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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, MAY 19, 2019
Chamber head moving to new post
Hector Batista set to leave for prestigious position at City University of New York
BY COLIN MIXSON
He’s heading back to school!
The leader of Brooklyn’s biggest
small-business booster has
accepted a high-ranking post
at City University of New York,
and will be bidding bon voyage
to Kings County commerce
come June 28.
Hector Batista, who became
the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce’s
fi rst Hispanic president
and chief executive offi cer when
he started in October, will have
served only seven months as the
head of the borough’s chief business
advocacy group upon his
departure.
But there’s no hard feelings
over the CEO’s lightening-fast
exit, according to Chamber
Chairwoman Ana Oliveira, who
applauded Batista’s brief, but
effective leadership, and said
members can look forward to
the announcement of new programs
in the coming weeks.
“While brief, Hector’s tenure
leaves us even stronger as an organization
than we were when
he arrived just a few months
ago,” Oliveira said.
The business honcho will be
leaving to serve as chief operating
offi cer at one of the country’s
largest public university
systems, which has 24 campuses
across the city, including Downtown
and Crown Heights, and
last year boasted an enrollment
of more than 274,000 students
across all schools.
As president, Batista headed
each of the Brooklyn Chamber
of Commerce’s three arms, including
its non-for-profi t economic
development wing, the
Brooklyn Alliance, and Brooklyn
Alliance Capital, which funneled
federal grants to Brooklyn
mom and pops in the form
of small-business loans, among
other things.
Batista signed up to lead
Brooklyn Chamber following
an eight-year stint as the CEO
of Big Brothers Big Sisters, a
non-for-profi t mentorship program
serving kids in all fi ve
boroughs, where he could also
boast as serving as the fi rst Hispanic
man to hold the title.
Prior to that, Batista served
Brooklyn at the Borough President’s
offi ce as director of real estate
for the Brooklyn Economic
Development Corporation, director
of economic development
and director of development and
fi nance for nine years, before
leaving Kings County for citywide
appointment by Mayor Rudolph
Giuliani as deputy commissioner
and chief operating
offi cer of the Department of
Housing Preservation and Development.
He replaced Andrew Hoan
as president, who served in the
post since 2016.
The Chamber plans on appointing
an interim president
in the coming days, according
to a spokesman, who could not
say whether a new president
would be appointed before Batista
steps down.
GRADUATING: Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Hector Batista
will quit after seven months in June to take a top post at CUNY.
File photo by Steve Solomonson