Jonathan Springer joined Citibank in March as a relationship manager in its Community Development department. Springer co-founded the Workforce Investment Company, a national nonprofit, where he was president for the past three years. Springer also has plenty experience in the housing field. In 1993, he joined the Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation to develop affordable housing in Washington Heights. Springer recently co-authored “Reducing the Cost of New Housing Construction in New York City: 2005 Update,” a report released by the New York University Furman Center for Real Estate & Urban Policy. He has also consulted on finance issues for the New York City Housing Partnership, a nonprofit that promotes affordable development.
Nathan Newman, a former associate counsel of the Brennan Center for Justice, left in March to start Agenda for Justice, a new nonprofit policy research center where he is executive director. Newman said the new organization’s mission is to analyze “the best progressive ideas across the country and use them as tools for assisting specific policy campaigns.” Newman had previously served as a co-director for the Center for Community Economic Research of U.C. Berkeley and an associate counsel for a labor law firm in New York City.
Stefan Pryor was last week appointed president of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the agency at the helm of downtown rebuilding. Having worked with the LMDC since its inception in November 2001, Pryor most recently served as senior vice president for policy and programs. His prior experience in public services includes a stint as vice president for the Partnership for New York City, a nonprofit aimed at boosting the city’s economy, and a policy advisor in the municipal government of New Haven, Connecticut. Pryor replaced Kevin Rampe, who resigned to work as a global ethics and compliance officer for Ace Ltd., a public traded insurance company. This is the second major leadership change in the agency’s three-and-half-year history. Rampe’s predecessor Louis Tomson stepped down in February 2003, citing fatigue. Among the challenges Pryor faces are revising plans for the Freedom Tower, the centerpiece of Ground Zero reconstruction that recently sparked security concerns, and allocating the $800 million reconstruction funding left in the hands of LMDC.
