Keynote Panel: Coordinating Investment
in the LIC Community
Redstone Theater 9:00AM - 9:45AM
Long Island City, with its mix of unique businesses, explosive residential growth, cultural
destinations, and extensive transportation infrastructure, is experiencing unprecedented investment
from the public and private sector. How do we ensure the multitude of planning and development
initiatives underway build on LIC’s success as a truly mixed-use community and innovation district
without threatening the very mix of uses that helped attract investment in the first place?
Seth Pinsky
RXR
Seth Pinsky is an Executive Vice President at RXR
Realty, where he leads RXR’s efforts in “emerging submarkets”
in the New York region. He focuses on areas
with significant growth potential, particularly in the
Outer Boroughs and suburban downtowns.
Prior to RXR, Pinsky was Director of Mayor Bloomberg’s
Special Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency, which
developed a $20 billion climate change resiliency plan.
Pinsky also served at NYCEDC, where he was President
from 2008 to 2013.
Previously, Pinsky was an associate at Cleary, Gottlieb
and a financial analyst at James D. Wolfensohn Inc. He
graduated from Columbia and Harvard Law.
Kathryn S. Wylde
Partnership for NYC
Kathryn Wylde is President and CEO of the nonprofit
Partnership for New York City. Ms. Wylde was
responsible for developing and managing affordable
housing and economic development programs
that contributed to the renaissance of blighted
urban neighborhoods across the five boroughs. An
internationally recognized expert on urban policy,
Ms. Wylde has been awarded honorary degrees from
Fordham University and St. Francis College and serves
on the boards of many nonprofit institutions.
James Patchett
NYC Economic Development
Corporation
A proponent of affordable housing and a principal
driver of Mayor de Blasio’s effort to create 100,000
jobs, James Patchett became President and CEO of
NYCEDC in February 2017 after serving as Chief of Staff
to Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen. Before his transition to
NYCEDC, Mr. Patchett was pivotal in securing many of
the Mayor’s signature affordable housing achievements
and was one of the de Blasio administration’s chief
negotiators on major land use matters. Mr. Patchett
holds a BA in Economics from Amherst College and an
MBA from Stanford University. He lives in Brooklyn with
his wife and young son.
Elizabeth Lusskin (Moderator)
LIC Partnership
Elizabeth Lusskin is President of LIC Partnership and
Executive Director of the LIC BID. She joined LIC
Partnership after serving as Chief of Staff/VP Strategic
Initiatives at NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering,
expanding its incubator and entrepreneurship efforts.
Previously, she served as Deputy Commissioner,
NYC SBS, General Counsel, Downtown Alliance, and
Legislative Counsel, NYS Office of Federal Affairs.
Carlo A. Scissura, Esq.
New York Building Congress
Carlo A. Scissura is President & CEO of the New
York Building Congress, a broad-based membership
association committed to promoting the growth and
success of the construction industry in New York City
and its environs.
Carlo was previously President & CEO of the Brooklyn
Chamber of Commerce, prior to which he was Chief
of Staff and General Counsel to Brooklyn Borough
President Marty Markowitz. He also owned a thriving
solo practice law firm and served on the staffs of State
Senator Vincent Gentile and Assemblyman Peter Abbate.
Carlo is a lifelong Brooklyn resident. He currently lives in
Dyker Heights with his daughter Teresa Rose.