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May­or de Bla­sio Nom­i­nates Clare New­man as New Gov­er­nors Island Pres­i­dent and CEO

May 22, 2019 12:50 pm

May 22, 2019. May­or Bill de Bla­sio today announced the nom­i­na­tion of Clare New­man as Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. New­man is a life­long New York­er with exten­sive expe­ri­ence in strate­gic plan­ning, real estate devel­op­ment and pub­lic pri­vate part­ner­ships and a demon­strat­ed pas­sion for mis­sion-focused projects. She comes to Gov­er­nors Island with a strong vision for its future and a deep appre­ci­a­tion of the unique char­ac­ter that makes the Island so special. 

New­man will be respon­si­ble for direct­ing and man­ag­ing all of Gov­er­nors Island’s activ­i­ties and oper­a­tions, and sup­port­ing the devel­op­ment of Gov­er­nors Island as a vibrant, year-round des­ti­na­tion for recre­ation, inno­va­tion, and cul­ture. Newman’s nom­i­na­tion will be vot­ed on by the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island Board of Direc­tors on June 19, 2019. 

“Gov­er­nors Island is the jew­el of New York Har­bor – and Clare is the per­fect per­son to unlock its poten­tial. With her pro­gram­ming and plan­ning expe­ri­ence, Clare will imple­ment inno­v­a­tive projects to attract more New York­ers to the island year-round while plan­ning for its bright future,” said May­or de Blasio.

“Gov­er­nors Island is one of New York City’s great pub­lic resources — a vital des­ti­na­tion for res­i­dents from across the city. As a life-long New York­er, I’m deeply hon­ored to have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to lead such an extra­or­di­nary place,” said Clare New­man. ​“I’m eager to fos­ter devel­op­ment that will turn the Island into a ²⁴⁄₇ cen­ter of eco­nom­ic and cul­tur­al activ­i­ty, and I want to thank May­or de Bla­sio and Deputy May­or Been for this oppor­tu­ni­ty to build on all the work that has quick­ly brought the Island back into the city’s fabric.” 

“We’re excit­ed to have Clare bring her exper­tise over­see­ing the largest expan­sion of the Brook­lyn Navy Yard since WWII to Gov­er­nor’s Island,” said Deputy May­or for Hous­ing and Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment Vic­ki Been. ​“Clare has the vision, and track record, to bring new cul­tur­al expe­ri­ences, improve access across incomes, and plan for the threats the island faces due to cli­mate change, ben­e­fit­ing New York­ers for years to come.” 

“Clare brings a long­stand­ing track record, com­mit­ment and expe­ri­ence in deliv­er­ing trans­for­ma­tive, mis­sion-dri­ven projects across the City and is well suit­ed to real­ize Gov­er­nors Island’s full poten­tial as an extra­or­di­nary place for all New York­ers to vis­it, work, learn and enjoy year-round ” said Carl Weis­brod, Chair of the Board of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“I look for­ward to work­ing close­ly with Clare, the Trust board and staff in build­ing upon the suc­cess­es of the Island’s trans­for­ma­tion and expand­ing invest­ment in the Island as a hub of cul­ture, recre­ation, inno­va­tion and learning.” 

“Clare New­man is a vision­ary, a place­mak­er, and a true New York­er who will work tire­less­ly to main­tain Gov­er­nors Island’s unique, funky char­ac­ter while craft­ing a plan for its strate­gic devel­op­ment,” said Ali­cia Glen, for­mer Deputy May­or and incom­ing Chair of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“Clare will draw on her exten­sive expe­ri­ence in plan­ning, devel­op­ment, pro­gram­ming and design to ensure that the Island is a crown jew­el for all New York­ers to enjoy.” 

“Clare New­man is well-known in New York City as a ded­i­cat­ed and high­ly capa­ble pub­lic ser­vant — among the best of the best,” said Marc Ricks, Chair of the Friends of Gov­er­nors Island. ​“We at the Friends are thrilled with her appoint­ment and look for­ward to work­ing close­ly with her and the rest of the Trust staff and board to ensure that Gov­er­nors Island reach­es its full poten­tial as a year-round des­ti­na­tion for all New Yorkers.” 

“As the Coun­cil Mem­ber rep­re­sent­ing Gov­er­nors Island, I have worked close­ly with the Trust to make the island an indis­pens­able resource for all New York­ers,” said Coun­cil Mem­ber Mar­garet S. Chin. ​“Today, this space is a crown jew­el in New York Har­bor pro­vid­ing a valu­able array of cul­tur­al and edu­ca­tion­al pro­gram­ming, out­door events and recre­ation activ­i­ties for the thou­sands of vis­i­tors the island wel­comes every year. I con­grat­u­late Pres­i­dent Clare New­man who — as the for­mer Chief of Staff and Exec­u­tive Vice Pres­i­dent of the Brook­lyn Navy Yard Devel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion — brings pre­cise­ly the type of expe­ri­ence need­ed to steer Gov­er­nors Island towards fur­ther success.” 

About Clare Newman

Clare New­man serves as Chief of Staff and Exec­u­tive Vice Pres­i­dent of the Brook­lyn Navy Yard Devel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion (BNY­DC). As Chief of Staff, New­man over­sees the Plan­ning, Devel­op­ment, Exter­nal Affairs, Trans­porta­tion and Design & Con­struc­tion depart­ments and works on strate­gic ini­tia­tives. Newman’s focus has been on imple­ment­ing projects that, togeth­er, will bring 10,000 jobs to the Yard by 2020, and on plan­ning for future devel­op­ment. New­man pre­vi­ous­ly worked at Bloomberg Phil­an­thropies where she was a senior leader on the Gov­ern­ment Inno­va­tion team. In that role she led the May­ors Chal­lenge, an inter­na­tion­al com­pe­ti­tion to inspire and incen­tivize cities to gen­er­ate inno­v­a­tive ideas to solve major urban chal­lenges. Pri­or to join­ing Bloomberg Phil­an­thropies, New­man was a Vice Pres­i­dent at New York City Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment Corporation’s Real Estate divi­sion. There she worked with gov­ern­ment, not-for-prof­it, and pri­vate sec­tor part­ners to lead devel­op­ment projects and oth­er City ini­tia­tives. In her over five years at NYCEDC, Clare exe­cut­ed projects through­out the five bor­oughs, includ­ing the restora­tion of the Loews Kings The­atre in Flat­bush, Brook­lyn, the City’s bike share pro­gram, and the Applied Sci­ences tech-cam­pus initiative. 

New­man received a Mas­ters of Urban Plan­ning from the Grad­u­ate School of Archi­tec­ture, Plan­ning and Preser­va­tion at Colum­bia Uni­ver­si­ty and a B.A. with hon­ors in Polit­i­cal Econ­o­my from Williams Col­lege. She is a mem­ber of the board of Tran­sit­Cen­ter and a mem­ber of New York Women Exec­u­tives in Real Estate.