to ESD, Ginsburgh worked at Goldman Sachs for a year and seven months, following his 2009 graduation from Harvard Business School (where he signed the MBA Oath, joining others in aiming to “create value responsibly and ethically”).
Ginsburgh, who's in his early 30s, spent three years as Senior Project Manager for the New York City Economic Development Corporation and before that spent a year at the Boston Consulting Group.
What's the reason?
I queried agency spokesman Austin Shafran about the change. Shafran responded, "Mr. Ginsburgh has taken on some of the oversight of key ESD projects to ensure we maintain an active role in their progress."
That's not terribly helpful, given that, presumably no one at the agency would acknowledge that it had not previously been maintaining an active role.
Posted by eric at November 9, 2011 11:53 AM