Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio on Monday named Goldman Sachs alum Alicia Glen as deputy mayor for housing and economic development.
He also named Laura Santucci, who heads up his transition team, as his City Hall chief of staff.
Santucci is a former director of the Democratic National Committee and lobbyist for the hospital-workers union, Local 1199 East, an early backer of the mayor-elect.
Glen had headed the Urban Investments Group at Goldman Sachs, which since 2001 invested $2.8billion to development projects in low-income neighborhoods.
She worked as assistant commissioner for housing finance at the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development from 1998 to 2002. Glen also helped put together financing for the city’s bike-share program.
She’s is an adjunct professor at Columbia’s Business School, where she teaches a graduate-level course called Social Impact of Real Estate Investing and Development.
Glen is a graduate of Amherst College and Columbia Law School.
Her appointment got a big thumbs-up from business groups representing Wall Street and builders.
“Alicia is widely regarded as an outstanding ‘community banker’ with particular expertise in affordable housing and social investment,” said Kathryn Wylde, CEO of the New York City Partnership.
“Her appointment is a clear signal that the de Blasio administration will be aggressive in pushing expanded housing and neighborhood development.”
Real Estate Board President Steven Spinola said de Blasio’s choice of Glen “continues a string of exceptionally talented and knowledgeable individuals” who will help the new mayor “steer our city moving forward.”
“We look forward to working with Ms. Glen and other city officials towards creating more affordable housing and an environment that will result in more good jobs,” Spinola said.
The kind words show Gotham’s business leaders are trying to work with de Blasio. They have chafed at his proposals to tax the rich to fund his pre-kindergarten proposal, and to force developers to provide more low-income housing through “inclusionary” zoning.
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker also tweeted praises for the work Glen did for Newark when he was mayor there.
“Alicia Glen — problem solver w/deep understanding of econ development. In Nwk, I saw the results she got,” Booker wrote.