Crain's New York Business by crains-new-york-business

ASKED & ANSWERED Why retail needs a multifaceted approach to reopening PAGE 7

CRAINSNEWYORK.COM

PLUM TOMATO! Veggie supplier reworks her business JUNE 1, 2020

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CORONAVIRUS ALERT MORE INSIDE

LOSING STEAM Worker rights bill lacks support PAGE 2

INNOVATOR Sports software company keeps leagues in play PAGE 4

ISTOCK

STEPPING UP Local banks are financing more real estate deals PAGE 5

REBUILDING O NURSING HOMES

BY JONATHAN LAMANTIA

Senior facilities were decimated as Covid-19 spread. Now the focus is on how to prevent it from happening again

NEWSPAPER

VOL. 36, NO. 20

GOTHAM GIGS

CEMETERY CEO HELPS WORKERS MAKE A LIVING PAGE 27

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ne Thursday in May, Eric Fogle kept vigil outside the Holliswood Center for Rehabilitation and Healthcare in Queens in honor of the patients, colleagues and family members who had lost their battle with Covid-19.

GREG DAVID Property owners tell mayor to look elsewhere for revenue PAGE 6

OPEN UP It's time to end the lockdown PAGE 8

See HOME on page 10

NOTABLE LGBTQ LEADERS AND EXECUTIVES PAGES 12-25

5/29/20 5:33 PM

CORONAVIRUS ALERT

Federal bill would create 9/11-type business-insurance plan for pandemics Most plans exclude viruses and other illness-driven disruptions

new bill led by Rep. Carolyn Maloney would create a federally backed business-interruption insurance fund to cover losses from a pandemic. Since the lockdown began, insurers have infuriated restaurants and other businesses by universally rejecting claims from policies that cover losses from natural disasters. Most business-interruption plans specifically exclude viruses and other illness-driven disruptions. “We have millions of small businesses, mom-and-pops, nonprofits left out in the cold,” said Maloney, who represents parts of Manhattan and Queens. “These denials increase the risk they will never recover.” Maloney unveiled the details of the bill at a virtual news conference last week. The congresswoman compared the plan to the federal Terrorism Risk Insurance Program established after the 9/11 attacks. When insurers balked at covering construction projects from terror

WEBCAST CALLOUT

JUNE 16 LIFE AFTER COVID-19 HOW THE PANDEMIC WILL CHANGE HEALTH CARE As the health care community wrestles with this devastating outbreak, questions arise. What longterm effects will Covid-19 have on hospitals and facilities in the tristate area? Top health care professionals discuss their biggest takeaways from the pandemic and what they foresee happening in the future.

CrainsNewYork.com/ June16HPWebcast

events, the federal government agreed to share the risk through a $100 billion fund under a 2002 bill, an effort also led by Maloney. Under Maloney’s proposal, insurers would offer pandemic coverage with the promise that the government will cover a portion of their potential losses, up to $750 billion per year. Businesses would not be required to purchase the insurance, and insurers would not be required to join the program. The bill has the support of local business groups, such as the Partnership for New York and Nonprofit New York, as well as the National Retail Foundation and the Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers. Maloney said she has several sponsors ready to join once the bill is introduced. Groups that represent much of the commercial property industry are poised to oppose the idea, however. The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies and the American Property Casualty Insurance Association say the risks from a pandemic are different and potentially far costlier than those from a terror attack.

The American Property Casualty Insurance Association projects that paying out claims just to businesses with 100 employees or fewer could cost $383 billion per month, dwarfing the costs of even the worst hurricane seasons. “Pandemics simply are not insurable risks; they are too widespread, too severe and too unpredictable for the insurance industry to underwrite,” said Charles Chamness, president and CEO of the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies. The industry would rather the federal government launch a pandemic insurance fund that businesses pay into directly. The fund would be managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, similar to flood insurance. While Maloney’s bill would not help businesses collect on their current Covid-19 claims, it could greatly expand pandemic coverage for future outbreaks. “The CDC is predicting we are going to have another pandemic in the fall, so this is very important,” Maloney said. Claims denials by insurers since

THE BILL has the support of local business groups.

BLOOMBERG

BY RYAN DEFFENBAUGH

the start of the Covid-19 pandemic have launched a tidal wave of lawsuits from businesses. The Upper West Side’s Cafe du Soleil recently filed a class-action lawsuit against AXA Financial. A separate bill from Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., would negate virus exceptions in future pandemic plans. In Albany, a bill sponsored

by Brooklyn Assemblyman Robert Carroll would require insurers to cover claims related to the Covid-19 pandemic and void any exclusion for viruses and bacteria. The state bill would require the immediate payout of claims, whereas federal legislation has focused on the next Covid-19 outbreak or future pandemics. ■

POLITICS

Council’s worker-rights bills running out of time and losing support The City Council has yet to schedule a vote on the Essential Workers Bill of Rights BY GWEN EVERETT

progressive package of bills to protect front-line workers, announced to much fanfare in April, is gathering dust in the City Council as time is running out to pass the measures. As the city edges closer to reopening, the council has yet to schedule a vote on the Essential Workers Bill of Rights package,

the legislation as part of the normal process, officials say, but the clock is running out. The city will start opening up in the first or second week of June, Mayor Bill de Blasio said May 22. That move could make some parts of the Covid-19 relief package, which is meant specifically for those working while the rest of the city is shut down, inapplicable. Other parts of the legislation are already set to expire once the pandemic is over. City Council Speaker Corey Johnson has changed his tune on one of the most controversial bills in the package—hazard pay. The legislation, which the speaker co-sponsored, gave bonus pay—between $30 and $75 per shift—to essential workers during the pandemic. When Johnson introduced the

THE CITY WILL START OPENING UP IN THE FIRST OR SECOND WEEK OF JUNE which would expand sick leave, mandate hazard pay and offer whistleblower protections to essential employees. The council’s Committee on Civil Service and Labor is reviewing

package alongside City Councilmen Ben Kallos and Brad Lander and Majority Leader Laurie Cumbo at a late April news conference, he said hazard pay and other bills were meant to provide substantive support to essential workers. “This is about protecting these workers, not just through our words,” Johnson said at the time. Another news conference with Elizabeth Warren, who supported the measure, followed in early May.

Backpedaling When pressed on the legislation at a virtual town hall on May 19, Johnson backpedaled on his support. “It was a way to start that conversation,” Johnson said of hazard pay. “We did not pass the bill recently, and we need to see what happens on the federal level that will inform what we think about

these things moving forward.” But between the news conferences and that town hall was a seven-hour hearing on the relief package. At the marathon meeting, businesses, nonprofits and city agency heads testified that hazard pay would be an unmanageable burden on their budgets. Lander and Kallos, two sponsors of the package, told Crain’s they are still working to set up votes on the sick leave and whistleblower bills, even as the deadline for reopening the economy approaches. “It will be more important than ever to have protections for those on the front line of reopening,” Kallos said. The Manhattan councilman said he’s working to amend the whistleblower bill to apply to future pandemics—otherwise, it would expire in September, when Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive See RIGHTS on page 5

Vol. 36, No. 20, June 1, 2020—Crain’s New York Business (ISSN 8756-789X) is published weekly, except for bimonthly in January, July and August and the last issue in December, by Crain Communications Inc., 685 Third Ave., New York, NY 10017. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to: Crain’s New York Business, Circulation Department, PO Box 433279, Palm Coast, FL 32143-9681. For subscriber service: call 877-824-9379; fax 313-446-6777. $3.00 a copy; $129.00 per year. (GST No. 13676-0444-RT) ©Entire contents copyright 2020 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved. 2 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | JUNE 1, 2020

CORONAVIRUS ALERT

.LUCKY LEE of Lucky’s Real Tomatoes

LADY LUCK BY AARON ELSTEIN

ucky Lee is fortunate and knows it. Two months ago, her 37-year-old business of supplying tomatoes to Danny Meyer, Jean-George Vongerichten and other star restaurateurs was in free-fall. But Brooklyn-based Lucky’s Real Tomatoes has survived, thanks to the Paycheck Protection Program that gave her time to rework her business. She’s also distributing her product

Even so, her workforce remains about 25% smaller than before the Covid-19 pandemic. Government assistance may run out before big customers come back for her vine-ripened tomatoes. Lee’s challenge is shared by millions of small companies that suddenly lost their customers when the pandemic struck. The problem is especially acute in food, because even though that’s one of the few things consumers are buying, it’s a business in which suppliers deal in a perishable commodity and rely on personal relationships cultivated over years. At the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center, which handles 60% of the city’s produce, merchants relied on restaurants for half their business, according to city data. Some wholesalers have managed to move sales online. Danielle Weingarden, the controller for Lucky’s Real Tomatoes, said business collapsed by 80% after the city shut down. Sales volume remains about half of pre-pandemic

LEE’S CHALLENGE IS SHARED BY MILLIONS OF SMALL COMPANIES THAT SUDDENLY LOST THEIR CUSTOMERS under a new federal program to feed the poor, so that the neediest are enjoying tomatoes that were once reserved for four-star restaurants and select grocers, and 15 of the 22 people Lee had to let go are back on the job. “We’re very, very grateful,” she said.

BUCK ENNIS

Tomato supplier to the stars keeps business from withering on the vine

levels, she said. A PPP loan in early April bought the company time that it used to develop new products for retailers such as Fresh Direct, among other grocers. But packaging tomatoes into smaller containers is labor-intensive, and sales don’t compensate for the loss of customers such as Shake Shack.

Federal contract Happily, Lee’s firm caught a break when its grower in Florida won a contract to supply food under the federal Department of Agriculture’s Farms to Family program, which is to purchase $461 million in fresh produce. The firm is one of a handful of participating

distributors in the city, and it recently delivered its first batch of tomatoes, squash and other vegetables to local food banks. The need is great, with Mayor Bill de Blasio saying that 1 in 4 New Yorkers isn't getting enough to eat. Recipients of a food box containing Lee’s fruit are in for a treat. “Lucky’s tomatoes are the best in town,” said Jonathan Forgash, co-founder of the nonprofit Queens Together and a former food-industry executive. What makes the tomatoes good? Lee said it’s because they’re grown in fields across Florida and the Southeast, rather than in greenhouses, and the sun and dirt give them that special something. Pickers of the tomatoes bearing her name, she added, make decent wages and work in humane conditions. Those are major issues in an industry with a history of exploiting labor. For Lee, the big question is what will happen if government support dries up. The PPP and the Farms to Families programs are expected to end June 30. While there will be pressure to renew them, there’s no guarantee Lee will get lucky a second time. “I think about it every day,” she said. ■ JUNE 1, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 3

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CORONAVIRUS ALERT

Sports software company keeps leagues in play LeagueApps expects a steep decline in 2020. The company recently reduced its team by 10% to 65 employees. Litvack looks forward to returning to LeagueApp’s new location in Union Square and for athletes to get back on the field. But he believes the investments he is making now—whether it is optimizing his software technology or helping organizations stay afloat—will pay off in the future. “LeagueApps is an advocate for the youth sports industry,” said Danny O’Gallagher, executive director of the Yorkville Youth Athletic Association, which serves 6,000 New York City families. When Yorkville had to cancel its spring season, O’Gallagher’s first concern was the distribution of refunds. “We knew families were struggling financially,” O’Gallagher said. “LeagueApps set up a system for us and their staff was always available.” In April, LeagueApps led the formation of a national “PLAY Sports” coalition. With 3,500 member organizations, it hopes to ensure young people, particularly those in underprivileged areas, can participate in sports after the pandemic. It has lobbied Congress for money to cover COVID-19 losses.

BY DIANE HESS

hile thousands of youth and local athletic leagues are sidelined this spring, a Manhattan-based sports technology company, LeagueApps, is providing relief. Since the pandemic, LeagueApps has helped dozens of city organizations, including the Manhattan Soccer Club and the Yorkville Youth Athletic Association, deal with the logistics of lost programming and preparing to resume play once the coronavirus subsides. Under ordinary circumstances, LeagueApps provides local sports organizations with a software platform to manage registrations, payments, schedules and communication. But since the pandemic, it has focused on refunding player fees and providing guidance on surviving the crisis. LeagueApps has hosted 19 virtual “town halls,” free of charge, for representatives of more than 1,000 sports organizations. The sessions have featured physicians, lawyers, accountants and lobbyists. These experts have given advice about health issues and employment matters, such as layoffs, furloughs and the Paycheck Protection Pro-

How businesses are adapting to the coronavirus crisis gram. LeagueApps also created an interactive platform, where more than 400 sports organizers have discussed topics ranging from online training regimens to the resumption of youth activities. “Local sports organizations had no planning for a pandemic,” said Brian Litvack, CEO and co-founder of LeagueApps, which serves approximately 3,000 organizations across the country and has processed more than 10 million registrations over time. “We want to share our resources with the entire youth sports community, whether or not we have an existing relationship.”

Revenue growth Annual revenue for the U.S. youth sports industry is more than $19 billion, according to WinterGreen Research Inc. In the last decade, LeagueApps has captured a share of that market. From 2015 to 2018, revenue grew by more than 400%; it was in the low eight figures in 2019. But with most of its sales coming from registration fees,

CEO BRIAN LITVAK believes investments he is making now will pay off in the future. “Nearly half of all youth sports programs say they’re in danger of permanently shuttering from the impact of COVID-19,” said Rep. Max Rose of Staten Island. In May he proposed an $8.5 billion “Youth Sports and Working Families Relief Act.” It would provide aid to sports and cultural programs. “The loss of these organizations would be devastating,” he said. In a pivot toward its in-house FundPlay initiative, for which LeagueApps reserves 1% of annual revenue, the company has found ways to be valuable to underserved communities. “LeagueApps has allowed us to

BRIAN LITVACK

LeagueApps has hosted 19 virtual town halls for sports organizations for free

streamline registration and communication for online classes during this time,” said Mara Mazza, communications director for the Kings County Tennis League in Brooklyn, a FundPlay partner, which provides tennis opportunities to children in and around public housing. “We couldn’t execute a virtual program without them.” Do you know of other businesses that have pivoted during the coronavirus pandemic to keep their employees working? Contact Crain’s New York Business Editor Robert Hordt at robert.hordt@ crainsnewyork.com.

BY RYAN DEFFENBAUGH

hanges to a city tax credit “blindsided” builders of self-storage properties and could crush development of the unloved but in-demand facilities, a developer’s lawsuit claims. SNL Development, a major builder of self-storage sites in the five boroughs, alleges its “entire business is in jeopardy” after state and city officials elected to leave storage facilities out of an extension of the Industrial and Commercial Abatement Program. The tax credit, also known as ICAP, is critical to the funding of new self-storage buildings, the company said.

through 2025 in the state budget and approved April 1. The renewal of the city tax credit, however, put self-storage properties—a longtime beneficiary—on the outs. The program provides a property-tax abatement for up to 25 years to any company that builds or improves industrial and commercial buildings in the city, outside of Midtown and Lower Manhattan, and now only projects under construction before July still qualify for the abatement. The value of the tax break varies based on the investment in the project. Five new construction projects in SNL’s pipeline, spread throughout the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, are no longer viable without ICAP, the developer said. “Despite SNL’s Herculean, goodfaith efforts” to get its projects launched in time, as described in the lawsuit, none of them will be ready to break ground by then. The long process for completing approvals for construction, combined with the widespread disruption brought by Covid-19, made the task impossible, the company said. The consequences of losing the abatement are significant, SNL said,

“SELF-STORAGE IS A NECESSITY AND CREATES CONSTRUCTION JOBS” The developer is asking that the Department of Finance not enforce the tax change—set to take effect July 1—on projects that were in the planning stages when it was announced, according to a lawsuit filed last week in state Supreme Court in Manhattan. The tax credit was to have expired in 2022, but it was renewed

BLOOMBEERG

City tax change puts entire self-storage business in jeopardy, suit says

as each project was launched under the assumption that the tax break would apply. The lawsuit cites SNL’s plans on 39th Street in Borough Park, a project for which the company got $35 million in loan commitments from Saperean Capital last fall to purchase the land and build a 100,000-square-foot storage facility on it. The loans were predicated on an appraisal from CBRE, which calculated the self-storage facility could be worth $63 million by 2025. But $6.2 million of the total assessment—roughly 11%—came from the assumed value of ICAP. Without that abatement, SNL said, the project could unravel. The

significant loss in value gives the lender cause to call in payment on the $8.5 million it has already given toward the project and terminate its commitment to the rest of the loan.

Halted industry The lawsuit warns that it won’t just be SNL running into a wall. CubeSmart CEO Christopher P. Marr, who oversees the city’s largest portfolio of self-storage units, told investors May 9 that the tax change “will bring self-storage development in New York City basically to a halt.” That warning may be shrugged off by city officials. Few politicians line up to cut ribbons in front of the

facilities, which have been criticized for creating only limited jobs in spaces that could be used for manufacturing. “It is not like an office building, where there is an enormous number of new jobs,” said DJ Johnston, a partner and senior managing director with B6 Real Estate Advisors. “But it is a necessity and creates construction jobs. There is a benefit to the economy, just one that is not as obvious.” In 2017 the de Blasio administration pushed the City Council to enact an ordinance requiring a special permit for the facilities in many of the city’s designated industrial zones. The measure was widely opposed by self-storage operators, who said they were being scapegoated for a loss in manufacturing jobs. Johnston said the tax change marks a far greater threat to the self-storage industry, in a market where demand is strong. The metropolitan area hosts about 3.5 rentable square feet of self-storage space per person, according to a report last fall by Cushman & Wakefield. Nationally, there is about 6.5 square feet of rentable space per person. The city Law Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit. ■

4 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | JUNE 1, 2020

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5/28/20 4:10 PM

CORONAVIRUS ALERT FINANCE

Local banks rush in where big banks fear to tread Scared of uncertainty, many large institutions aren’t seeking new clients

ocal banks are jumping into the void of commercial real estate lending as big banks become timid in the shaky pandemic economy. While loans are still happening, larger institutions are focusing on established relationships, rather than seeking new clients. “Banks want to keep their exist-

up 15% in the first quarter of 2020 compared to the same period last year, the pace of commercial loan closings dropped 12% in March off a January high, according to CBRE’s Lending Momentum Index. “Today, if you can borrow from the small, regional banks, that’s gold, David Eyzenberg, a real estate finance professor at New York University, said. “Their [loans are] priced lower than other banks.” OceanFirst Bank and independent Piermont Bank, according to their leaders, are seizing the moment. “We’ve had a multitude of clients that were about to close deals with an existing bank,” said Robert Rynarzewski, head of commercial real estate at Piermont, “but the bank won’t return their phone calls. They’re leaving their clients at the closing table.” Ridgewood Savings Bank in

RENT DELINQUENCY HAS BEEN THE LEADING CAUSE OF THE CRISIS OF CONFIDENCE ing borrowers in the fold,” Yoel Kranz, an attorney at Goodwin Procter’s real estate practice, said. “But there is not a huge amount of appetite to go for big deals outside because people are scared of uncertainty.” While deal closings overall were

Queens has made about $80 million in commercial real estate loans, Anthony Simeone, chief lending officer, said.

Pulling back Commercial tenant rent delinquency has been the leading cause of the crisis of confidence among the large banks, Maher said. Some commercial landlords only collected 15% of their April rent, Bloomberg reported. Vornado announced that only 20% of its retail tenants paid rent in May. “It’s common at a time like this that a large number of banks will pull back,” he said. “It’s to conserve their capital.” With fewer lenders today than there were a few months ago, banks can negotiate better terms for themselves than they could pre-pandemic, while also offering much-needed capital to their clients. “If our clients are buying a property now,” he said, “they’re probably doing it at a very good

OCEANFIRST BANK is seizing the moment to attract clients from larger banks.

OCEANFIRST FINANCIAL CORP.

BY NATALIE SACHMECHI

price.” At Piermont, deals range from $1 million to $10 million, and the bank has issued at least $75 million in new term sheets this quarter. Ocean First recently raised $180 million exclusively for offer-

ing incremental loans to new and existing clients. “Usually in times like this, I would say a good number of banks stop lending,” Maher said. “But the best banks will continue to lend.” ■

FLICKR/NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL

SPEAKER COREY JOHNSON has changed his tune on hazard pay.

RIGHTS FROM PAGE 2

order on the coronavirus is lifted. But concerns raised by businesses may well have given Democratic members of the City Council cold feet on the progressive package. “I would say that the bill has lost

half-dozen council members who spoke to Crain’s were aware of plans to schedule votes on the package. “I’m all for worker protection. I think there are a lot of workers who deserve to have protection,” said Councilman Donovan Richards, who represents Queens and the Rockaways. But he’s noticed more rental signs cropping up in storefronts in his district. “It’s just a complicated formula,” Richards said. “It may not be the right legislation,” Bronx Councilman Andy King said about hazard pay. “I’m a little concerned about the numbers—when I read $30 and $75, that’s a lot to put on some of our small supermarkets.” Lawmakers have still enacted

COUNCIL LEADERS WILL HOLD OFF ON SCHEDULING VOTES UNTIL THEY HAVE ENOUGH NUMBERS TO PASS THE BILL some of its momentum,” said Councilman Barry Grodenchik, who represents Queens. “The [business] owners have made it clear to us that it would be very, very, expensive.” Neither he nor any of the

other measures to respond to Covid-19. Last week de Blasio signed seven council bills into law meant to provide relief to restaurants, tenants and small businesses. City Council leaders will hold off on scheduling votes until they have enough numbers to pass the bill, multiple council members told Crain’s. That will take more time, council spokeswoman Jennifer Fermino said. “This bill is going through the legislative process. We had a seven-hour-long hearing as well as hundreds of pages of written testimony that are being reviewed,” she said. In doing so, that could run out the clock—a risk King is willing to take. “I can’t say if it comes to a vote today that I’d be voting,” the councilman said. “Maybe we sit back and don’t try to regulate it now.” ■

Our Nonprofit strategies elevate your vision to achieve mission excellence. grassicpas.com/not-for-profit

JUNE 1, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 5

IN THE MARKETS

Easy money: JPMorgan, others pay dividends to execs for shares they don’t own Shareholder activists have been fighting the practice for a long time

BLOOMBERG

n April Jamie Dimon warned to comment on the bank’s practice that JPMorgan Chase might of paying dividends on unowned have to halt its dividend. For- shares. A regulatory filing described mer Federal Reserve Chairman the dividend-paying shares as a Janet Yellen and Federal Deposit “strong retention tool.” The dividend payments might Insurance Corp. chief Sheila Bair have argued that’s exactly what not sound like a lot for executives must be done when banks are brac- awarded tens of millions in compensation. But much of that genering for billions in losses. But Dimon hasn’t pulled the trig- ous pay is typically in the form of ger, and neither have executives at equity and deferred for years. Acother big companies. One reason is cording to a 2016 study by Louisiana State University fithat suspending or cutnance professor Don ting dividends could sigChance, dividends on unnal that management earned shares can boost teams are worried whethexecutives’ annual salaer they have all the capital ries by as much as 25%. needed to weather the Sometimes they make a Covid-19 crisis. Another much bigger difference. possible explanation is Last year Scott Bok, CEO that Dimon doesn’t want of investment bank to do away with a perk in which JPMorgan execu- AARON ELSTEIN Greenhill & Co., was paid $250,000 worth of divitives get paid dividends dends on unowned on shares they don’t own shares. That was five times more and may never own. This stealth source of pay, which than his salary, and Bok received isn’t disclosed in the bank’s regula- no cash bonus. Crain’s has identified at least tory filings, puts real money into nine New York companies that pay the pockets of JPMorgan officials. Co-president and Co-chief Oper- dividends on unowned shares. The ating Officer Gordon Smith was practice seems most common paid $500,000 worth of dividends among financial institutions and last year on shares he doesn’t own. real estate firms, which often pay Asset and wealth management out generous dividends to inveschief Mary Callahan Erdoes got tors. Of course most investors must paid $481,000 this way; consumer own a stock first before seeing any banking head Marianne Lake, dividends. Vornado Realty Trust, the city’s $331,000; and Chief Financial Offilargest commercial landlord, last cer Jennifer Piepszak, $214,000. A JPMorgan spokesman declined year paid CEO Steven Roth $763,000

worth of dividends on shares he doesn’t own, which had the effect of almost doubling his salary. Seth Bernstein, CEO of money manager AllianceBernstein, got $944,000 this way last year, and Philip Morris International CEO Andre Calantzopoulos, $614,000. SL Green’s Marc Holliday was paid $208,000 worth of dividends on shares he doesn’t own.

Tough habit to break The payouts could incentivize executives to increase or maintain dividends beyond what their companies can afford, said Terry Adamson, leader of BDO’s compensation consulting practice. That’s a press-

ing matter when banks are experiencing waves of delinquencies and defaults while real estate owners cope with deadbeat tenants. Yet dividends on unowned shares remain a tough habit to break. “I haven’t seen a lot companies take them away,” Adamson said. “Although they should.” So how is it that executives get paid dividends on shares they don’t own? It works like this: Companies regularly compensate top managers by granting them restricted shares that don’t vest for several years. Sometimes the awards pay out when certain performance metrics are met;

others are paid simply if the executive keeps his or her job. And some firms go ahead and pay executives dividends as if they owned the restricted shares, even when they haven’t vested. Shareholder activists have been fighting the practice for a long time, arguing it makes no sense to give executives a stream of income from an asset they don’t own. An official at Institutional Shareholder Services, which advises pension funds and other big investors on how to vote on executive pay, last year called the payments “particularly problematic.” Companies including Citigroup, IBM and General Electric have done away with them over the years. Yet the payouts endure, with at least 10% of public companies paying executives dividends on shares they don’t own, according to a 2016 survey by Deloitte Consulting and the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals. At JPMorgan, Dimon last was paid dividends on unowned shares in 2017, said the bank, which switched to granting him a type of stock that doesn’t pay out dividends until vesting. While Smith still gets paid dividends on his unvested stock, the bank’s other co-president, Daniel Pinto, does not. Pinto works out of London, where the bank said the collection of dividends on shares that aren’t owned is forbidden by local regulations. ■

ON NEW YORK

Mayor and property owners square off over taxes De Blasio needs money for the city budget, but finding it may be difficult

ayor Bill de Blasio desper- civil rights groups wants the city to ately needs money for the freeze taxes. While the property city budget. Property own- tax rate has remained unchanged ers say they are being crushed by since early in the Bloomberg adtaxes and may simply not be able to ministration, figures from the Citimake their annual payment on July zens Budget Commission show that property taxes have 1. Reconciling competing interests like these in the increased by almost $10 dire economics brought billion under de Blasio, on by the pandemic is a or 47%, because values complicated conundrum. have increased, leading to higher assessments. The city’s budget prob(New construction has lems rival those of the been a secondary cause.) 1970s fiscal crisis. The The July 1 deadline mayor announced last presents another probweek that the city will fall short of expected revenue GREG DAVID lem for owners, especialby $9 billion in the curly those whose tenants rent and next fiscal years, up from have stopped paying rent, since the previous estimate of $7 billion. the city imposes a punitive 18% inWhile federal aid remains a possi- terest rate on unpaid bills. The coability, it seems highly unlikely that it lition wants the penalty to be reduced to 3% and for the city to allow will cover the entire gap. Property owners say they can’t bills to be paid in monthly installhelp. A broad-based coalition that ments. The city told the coalition that it includes real estate groups like the Real Estate Board of New York, ho- did not have the ability to meet its tels, hospitality establishments and demands and action would be re-

NYC PROPERTY TAXES UNDER DE BLASIO

$20.2 billion

2014

$21.5 billion

2015

$23.2 billion

2016

$24.7 billion

2017

$26.4 billion

2018

$27.9 billion

2019

$28.8 billion

2020

SOURCE: Citizens Budget Commission

quired from the state. Bills to make the changes did not gather enough momentum to be passed in last week’s session, but the coalition is hopeful it can secure support eventually. A freeze sounds reasonable, but the dollars are big. The freeze would cost more than $1 billion, meaning

the city would need to find $3 billion to balance the budget by June 30 without federal aid. Not too Machiavellian, but the call for a freeze may be a way to forestall discussion of a tax increase since the real estate tax is the only levy the city can raise without approval from Albany. Whatever happens with the pro-

posal, one thing is certain. July 1 will be an important milestone to see if property tax payments will be made. “It is a reckoning for the city and the industry,” said Paimaan Lodhi, senior vice president for policy at REBNY, “a litmus test to the fiscal health of the city and the financial health of the industry.” ■

6 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | JUNE 1, 2020

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ASKED & ANSWERED

BY RYAN DEFFENBAUGH

WHO HE IS Founding partner, Design Republic

t won't be until this summer—or even the fall—that retailers in the city will start to reopen their stores. But the major chains that architect Steven Segure works with are already planning how to safely bring back customers. Segure is one of the founding partners of Design Republic and has laid out locations for Calvin Klein, Cartier, Gucci, H&M and Hugo Boss. What are retailers doing now to prepare for a potential reopening?

They are looking at different areas but especially keeping in contact with customers. Clients are hearing different feelings among their main demographics as far as how people want to get their merchandise during this time. Some are ready to come down to the store right now. There are others who may come down, but they don't want to touch anything. So what can you automate?

What are some concepts that could become more common?

There are the Bonobos of the world. They use small footprints of around 1,000 square feet. You can view things in the store and try them on, but they still ship it. You don't walk out with merchandise. That model will be looked at a lot closer, along with Amazon Go's, where it is partially automated. Those are models that have performed well.

We've seen, out of necessity, a rise in curbside retail: Find what you need online, walk up and an

GREW UP Queens RESIDES Long Island EDUCATION: Bachelor's in architecture, Hampton University PRIZED LOCATIONS His design for Convene's Brookfield Place office was a NYCxDesign Award winner in May.

online with a few photographs. But an established retailer will want to make a face-to-face connection, even if not in the store. More people are comfortable now talking about a product over Zoom or FaceTime. Others will prefer going to the store once it is safe. You have to have both.

A lot of digitally-focused brands, such as Warby Parker, have launched their first brick-and-mortar locations in the city in the past few years. Will those brands give up on physical retail?

There will be many stores that do not weather this storm and will not reopen. But retailers still will require the physical and the virtual. It is not just one client you are trying to attract. There are opportunities to reach new customers through those physical locations.

BATTLE-TESTED Design Republic launched in 2010, “when there was also an economic down slide," Segure said. "While that was not nearly as serious as Covid-19, there was a glimmer of hope then, and we will come out of this.”

employee brings it out to you. Will that continue beyond the immediate crisis? Absolutely. It is part of the multifaceted approach retailers have to take now. The difficulty with building a virtual presence is to make it intimate. Anyone can set up a business

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You've also designed offices, including one for Convene that can hold large gatherings. How do office spaces need to change?

That is the question we are all grappling with. Right now everyone wants to get out. I've been sheltering in place for eight-plus weeks. I think we all crave interactions, experiences. But how do you do that safely? You may at least need a hybrid solution, where some people are coming in a few days a week, the rest come the balance of the week. We will have to continue to connect virtually.

Are these types of changes just short-term adjustments until there is a vaccine? Or are retailers and employers preparing for long-term changes in behavior?

It is long term. A vaccine would be great, but you can't wait for that. Retail is the backbone, in my belief, of the U.S. economy. So people need security when they go out if we are to have some level of normalcy. That's the urgency for the clients I'm working with now. ■

BUCK ENNIS

STEVEN SEGURE Design Republic

DOSSIER

OPENING KEYNOTE: Dr. Oxiris Barbot, MD

Commissioner New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

PANELISTS:

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June 16, 2020 | 11 AM – 12 Noon What long-term effects will Covid-19 have on health care in the tri-state area? Top health care professionals discuss their biggest takeaways from the pandemic and what they foresee happening in the future.

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JUNE 1, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 7

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president K.C. Crain senior executive vice president Chris Crain

EDITORIAL

group publisher Mary Kramer

Council's worker-rights bill should have been more than just talk

Frederick P. Gabriel Jr.

THE COUNCIL SEEMS BENT ON REPEATING ITS MISTAKES our city was brought into sharp focus. But as is often the case, identifying the problem is much easier than finding a solution. That didn’t stop Johnson, Majority Leader Laurie Cumbo and Councilmen Brad Lander and Ben Kallos. They forged ahead with untenable proposals that would give frontline

EDITORIAL editor Robert Hordt assistant managing editors

Christine Haughney (special projects), Janon Fisher, Gabriella Iannetta (digital) senior editor Telisha Bryan

workers $30 to $75 bonuses each shift, require employers to show cause for firing employees and offer paid sick-leave to gig workers. Those bills have flatlined. Cumbo herself admitted that the law as it was written was not viable because of the extreme burden it would place on small businesses and the city’s already-struggling budget. Unions signaled that they would not support the "just cause" employment protection because it would undermine their ability to recruit members. It also appears to expose any business that laid off workers during the pandemic to litigation or city fines. Now even the council seems to have backed away from the bills. Johnson launched the package by saying that we need more than words of support for our workers; we need action. But at a recent town hall meeting, he told a businesswoman that he introduced the legislation to spark a conversation. It’s not all bad: We credit the New York City Council for pushing through several bills to help small businesses during the pandemic. Last week Mayor Bill de Blasio signed into law a temporary suspension of sidewalk fees for out-

associate editor Lizeth Beltran (digital) art director Carolyn McClain

JOHNSON missed the mark on the Essential Workers’ Bill of Rights.

photographer Buck Ennis data editor Gerald Schifman senior reporters Aaron Elstein,

Jonathan LaMantia FLICKR/NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL

he New York City Council and its leader, Speaker Corey Johnson, missed the mark on the Essential Workers’ Bill of Rights, a subset of its emergency Covid-19 Relief Package. The legislation (see page 2) was drafted and introduced at the height of the pandemic, as delivery workers, grocery store clerks and nonprofit staff continued to do their jobs keeping residents fed and cared for despite the looming crisis. When most New Yorkers hunkered down at home trying to flatten the curve, low-wage workers were putting their lives on the line. The income inequality that has created so much division in

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door cafés. He also approved a bill that prohibited food-order apps from charging restaurants just for getting a call from customers. It is now illegal to hold small-business owners personally liable for unpaid rent, and landlords can’t oust them from their space because of the gut-punch their stores took during the lockdown. Although these were not the most pressing issues facing momand-pop shops during the crisis, the laws are helpful in a limited way. They were vetted by the community and amended as necessary. Sometimes bad bills happen, and we understand why. Council term limits create a narrow window for politicians to make their

mark. It’s been hard for the ambitious politicians in the council to take a backseat, but this crisis is not a great environment for making laws. They'll have consequences beyond the current disaster. The council seems bent on repeating its mistakes. Instead of discussing potential legislation and its impact with stakeholders— business leaders, trade groups, unions—local elected leaders rush to introduce unfeasible bills that seem only to signal their progressive values to their Twitter followers—and create more problems than they solve. It’s time for the council to govern the city as a whole, not just pander to their supporters for the optics.

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OP-ED

Reopen to save small businesses

manager of conferences & events

Ana Jimenez, ajimenez@crainsnewyork REPRINTS director, reprints & licensing Lauren Melesio,

212.210.0707, lmelesio@crain.com

BY BRUCE BACKMAN

mall businesses in New York are suffering badly, but now their struggle for survival is at the hands of the government’s arbitrary and foolish public policies, not the virus. This isn’t an opinion; it’s a fact. Even Gov. Andrew Cuomo has acknowledged that the coronavirus pandemic restrictions have forced more than 100,000 New York small businesses to close permanently. In mid-March, when the lockdown began, the city’s small businesses responsibly shut their doors to slow the spread and allow our hospitals and first responders to deal with the pandemic. Flattening the curve was a goal shared equally by all New Yorkers; it was a moment of great national unity, in an otherwise divided political climate. Sadly, two and a half months later, with the curve thankfully flattened, division is back with a ven-

geance, accompanied by some of the stupidest and most damaging public policy decisions in history. New York politicians, traditionally consumed by the gap between rich and poor, have pushed policies that have exacerbated the wealth divide to epic and possibly permanent proportions.

Mom-and-pops suffer Cuomo’s executive order has made it illegal for tens of thousands of businesses—arbitrarily deemed nonessential—to sell essential staples. Children’s clothing stores can’t sell socks, shoes and underwear. These enterprises cannot open their doors, even if they agree to limit foot traffic, mandate face masks by staff and patrons, and follow all recommended social distancing protocols. Meanwhile Walmart posted profits of nearly $3.99 billion in the last quarter. The profits of a few mega-retailers and large online re-

tailers, including Amazon, have come on the backs of this country’s independently owned mom-andpop shops. Those shopkeepers who have had the courage to defy these draconian and unprecedented policies have been greeted with intermittent visits from local law enforcement, who have demanded the stores shut their doors immediately. These business owners are seeking to sell all the same products readily available at Target, BJ’s and Costco. Contraband in New York has become the sale of engagement rings, patio chairs and coloring books. The injustice is obvious. At a time when medical experts are advising Americans to avoid large gatherings, including sporting events and concerts, why are we driving our residents, especially the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions, to shop exclusively for their needs in a limited

number of enormous big-box stores overrun with mobs of people and hourlong lines? We have been told to protect against large gatherings at beaches, parks and in our homes, yet our government officials have imposed contradictory policies that have forced us to shop for our needs in a small number of huge stores replete with teeming crowds. While people are being cautious to avoid public transportation, these bigbox stores are inaccessible to many New Yorkers, especially single parents trapped at home. The time is now to safely reopen New York’s small businesses, righting a great injustice whose abysmal consequences compound by the day. ■ Bruce Backman is the spokesman for Reopen New York, a coalition of nearly 500 small businesses seeking to end the coronavirusrelated lockdown.

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OP-ED

Abolish the Rent Guidelines Board now The board’s votes change with the political winds of the day

everal weeks ago the Rent Guidelines Board, the mayoral-appointed body tasked with determining rent adjustments for the city’s nearly 1 million rent-stabilized apartments, cast its annual preliminary votes on allowable rent increases. The process, set forth by the state’s Rent Stabilization Law, is supposed to be straightforward. Each year the board collects data and publishes a report on changes in the average cost of operating rent-stabilized units in the city compared to the previous year, and its members recommend and vote on a proportionate rate change. In

You might expect the board to follow its own data and to embrace an impartial, fact-based approach to the rent-setting process. You would, however, be mistaken. Instead of a rent increase, members of the Rent Guidelines Board voted for a rent freeze. This is a disaster for multifamily property owners who have to shoulder the burden, their staff and tenants. Without rent payments proportionate to the costs associated with owning and operating a building, building staff members lose their jobs, housing inevitably deteriorates, buildings become financially insolvent, and tenants suffer. How did this happen? The answer: politics. In the weeks leading up to the vote, Mayor Bill de Blasio, following a wave of tweets and statements by city and state politicians calling for rent cancellation, pressed the board to disregard its own data and enact a rent freeze. Days before the vote, he bafflingly went so far as to discredit its annual report, calling it “misleading.” After a monthlong press effort intended to sway its decision-making, the board caved. The mayor based his call for a rent freeze on the Covid-19 pandemic, a crisis that has wrought economic devastation to thousands of New Yorkers across the city. However, far from an extraordinary measure taken because of excep-

THE LAW HAS NEVER HELPED ADVANCED AFFORDABILITY FOR NEW YORK’S TENANTS its analysis the board considers expenses, including taxes, utilities, insurance payments, energy and water costs, and staff salaries. This year the group’s analysis found an increase in operating costs compared to the previous year. The data showed that a rent increase between 2.5% and 3.5% for one-year leases and between 3.3% and 6.75% for two-year leases would be in keeping with the rise in operating costs of the buildings. This doesn’t even consider debt service or capital expenditures.

tional circumstances, the board has voted to freeze rents twice in the past five years. In addition, the rent freeze is not tailored to New Yorkers who have lost their jobs or income; rather, it will apply to all rent-stabilized tenants regardless of their circumstances—including those who are well within the middle-income tax bracket and whose incomes have not been affected by the pandemic—all the while leaving struggling nonrent-stabilized New Yorkers to fend for themselves.

Politicians’ tool The truth is that the Rent Guidelines Board isn’t a disinterested body that makes decisions based on the increases in operating expenses of rent-stabilized properties. It is a tool wielded by city politicians to make ideologically driven political decisions while they pretend they are doing something about housing affordability. The board is supposed to ensure stabilized rents keep up with increases in operating expenses, the only way those rents get increased. This is what the law directs it to do. But while the mayor and the City Council keep passing policies that increase operating expenses, the board is prohibiting owners from raising rents. Lawmakers won't keep operating expenses down so rents can stay down. Far from impartial, and not rooted in empirical data, the board's votes change with the political winds of the day. The fact is, there is never any real connection between its operating-cost findings and rent

BLOOMBERG NEWS

BY JOE STRASBURG AND JAY MARTIN

determinations. If de Blasio is right, that the data is bad, then scrap the whole system, not just the data. New York’s Rent Stabilization Law—a draconian, poorly tailored and arbitrary regulatory scheme that has choked the development of new housing while ironically being viewed as the city's affordable housing solution—is the mechanism for allowing this useless board to exist. Despite being in effect for more than 50 years, the law has never helped advance affordability for New York’s tenants. In fact, by discouraging investment in the construction of new affordable housing, it has consistently done the opposite. But our current politicians don't have any new ideas. Under the law, property owners of

New York’s rent-regulated properties have seen their costs skyrocket while they have been artificially barred from raising rents through a political process in which the mayor bullies a board that is supposed to be independent. Coupled with a decline in the building of new properties because of a decline in investment, the law has left tenants with higher costs for lower-quality dwellings. The Rent Stabilization Law is a fatally flawed system that is not rationally related to its goals—and we’ve seen its disastrous consequences for decades. ■ Joe Strasburg is the president of the Rent Stabilization Association. Jay Martin is the president of the Community Housing Improvement Program.

OP-ED

Higher education should collaborate to innovate during the pandemic Together, we can solve our biggest challenges BY FRANCES BRONET

any colleges were largely on their own when making critical decisions affecting students, staff and faculty at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Looking back to just a few weeks ago on how that process unfolded, I find myself asking, was that the best use of our nation’s intellectual capital? Or would we all have been better served if our institutions’ think tanks and experts focused on addressing the most immediate challenges stemming from the coronavirus? The good news is colleges in New York state already have begun framing and addressing the key questions each college and university might ask to determine how and when to reopen campuses. These decisions are immensely tough—but for those of us in leader-

ship, they’re some of the most straightforward we’ll have to make. As universities across the nation begin to offer proposals for bringing students safely back to campus and their communities, the facts, predictions and evidence-based public health protocols from our trusted health experts must guide the way.

Critical role As we work more closely than ever with our peer institutions, we must see what processes we can all share. Collectively New York state’s higher-education institutions directly engage millions of students, community residents, staff and faculty members. Colleges play a critical role in getting actionable information out to these constituencies. Once we’re confident this crisis is firmly behind us, we must ask ourselves some hard questions. How else can higher-education leaders

better speak with a shared voice, especially when it matters most? And how can we continue to demonstrate the deep societal value of education, research, expertise and community commitment beyond our campus borders? Colleges are at the heart of our communities—we have faculty, facilities, operations infrastructure, research centers and think tanks that have unique skills and knowledge to help us imagine new products, social structures, processes and urban frameworks. Across New York, we’ve seen schools stepping up to fight this pandemic—the chemistry department at the State University of New York at Stony Brook coordinated an effort to mix hand sanitizer to help combat a shortage at the university hospital; Columbia University medical students created a community hotline to provide up-to-date Covid-19-re-

lated information and guidance. Since our doors opened 133 years ago, Pratt Institute has been involved in producing creative and data-driven solutions to extraordinary challenges, whether designing camouflage during World Wars I and II or engaging in local recovery after Superstorm Sandy. During this pandemic, we have offered our facilities to state authorities as makeshift hospitals, and we have produced and distributed thousands of face shields to medical professionals and front-line workers in New York and New Jersey. The Pratt Center for Community Development’s Made in NYC initiative is working with City Hall to identify local manufacturers that can make personal protective equipment and connect them to local hospitals. In talking to my colleagues in higher education across the state and with our faculty, students and

alumni spread across the world, I am sure that we will come through this incredibly challenging moment. We’ll be scathed by the impacts and mourn for those we lost, but I know this very moment will have taught us that, together, we can solve our biggest challenges. When the road ahead becomes clearer, it is that spirit that we must harness to bring forward deeper collaboration among New York’s institutions and a newfound openness toward learning on a grand scale. We must create a new structure that will be in place for the next human-determined or natural crisis, so that higher education is spending its intellectual capacity on achieving what it does best—innovating solutions for the world’s most challenging problems. Frances Bronet is the president of Pratt Institute.

JUNE 1, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 9

HOME

The need for hospital capacity in the early days of the outbreak led the Cuomo administration to make one of its biggest mistakes of the crisis. On March 25 the state Department of Health sent a letter to nursing homes ordering them to accept Covid-19-positive patients from hospitals. “No resident shall be denied readmission or admission to [a home] solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of Covid-19,” it read. The directive described an “urgent need” to expand hospital capacity. Hospitals were required to confirm to nursing homes that patients were medically stable before transferring them.

to keep on taking people, and there is no accountability to keep them safe,” Mollot said. FROM PAGE 1 One of the earliest actions taken by the Cuomo administration was Fogle, a 53-year-old activities to ban visitors to nursing homes to aide at the facility and an 1199SEIU stop them from spreading the illunion rep, was among those mournness—a heart-rending decision for ing a food-service worker at the fapatients’ families but one that ulticility who’d recently died. One colmately might have saved lives. But league was mourning two family the rule also had the effect of keepmembers. Another had lost his best ing watchdogs like Mollot out of fafriend. cilities. Fogle got sick with Covid-19 in Melissa DeRosa, the governor’s March but has since recovered and top aide, told reporters recently that returned to work. He said it hasn’t the department’s directive was been easy for the staff to go in with based on guidance issued in March the disease spreading through the by the federal Centers for Medicare facility. His colleagues took notice and Medicaid Services. when NY1 listed Holliswood among “There are a dozen states that did the five facilities with the highest the exact same thing,” she said May number of deaths at one point last 24. month. (It no longer holds that dis- ‘A real misstep’ A federal accounting of Covid-19 tinction.) But many homes were ill-pre“That’s a list nobody wants to be pared to manage the patients—who cases and deaths will be incomplete on,” Fogle said. hadn’t tested negative for the virus because the Trump administration told nursing homes that they need Residents in nursing homes— before leaving the hospital. and the staff who care for them— “New York has done a lot right report only cases that occurred after have been among the hardest hit by during this crisis, but that was a real May 6, when it issued regulations on Covid-19. They represent an outsize misstep,” said David Grabowski, a the matter. They can provide inforportion of deaths from the disease. professor of health care policy at mation on earlier cases and deaths About 5,900 residents have died in Harvard Medical School who stud- on a voluntarily basis. Furthermore, early on in the panNew York’s nursing homes, or about ies long-term care. “By mandating 20% of the 29,500 who have or are that nursing homes admit demic, there weren’t many protopresumed to have died from Covid-positive patients, it put nurs- cols in place to ensure staffers Covid-19 in the state as of May 26, ing homes in a really challenging weren’t the ones spreading the viaccording to data from the state and position. Many nursing homes rus. “The reality is, the biggest cause Johns Hopkins University. Nursing don’t have the ability to do this care home residents make up about 1.2% safely. In order to care for of infections we have seen have of New York’s population. Covid-positive patients, you need to been asymptomatic staff and paThe facilities were always ex- cohort them separate from other tients,” said James Clyne Jr., presipected to be vulnerable. Nursing residents in the building, staff need dent of LeadingAge New York, a home residents are older and typi- to have adequate [personal protec- trade group for nonprofit senior cally need round-the-clock care. tive equipment], you need to have care facilities. “Asymptomatic staff They frequently battle multiple infection-control policies. You need could be walking around the facility and you’d have no idea.” TOTAL COVID-19 FATALITIES AT CITY NURSING HOMES Testing is essential to mitigating that Confirmed Presumed problem. Bronx 268 452 In mid-May, nursing homes were reBrooklyn 543 238 quired to attest to the Department of Manhattan 254 176 Health that they were complying with Queens 484 438 biweekly staff testing. If they failed to Staten Island 103 submit documenta160 0 200 400 600 800 1,000 tion, they risked penalties from DOH. Note: Data is as of May 26. Source: State Department of Health The Hebrew Home at Riverdale estichronic conditions, such as high to have a whole set of protocols that mates it will spend about $1 million a month screening its 1,000 workers blood pressure. State data show many nursing homes don’t have.” 90% of people who died of More than 4,500 Covid-19-posi- for Covid-19 twice a week. In the Covid-19 had at least one existing tive patients were moved from hos- first few days of testing, the nursing chronic illness. pitals into nursing homes as of May home identified 22 asymptomatic That vulnerability was well known 22, according to a calculation by the cases, said David Pomeranz, chief operating officer. to public officials. As early as their Associated Press. “The ability to expand and imMarch 2 joint press conference, By May 10 the state reversed its Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill position and barred hospitals from prove the accuracy and timeline of de Blasio highlighted nursing discharging patients to nursing testing until there’s a vaccine is realhomes and other senior housing fa- homes until they had tested nega- ly the key,” he said. cilities as an area of emphasis. Cuo- tive for the virus. Cuomo said then mo, whose Department of Health is that nursing homes were required ‘Fair shake’ responsible for regulating the facili- throughout the crisis to admit only Many of the city’s nonprofit facilities, had described Covid-19 in patients they could appropriately ties had a strong reputation for nursing homes as “fire in dry grass.” care for. They could face penalties or quality before the pandemic but But public health officials struggled lose their license for doing other- have come to report some of the to get outbreaks within facilities un- wise. highest rates of confirmed Covid-19 der control. Richard Mollot, who leads the deaths. As the state enters its fourth watchdog group the Long Term Parker Jewish Institute for Health month battling the virus, senior fa- Care Community Coalition, said he Care and Rehabilitation in Queens, cilities are looking back on how the doesn’t buy that facilities that with 527 beds, led all facilities as of pandemic was able to take such a lacked adequate staffing or safety May 26 in the state’s fatality data, toll—and working to make sure gear for workers were turning away with 82 confirmed deaths. something like this never happens patients. Because the nursing home had again. “There are enormous incentives access to testing as early as March, it 10 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | JUNE 1, 2020

was able to report accurate statistics to the Department of Health and had a better handle on what was occurring , said Michael Rosenblut, Parker Jewish’s CEO. The data on fatalities don’t show homes' size or how many people died compared to the number of Covid-19 cases even though the state has that data. “All we’re asking for as an organization is a fair shake when it comes to the presentation of the data,” Rosenblut said. New Jewish Home is one of several nonprofit facilities that have lost dozens of residents to Covid-19. Its Manhattan facility lost 46 patients who were confirmed positive by lab tests and six AN 1199SEIU more who were premember participates sumed to have died in a silent vigil from the disease. outside a nursing The 514-bed Manhome in Brooklyn. hattan facility’s size and the fact that it treated many residents on-site and staff. In the model, nursing aswithout sending them to the hospi- sistants build relationships with patal contributed to its higher number tients while performing cooking, of fatalities, said Dr. Jeffrey Farber, housekeeping and caregiving duCEO of the New Jewish Home, a ties. nonprofit that operates nursing “When you know somebody realhomes on the Upper West Side and ly well, you could pick up atypical in Mamaroneck in Westchester behavior. You know someone isn’t County. Patient deaths that occur in eating as much as they normally eat hospitals are not included in the because you prepare the meals,” skilled-nursing facility fatality data. Farber said. “You can get testing New Jewish Home said new faster, make a diagnosis and move Covid-19 cases fell 80% across its fa- the patient out to the [Covid-19-poscilities in the 30-day period ending itive] cohort of units that we have.” May 16, compared to the period Rosenblut of Parker Jewish said from mid-March to mid-April. his facility used telemedicine ser“April was a difficult month—a vices throughout the outbreak and tragic month. May’s been much bet- operates one of those specialized ter,” Farber said. “We’re optimistic Medicare plans, which are known the worst of the pandemic is behind as institutional special-needs plans. us.” They allow facilities to fund more clinicians without raising costs for A way forward patients, he said. He said the nursing home is also The crisis surely will lead nursing home administrators to reconsider making physical changes to its facilthe way patients are cared for. ity, such as adding ultraviolet light Among the ideas Harvard's to disinfect its HVAC system and inGrabowski believes will get a longer stalling Plexiglas in its gift shop to look in the wake of the pandemic separate workers from customers. “We’re heartsick about the numare using telemedicine services, creating specialized Medicare Ad- ber of residents that passed away at vantage plans for the homes and Parker and across the country,” Rosenblut said. “Now we’re thinkpursuing smaller settings. “I don’t think this is going to lead ing about if and when there’s a next to the medicalization of nursing wave. As a country, we need to take homes,” Grabowski said. “But I do a serious look and make a serious think it’s going to lead us to essen- investment in our elder-care system tially rethink how we deliver medi- to make sure facilities are properly funded so they can make these incal care in nursing homes.” Concerningly, many of those vestments.” As for Fogle and his coworkers at big-picture strategies are already in Holliswood, no matter the challengpractice at hard-hit homes. The New Jewish Home, for exam- es, they’ve been committed to prople, already has small houses at its viding the crucial services nursing Sarah Neuman campus in Mama- home residents rely on since the roneck, which has been helpful beginning of the crisis, no matter what. during the pandemic, Farber said. “We knew that we were essential Small houses, a derivation of the national Green House Project, serve workers,” he said. “I knew I had to only 10 to 12 people. They include actually show up to work and tried private bedrooms and bathrooms to provide the same kind of care that and common areas for residents we always tried to provide.” ■

JONATHAN LAMANTIA

CORONAVIRUS ALERT

REAL ESTATE

SL Green sues Chetrit over failed Daily News Building deal Green wants to keep the $35M security deposit BY RYAN DEFFENBAUGH

L Green Realty Corp. sued the Chetrit Group last week to keep a $35 million security deposit still being held in escrow from the failed Daily News Building deal, which collapsed following the start of the pandemic. The $814 million deal went south after Chetrit said it could no longer purchase the 37-story building on East 42nd Street because a lender had pulled out.

tle Insurance Co., a co-defendant in the lawsuit, which was filed May 25 in state Supreme Court in Manhattan. A lawyer for the would-be buyer sent a letter rejecting Green’s notice of default to Fidelity and asked the company to withhold the deposit from the building owner, according to the lawsuit.

Holding deposit Fidelity told the companies that it would hold the deposit until it had an authorization signed by both parties or a “final determination of the rights of the parties in an appropriate proceeding.” Green filed the lawsuit on the first day the state courts reopened since shutting down in March in response to the pandemic. The company is also seeking lawyer’s fees from Chetrit. Andrew Mathias, SL Green’s president, told investors in April that the company could seek a new joint-venture partner on the

The lender is not named in the lawsuit, but The Wall Street Journal previously reported it was Deutsche Bank AG. Green declared Chetrit in default of its obligation to close the deal and asked for the security deposit from an escrow account managed by Fidelity National Ti-

BLOOMBERG

GREEN FILED THE LAWSUIT ON THE FIRST DAY THE STATE COURTS REOPENED SINCE SHUTTING DOWN IN MARCH

building. The building, home to the New York Daily News for several decades, now hosts the WPIX televi-

sion station, United Nations offices and the headquarters for the Visiting Nurse Service of New York, among other tenants.

A representative with the Chetrit Group did not immediately return a request for comment last week. ■

REAL ESTATE

Rosen seeks $300M to purchase 522 Fifth Ave. The deal is said to be moving forward with the original price tag

real estate rut isn’t going to stop Aby Rosen. The international mogul is on the hunt for a $300 million loan to purchase 522 Fifth Ave. from Morgan Stanley. Rosen’s RFR Realty, which owns some of the city’s iconic office properties, such as the Chrysler Building and the Seagram Building, went into contract on the $350 million deal with Morgan Stanley in March before the pandemic battered the market, Crain’s reported. The terms of a loan would be five years and include a lease-

years of tenancy, which brings the promise of cash flow to help reduce the loan balance over time. RFR declined to comment.

More space A company such as Morgan Stanley will find it needs more space for its employees than it does now, even as it introduces more remote work, said Eric Anton, a senior managing director at Marcus and Millichap. That reduces the risk of tenants moving out, Anton said. Although the financing is not a sure bet, the deal is moving forward with the original $350 million price tag, a source with knowledge of the matter has confirmed. Banks are already being more selective about the business they take on as dismal rent-collection rates are causing panic for landlords big and small who have mortgages. The pace of commercial loan closings dropped 12% in March, according to CBRE’s Lending Momentum Index. The brokerage

BANKS ARE ALREADY BEING MORE SELECTIVE ABOUT THE BUSINESS THEY TAKE ON back guarantee to make lenders less wary of backing a large acquisition at a time like this, said Commercial Mortgage Alert, which first reported the news of the loan. Morgan Stanley agreed to five

firm expects the trend to continue through the quarter. “Property types especially hard hit by occupancy issues or rent collections have become very difficult to finance,” Brian Stoffers, global president of debt and structured finance for capital markets at CBRE, said in a recent report. Office spaces, however, have been reporting higher rent-collection rates than retail spaces, which gives Rosen a leg up. Industry players also told Crain’s that larger banks with the resources to lend to a big buyer such as Rosen are focusing on existing, longer-term relationships they have with clients. With some significant skin in the game, Rosen may just find a backer. The 550,000 square feet of office space he is buying does not include the retail space at the bottom of the 23-story building, which Ben Ashkenazy purchased from Morgan Stanley for $170 million in 2014. The building was previously owned by another bank, JPMorgan Chase, until it was sold to the Rockpoint Group and Stellar Management in 2005. ■

522 Fifth Ave. is currently owned by Morgan Stanley.

COURTESY OF COSTAR

BY NATALIE SACHMECHI

JUNE 1, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 11

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Many of the facts and figures associated with this country’s LGBTQ business and civic community are eye-opening, perhaps none more so than its nearly $2 trillion in estimated annual economic output. With New York continuing to be at the vanguard of LGBTQ demographics and achievement, Crain’s New York Business expected that the 70 honorees on its inaugural Notable LGBTQ Leaders and Executives list would be an equally attention-grabbing—not to mention, eclectic—bunch. And so they are. The members of this group of accomplished, ambitious and often trailblazing individuals represent all manner of organizations, industries and occupations, including media, finance, government, health care, professional services, tech and the arts. To find the honorees, Crain’s consulted with trusted sources in the LGBTQ and general business communities. At the same time, Crain’s carefully vetted the nominations submitted by firms or individuals headquartered in the metropolitan area or having a major influence or presence there. Ultimately the LGBTQ leaders and executives were selected for their career accomplishments, their mentorship of others, and their involvement in community and industry organizations. To understand the ways members of this diverse professional cohort deliver for New York City, please read their profiles that follow.

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Chief crypto officer

Director of development

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Vault12

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Having worked with the founding team at AlphaPoint on the world’s first crypto trading exchange solutions, Wasim Ahmad is a true crypto pioneer. At Valut12, where he is chief crypto officer, Ahmad focuses on expanding that company’s ecosystem and advises on artificial intelligence, blockchain and encryption solutions. He led private and public fundraising at Vault12 for one of the first security token offerings. Ahmad is a serial entrepreneur, to boot; he was a founding member of Voltage Security, a software company that launched identity-based encryption—a breakthrough in public-key cryptography—and promoted sophisticated data encryption to protect payment systems worldwide. Ahmad is a board adviser for StartOut New York, which empowers LGBTQ entrepreneurs, and a mentor for accelerators Seedcamp and WeWork Labs.

The Leslie-Lohman is the rare museum dedicated to LGBTQ artists and the queer experience—and Eduardo Ayala Fuentes is charged with keeping its coffers full. As the director of development, he oversees fundraising strategy at the SoHo institution and many individual donor opportunities, including large-scale gifts, individual and corporate membership, partnerships and special events. Ayala Fuentes cultivates donors that might benefit the museum with their programmatic support and largesse. Previously he raised money for the High Line, El Museo del Barrio and the Americas Society/Council of the Americas.

RegentAtlantic Barbara Bilello, a wealth adviser who specializes in financial management for high-networth clients, understands that amassing a significant fortune generally requires a strategic vision that factors in current and future generations. At RegentAtlantic, she partners with clients to define their wealth management priorities, then formulates custom plans to meet those objectives. Bilello, whose main focus in working with same-sex couples, helps clients arrive at holistic strategies in which investment management and trust and estate planning are intertwined. Since the start of her financial services career in 1994, she has worked at Goldman Sachs and U.S. Trust. Bilello volunteers at her local chapter of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, and she has served on the board of Leading for Children, a nonprofit that provides early learning experiences.

Communications strategist and former head of press advance

Troy Blackwell’s penchant for storytelling takes several forms: communications strategy, LGBTQ advocacy and public relations work in the political realm. As the head of press logistics for philanthropist Tom Steyer, Blackwell managed the presidential candidate’s traveling press and broadcast operations, a role similar to the one he had held with Sen. Kamala Harris. In 2019, as senior director of the Big Apple Awards, a program established by the New York chapter of the Public Relations Society of America to recognize PR excellence, Blackwell drove partnerships with more than 50 PR agencies in diversity pipeline initiatives. The former Obama White House intern is on the boards of the Museum of Public Relations, the National Puerto Rican Day Parade and the New York chapter of the Black Public Relations Society. Blackwell helped drive the PR industry’s first event to celebrate the LGBTQ members in its community.

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WASIM AHMAD

A fair description of E. Jaguar Beckford might be that of Renaissance woman, given that she’s an entertainment executive, author, artist, designer and lawyer. Beckford, a mentee of attorney Johanan Vigoda, has earned considerable success with her litigation prowess and contract-brokering skills. She helped to negotiate a complex deal with Warner Bros. Records involving producer David Foster. In addition, she has represented a bevy of artists and co-produced the Benson & Hedges Blues concert series. But Beckford’s pet project is Jag & Co., a clothing line she launched “because there was no place for masculine-presenting women” to shop comfortably. She is the founder of Rainbow Fashion Week, an eight-day event praised by Mayor Bill de Blasio.

The National LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce was founded in 2002. Source: National LGBT Chamber of Commerce 12 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | JUNE 1, 2020

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JONAH BOKAER

SHAMEEK BOSE

RICHARD BURNS

YVETTE BURTON

RENEE CAMPION

Founder and Choreographer

Lead for North America

Interim executive director

Jonah Bokaer Arts Foundation

World Economic Forum

Drug Policy Alliance

Vice president, workforce solutions and intelligence

Commissioner, Office of Labor Relations

Lockheed Martin

The City of New York

Jonah Bokaer’s career is a study in combinations: choreography and visual art, dance tours and nonprofit work, America and the Middle East. In one part of his life, he runs the nonprofit Jonah Bokaer Arts Foundation, which fosters the development of new performance works across disciplines, provides arts education in underserved areas and establishes affordable studios for artists. Through another entity, Jonah Bokaer Choreography, he creates many original works and leads a multiethnic dance troupe of eight—one of the few to tour the Middle East (including Israel), North Africa and South Asia equally. Bokaer’s innovations are frequently recognized with prizes, philanthropic support and humanitarian acknowledgement.

In an era in which rapid-fire change is the rule, not the exception, Shameek Bose helps companies remain dynamic and relevant. The business strategist, who has a keen interest in marketing and 15 years’ business-to-business sales experience, spots trends and designs innovative models that allow companies to flourish. Bose has built a reputation for developing organizations by finding value in unlikely places. Bose, a frequent adviser to C-suite executives, has brokered several multimillion dollar partnerships. His time at the World Economic Forum is devoted to helping businesses scale up, an important part of which, to Bose, is creating sustainable business models with positive global impact.

Richard Burns has made a career of being there when needed. He has served as interim executive director for a number of organizations, including Lambda Legal, the Johnson Family Foundation, Funders for LGBTQ Issues, the Stonewall Community Foundation and now the Drug Policy Alliance—working his nonprofit management magic at each stop. Burns, a lawyer by trade, has spent time as chief operating officer of the Arcus Foundation, executive director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in New York City and on the advisory board of the Center for HIV Law and Policy. He developed and led the Arcus Foundation LGBT Leadership Initiative, a national mentoring program for executive directors working in social justice.

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@ ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG FOUND

Jonah Bokaer Choreography

professor and academic director Columbia University

Yvette Burton, with decades of experience in human capital systems, is a scholar-practitioner in business strategy. Burton focuses on scalable solutions that enable both growth and innovation. Indeed, the professor of professional practice in human capital management at Columbia University walks her talk every day as vice president of workforce solutions and intelligence at Lockheed Martin. In that role, she has implemented integrated talent and workforce strategies to advance the aerospace and defense company’s objectives. Burton held various senior roles at Deloitte and IBM, and she was interim chief executive officer of the Arcus Foundation, which focuses on LGBTQ rights, social justice and conservation.

As commissioner of labor relations, Renee Campion serves New York City by managing the relationship between two institutions that are almost preternaturally at odds: municipal government and its unions. As the mayor’s representative to the majority of the people who work for him, Campion says the key to her Herculean task is cultivating mutual respect between employer and employees—which she endeavors to do on a daily basis. Campion became the first female labor commissioner in the city’s history after holding various positions in the labor relations office since 2002. Earlier she worked for the Doctors Council, a labor union representing New York-based physicians and dentists.

EUGENIE CESAR-FABIAN

THOMAS “TJ” CHERNICK

MATTHEW CIPOLLA

ANTHONY CROWELL

GUILLERMO DIAZ-FANAS

General counsel, chief compliance officer, partner

Director

Partner, investigations, compliance and defense practice

Dean and president; professor of law

Senior technical principal in multihazard resilience

aign

Palladium Equity Partners

Jenner & Block LLP

New York Law School

WSP USA

Matthew D. Cipolla has received quite a bit of recognition during his legal career. In 2016 the lawyer was lauded by the New York Law Journal as a “rising star” and by the National LGBT Bar Association as one of the Best 40 Under 40 legal professionals in the country. This year he was named a Top 40 Under 40 leading global investigations specialist by Global Investigations Review. As a partner at Jenner & Block’s investigations, compliance and defense practice, Cipolla has overseen his share of high-profile cases, including the monitoring of Credit Suisse AG after its landmark $715 million settlement with the New York state Department of Financial Services.

Anthony W. Crowell has come a long way from receiving his Juris Doctor degree in the evenings while working full time to becoming the 16th dean and president of New York Law School. Under his leadership, NYLS has received its share of accolades, and Crowell himself has been honored as Faculty Member of the Year by the NYLS Black Law Students Association. In his prior role as counselor to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Crowell worked on numerous civil rights and government-access initiatives affecting women, immigrants and people with disabilities. In addition, Crowell was the mayor’s liaison to the LGBTQ+ community. In that position he worked on landmark initiatives to advance the community’s rights.

Guillermo Diaz-Fanas, a licensed engineer, specializes in recovery and disaster planning in his work with multilateral organizations, nongovernmental organizations and governmental institutions. In 10 years, Diaz-Fanas has been involved in high-profile projects such as New York City’s Build-It-Back Program in the wake of Superstorm Sandy and an investigation of building damage in Mexico City after the 2017 earthquake. He has received many honors and awards, including the 2020 Earthquake Engineering Research Institute Younger Member Award. In 2019 Engineering News-Record New York recognized him as a Top 20 Under 40 professional in the New York area. Diaz-Fanas is the founding president of the Queer Advocacy & Knowledge Exchange, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering LGBTQIA+ individuals in architecture, engineering and construction.

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After an early foray at Hughes Hubbard & Reed, Eugenie Cesar-Fabian represented financial services firms and executives at the now-shuttered Boston law firm Bingham McCutchen. Today, as a partner at Palladium, she provides the venerable private-equity firm with general counsel and compliance advisement. Committed to giving back, Cesar-Fabian is a board member of the alumni association at St. John’s University School of Law—where she has also taught as an adjunct professor—as well as a member of the Financial Women’s Association. For a time she also sat on the board of Artsgenesis, an organization that creates educational programs focused on skill building and art.

Behind every successful organization is a talented juggler. Exhibit A: Thomas Chernick at the New York branch of the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce. Chernick is charged with overseeing a multitude of logistics at the organization— which calls itself “the business voice of the LGBT community”—and works with its Washington, D.C. chapter to support the chamber’s mission of advancing economic opportunities on a local level. He has coordinated international gender projects in Iraq with the International Human Rights Law Institute and served as a program officer for the International Fulbright Scholar Program. Chernick, an avid writer and cellist, was included on the 2019 Pride Power 100 list by the news organization City & State New York.

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The estimated 1.4

million LGBTQ business owners in the U.S. account for $1.7 trillion in economic output annually. Source: National LGBT Chamber of Commerce JUNE 1, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 13

MITCH DRAIZIN

DR. ERICK EITING

JEFF ELGART

SARAH KATE ELLIS

JAMES FELTON KEITH

Owner

Vice chair of operations

Chief corporate officer

President and CEO

President

Longview Capital

Department of Emergency Medicine, Mount Sinai Beth Israel

Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City

Glaad

The Data Union

Dr. Erick A. Eiting has spent his career advocating for vulnerable patient populations. Today he is vice chair of operations in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Mount Sinai, as well as the medical director for quality at the Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery. His most notable achievements involve efforts to improve access to care for incarcerated patients. This encompassed his work for NYC Health + Hospitals, the Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center and the USC Correctional Health Program. His award-winning interventions generated millions of dollars in savings for Los Angeles County while ensuring that more incarcerated patients got the care they needed.

In 1993 Jeff Elgart decided to volunteer at Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City. Some 27 years later, Elgart is still connected to his “little brother,” but his involvement with the storied organization now plays out on a much broader scale. After a long career, ranging from media sales to nonprofit administration, in 2013 Elgart became the chief corporate officer for the BBBS, with responsibility for the daily operations of the Workplace Mentoring Program. In this multidimensional role, Elgart is tasked with expanding the roster of participating corporate partners, developing cause-related marketing programs and overseeing day-to-day operations of the professional skills-building program, which boasts a 98% on-time high school graduation rate and a 95% college-enrollment rate.

Among the many influential spokespeople for LGBTQ acceptance, Sarah Kate Ellis is one of the community’s most powerful advocates. Ellis was named president and chief executive officer of Glaad, formerly the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, in early 2014 after a thriving career as a media executive. Through creative campaigns and other programs, she has expertly leveraged Glaad’s position as the world’s leading media advocacy organization to demand fair coverage of the LGBTQ community. Under her leadership, Glaad has launched the Trump Accountability Project, the Glaad Media Institute and the Campus Ambassador Program, among other successful initiatives. Ellis is often invited to share her expertise on the world stage, speaking at the Cannes Lion International Festival of Creativity, Princeton University, the World Economic Forum and elsewhere.

According to The Data Union’s homepage: “This economy is built on people’s data. It’s time to pay us back with income equality for the mining extract and distribution of our data.” That’s the vision of company boss James Felton Keith, an award-winning engineer and economist. Keith is an ethnographer of technology— someone who studies the culture of tech—who’s spent 20 years fixating on how to get equity into the hands of people who have little but whose data input promotes massive productivity. He hosts a weekly radio show and has greatly influenced 21st-century global cyber policy. Keith, the first black member of the LGBT community to run for Congress, previously founded an LGBT Chamber of Commerce and Pride Nights at the NBA, NHL, MLB and NFL.

Mitchell Draizin’s board work is as eclectic as it is time-consuming. Among the dozen or so organizations he serves are the Congressional Award Foundation, Thalia Spanish Theater and the Housing Rights Initiative. LGBTQ causes are a notable theme in his paying-it-forward life. Draizin, the founder of the real estate financial services firm Longview Capital Advisors, is president of both the Concordia Philanthropic Fund, which supports youth leadership initiatives in the LGBTQ and other progressive spheres, and the City University of New York LGBT Leadership Council. He is on the National Leadership Council of the Lambda Legal Educational and Defense Fund. In addition, he is on the Hunter College President’s Advisory Board for its LGBT Public Policy Center and the board of the American LGBTQ+ Historical and Cultural Museum.

At Lenox Health Greenwich Village, we’re dedicated to making a positive impact in New York City We’re proud to share this mission with the honorees of Crain’s inaugural “Notable LGBTQ Leaders and Executives” List Congratulations to our own Wayne Kawadler, Director of Community Relations at Lenox Health Greenwich Village, on this significant achievement. Alex Hellinger Executive Director Michael J. Dowling President & CEO

14 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | JUNE 1, 2020

Congratulations to all

Crain’s New York Business Notable LGBTQ Leaders and Executives especially our own

RICH McCUNE

Richard V. McCune SVP, Regional Manager Entertainment Banking

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JULIE FINK

ARTHUR FITTING

JOHN GALLAGHER

STEVEN GARIBELL

JOSEPH GIRVEN

Managing partner

LGBT program manager

Partner

Executive director

Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP

Visiting Nurse Service of New York

Mercury Public Affairs

Vice president, LGBTQ2+ business development

As one of the youngest managing (and named) partners at a major law firm, Julie Fink, 39, has demonstrated her relentless commitment to diversity, inclusion and justice. Aside from her work in product liability and mass tort, employment class action and antitrust litigation, Fink has a robust pro bono and public interest practice. Currently she represents high-profile clients in the #MeToo Movement and 10 plaintiffs in a groundbreaking lawsuit against a group of white supremacists. Fink is an unceasing advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, co-authoring articles and amicus briefs on LGBTQ+ rights, participating as a member in Pfizer’s Global LGBT Colleague Council and serving on the board of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis.

After losing his partner during the AIDS crisis, Arthur Fitting decided he was going to use his health care experience to support the LGBTQ community. To do that, he realized he needed a health care model that would achieve the highest quality of care while bringing value to patients. Now his team at Visiting Nurse Service of New York is dedicated to doing just that. Fitting has spent his career at VNSNY working with community-based organizations to help identify gaps in care for LGBTQ community members and developing community access to a high-quality home health program—one that protects health care rights and allows patients to age with dignity.

John Gallagher’s experience in communications and public affairs is hard to match. As a partner at Mercury Public Affairs, Gallagher specializes in media relations and strategic and crisis communications for a preeminent group of clients. Before Mercury, Gallagher was senior vice president of public affairs for Tishman Construction Company and first deputy press secretary to Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He also worked for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which spearheaded planning for the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan after 9/11. In addition to his communications work, Gallagher sat on the Empire State Pride Agenda board. He now sits on several other boards, including that of the New York League of Conservation Voters.

James Lenox House Association Inc. and Carnegie East House

Animating Steven Garibell’s career is a deeply held belief that all humans deserve a real shot at success. As a vice president at TD Bank, he leads the company’s efforts to increase the hiring of LGBTQ professionals and to provide banking services to that community. This commitment to strengthening LGBTQ markets and neighborhoods is no recent development; earlier Garibell helped build Wells Fargo’s Pride Business Resource Group in New Jersey. He teaches financial literacy classes sponsored by the New York City Department of Small Business Services. Garibell, who has volunteered for the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, has earned many honors, including a Gay City News Impact Award for outstanding achievement.

SAUL ROBBINS

TD Bank

Joseph Girven is a true champion for both the elderly and the disabled. The licensed social worker directs two Upper East Side residences for New Yorkers of a certain age: James Lenox House, which provides independent housing and support services to senior citizens at below-market rates; and Carnegie East House, which provides housing for elderly residents who require assistance with their daily activities. Before that, Girven spent 13 years in a senior position at Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, a social services and educational organization. He was a board treasurer for Concerts in Motion, a nonprofit that brings music to homebound and disabled veterans.

Congratulations Russell Granet New 42 President & CEO

For dedicating your life’s work to performing arts accessibility and equity

For empowering artists, educators and NYC youth

For believing that arts are a right that start at birth

WE GIVE YOU A STANDING OVATION! – NEW 42 BOARD MEMBERS & STAFF

Making extraordinary performing arts a vital part of everyone’s life from the earliest years onward 16 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | JUNE 1, 2020

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RUSSELL GRANET

JENNIFER HATCH

FABRICE HOUDART

Founder and CEO

CEO

President and CEO

President and managing partner

Bespoke Surgical

Trans in the Wild and Cyrus Golestan Photography

New 42

Christopher Street Financial

Managing director for global equality initiatives

Russell Granet says access to the arts should not be a privilege of the fortunate few. As president of New 42, a nonprofit connecting people to performances and creative communities, he works every day to broaden that access. Previously Granet led fundraising and community outreach programs at Lincoln Center, focusing on young autistic and low-income patrons. He is the founder of Arts Education Resource, a consulting group that helps schools and other institutions achieve arts equity and inclusion. Granet, formerly a teaching artist in the city’s public schools, developed and taught a course at New York University called Drama with Special Populations. He has served on the boards of several arts-related associations.

Years in the rough-and-tumble world of investment trading and institutional sales had Jennifer Hatch looking for work that was more gratifying than debating with portfolio managers. Now the president of Christopher Street Financial, an investment management and financial planning firm specializing in LGBTQ couples and individuals, Hatch says she has found her calling. “Every individual who walks through our door has their own unique financial situation and their own emotional issues about wealth,” she says. “What really jazzes me is coaching them to make smart life decisions and to live their very best life.” Hatch, a certified financial planner, previously worked at JPMorgan Chase and Bear Stearns.

Dr. Evan Goldstein, a physician who isn’t one for obfuscatory jargon or social taboos, says sexual health and wellness education is best delivered in an open, conversational manner. Goldstein, the founder and CEO of Bespoke Surgical, a bicoastal practice specializing in gay men, is committed to raising awareness of gay health issues while eliminating the stigmas surrounding them. He is a recognized thought leader in this area who has been published in Out, Business Insider and GQ, among other national news platforms. Goldstein supports many LGBT-focused nonprofits, and he founded a scholarship program for college students in that community.

Cyrus Golestan is a transgender entrepreneur, photographer, educator and writer who channels his considerable talents into Trans in the Wild, a nonprofit that empowers the trans and gender-expansive community through workshops and events. From self-acceptance and coming out to legal name changes and finding affirming medical providers, Golestan mentors trans individuals through all the stations along their journey. He was named a 40 Under 40 LGBTQ Leader by Business Equality Network Magazine, and he has spoken at the Out & Equal Workplace Summit, among other platforms. Golestan operates Cyrus Golestan Photography, which serves an array of clients and donates videography and photography services to nonprofits.

GERRI HERNANDEZ

DR. EVAN GOLDSTEIN

Out Leadership

Fabrice Houdart arrived at his role at Out Leadership—a global LGBT+ business network that strives to make equality a priority in C-suites—quite equal to the task. As a former human rights officer at the U.N., Houdart had co-authored and led the United Nations Global LGBTI standards of conduct for business, the largest corporate social responsibility initiative in the domain. Before that he had spent more than 14 years at the World Bank in Washington, D.C., in various roles involved in economic development for Central Asia and Maghreb countries. Houdart is an avid nonprofit volunteer—he’s on the boards of eight—and he has earned many business and human rights awards.

JUNE 1, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 17

Green-Wood congratulates our own

KEVIN JENNINGS Executive director Lambda Legal

NEELA WICKREMESINGHE The Robert A. and Elizabeth Rohn Jeffe Director of Restoration and Preservation as one of Crain’s New York Business’ Notable LGBTQ Leaders and Executives In addition to restoring Green-Wood’s monuments and mausoleums throughout the year, Neela leads the Bridge to Crafts Careers workforce development initiative for young people entering the field of masonry restoration.

Kevin Jennings is a committed warrior for the LGBT cause whose efforts on that front began in 1988 with his involvement in the creation of the first school-based Gay-Straight Alliance club. That precipitated his founding of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, which he led for 18 years. After serving as assistant deputy secretary of education for President Barack Obama, Jennings led the Arcus Foundation, the world’s largest organization for LGBT rights. He is now the executive director at Lambda Legal, a civil rights group that leverages education, litigation and public policy work to better the lives of LGBT individuals and those living with HIV/AIDS. Jennings, an award-winning author of seven books, is engaged in various community causes.

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DR. MITCHELL KATZ President and CEO NYC Health + Hospitals

It’s no easy time to be chief executive officer of New York City’s municipal health system—the largest in the United States—but Dr. Mitchell Katz is bringing a boatload of experience to bear as he leads the system’s response to Covid-19. As director of the San Francisco Department of Public Health, the physician helped that city respond to its HIV/AIDS crisis. Katz held a directorial role at the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, where he created an ambulatory care network, erased the deficit and introduced an electronic health system. Currently he concentrates on transforming the public health care system by expanding access to primary care and reducing administrative costs. Katz is a deputy editor of JAMA Internal Medicine, a peer-reviewed journal.

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WAYNE KAWADLER Director of community relations, Lenox Health Greenwich Village Northwell Health

Congratulations

Health care, government policy and advocacy fall within Wayne Kawadler’s broad scope. As director of community relations at Lenox Health Greenwich Village, Kawadler fosters partnerships among the health care center, its host neighborhood and the LGBT community. He also is responsible for implementing a variety of community enhancing programs, including free flu shots, CPR classes and transgender medical information lectures. Kawadler, a co-chair of Northwell Health’s LGBT-focused employee resource group, is credited with developing a training program for hospital employees serving the transgender community. In addition, his extensive activism has benefited LGBT individuals, women in underserved areas and HIV/AIDS patients.

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SABRINA KENT Senior vice president National LGBT Chamber of Commerce

Ronald E. Richter

Crain’s New York Business Notable LGBTQ Leaders & Executives

Thank you for your vision, dedication, and leadership on behalf of the young people of New York City, their families, and all people who share our commitment to repair the world, child by child. From the Trustees and Staff of

For good reason was Sabrina Kent recognized last year by Business Equality Magazine as a Top 40 LGBT Leader Under 40. Kent, a member of the executive leadership at the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, toils daily for the economic empowerment of LGBT-owned businesses in the U.S. and abroad. She oversees the organization’s supplier diversity initiative, and—a former intern herself—she leads its internship program. In addition, Kent works on the organization’s global team, focusing on its growing efforts in India. She is the secretary of the board of directors of Q Street, an organization that supports LGBT advocates and lobbyists in the Washington, D.C., area. Previously she was the editor in chief of The Independent magazine.

DR. SANDRA KESH Deputy medical director Westmed Medical Group

Sandra Kesh’s path to medicine acclaim was forged through New York’s most illustrious medical institutions. After receiving her degree from the Weill Medical College of Cornell University, where she was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, Kesh completed an internship and residency at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. She then spent a year researching infectious diseases at Memorial Sloan-Kettering. She has held various directorial roles at Westmed and sits on the medical board of White Plains Hospital. Kesh has been recognized for her medical expertise in the Top Doctors editions of U.S. News & World Report, New York Magazine and Westchester Magazine.

18 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | JUNE 1, 2020

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DAVID LAUTERSTEIN Founder and CEO Nasty Pig

Prescient vision, cockeyed optimism and an initial investment of $50 have snowballed in the past quarter-century into a multimillion-dollar international menswear brand catering to the LGBTQ community. In response to the AIDS crisis, David Lauterstein created Nasty Pig, an outwardly queer brand for customers who wish to boldly champion their sexuality. The company, which prides itself on speaking directly to gay men, was founded in 1994 by Lauterstein and his husband, Frederick Kearney. When not running his business, Lauterstein enjoys writing poetry and making house music.

RAYMOND LEWIS Principal RP Lewis & Associates

Raymond Lewis mobilizes his creative flair, innumerable contacts and strategic thinking to make the bold statements his eponymous marketing and public relations boutique is known for. No job is too big or small for RP Lewis & Associates. The high-profile events the firm has worked on range from the grand opening of an auto dealership in Harlem to the Red, White & Blue Ball in celebration of President Barack Obama’s second inauguration. Lewis, a staunch supporter of women’s empowerment and the LGBTQ community, has received a Man of Vision Award from the women’s auxiliary of the National Action Network. In addition, he has received a Pride Power award for community service.

JACQUELINE LICALZI

joins in congratulating Renee Campion Commissioner, Office of Labor Relations, The City of New York

and to all the Notable LGBTQ Leaders & Executives

Proskauer is a leading law firm, providing a wide range of legal services to clients worldwide. To learn more about the firm, visit Proskauer.com. Proskauer Rose LLP | Eleven Times Square, New York, NY 10036-8299 | 212.969.3000 | Attorney Advertising

Managing director, global head of regulatory relations Morgan Stanley

Jacqueline LiCalzi wears a lot of hats at Morgan Stanley. In addition to managing the investment firm’s regulatory relations, she is its senior point of contact with the Federal Reserve, co-chair of its LGBT employee network, chair of the bank’s political action committee and a member of several others. LiCalzi, an attorney, joined Morgan Stanley after stints at Credit Suisse, UBS and Davis Polk & Wardwell. She clerked for a federal district judge in the Southern District of New York. LiCalzi is on the executive committee of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association’s Compliance and Legal Society, and she is on the board of the Theatre Development Fund, a nonprofit for the performing arts.

PROSKAUER_Notable_LGBTQ_Leaders_&_Executives_2020_6x6_V4_CROPS.indd 1

5/20/2020 1:59:13 PM

KELSEY LOUIE CEO Gay Men’s Health Crisis

With a data-driven management style, a focus on quality improvement programs and a commitment to staff development, Kelsey Louie brings an intellectually rigorous and human-centered approach to running the nation’s leading provider of HIV/AIDS care, prevention services and advocacy. The GMHC, formerly the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, serves 13,000 New Yorkers with AIDS or HIV annually, offering HIV and STI testing, nutrition counseling, legal support, housing and mental health services. Louie, a member of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s task force to end the AIDS crisis in New York, sits on the boards of several HIV/AIDS-related organizations.

JONATHAN LOVITZ Senior vice president National LGBT Chamber of Commerce

Not many change advocates can brag about enshrining their favorite causes into law—but Jonathan Lovitz can. As senior vice president of the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, Lovitz is both national press secretary and head of advocacy and political work. In the latter role, he’s been responsible for more than a dozen city, county and state laws opening economic opportunity to the LGBT community in the past four years. He is a regular commentator on MSNBC, NPR and Bloomberg. Lovitz has been a keynote speaker for the Department of Defense, the Department of the Treasury and the United Nations, among other institutions. The Advocate magazine named him a 2019 Queer Icon.

ew JUNE 1, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 19

JONATHAN MCCRORY

RICHARD V. MCCUNE

MYLES MEYERS

DR. FREDDY MOLANO

LUCY MUKERJEE

BRI

Artistic director

Senior vice president and regional team manager, entertainment banking

Founder and CEO

Vice president of infectious diseases and LGBTQ programs and services

Senior programmer

Own

Tribeca Film Festival

Bold

City National Bank

With decades of experience in the financial services industry, Myles Meyers had long been witness to the discrimination that LGBTQ couples and individuals can face. Determined to provide a more open and equitable alternative, Meyers started Superbia this year, making it the first “profit-for-purpose” financial institution created specifically to serve the needs of—and advocate for—the LGBTQ world. In doing so Meyers has founded an enterprise that’s both commercial- and social-minded. Superbia offers a full range of credit-union products and services while it commits to returning 10% of its revenue to local and national LGBTQ initiatives that are likewise working to advance social and economic equality for this demographic.

Community Healthcare Network

Lucy Mukerjee brings more than two decades of experience as a film festival programmer, film producer and fiction editor to her role at the Tribeca Film Festival. Tasked with finding new films from under-represented voices, she is working with Tribeca on a fund to support a pipeline of LGBTQ+ filmmakers. Mukerjee is a founding member of the Programmers of Colour Collective or POC2. Previously she was the director of programming at the LBGTQ+ media arts organization Outfest. Mukerjee founded the annual Trans Summit, and she was a feature film producer at Lionsgate and Warner Bros.

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CHRISTINE JEAN CHAMBERS

National Black Theatre

As artistic director at the National Black Theatre, Jonathan McCrory is the creative core of the institution. Aside from selecting, developing and managing productions that have been met with wide acclaim, McCrory has been the impetus behind the nonprofit corporation’s expanding reach. He’s received numerous awards for his productions and is a founding member of the producing organizations Harlem9 and the Movement Theatre Company. McCrory is on the steering committee of the Jubilee, an initiative to amplify the creative voices of long-marginalized groups including the LGBTQ community. In 2019 McCrory was appointed to the nomination committee of the Tony Awards, a role he also held for the Lucille Lortel Awards.

Superbia Services

Few theatergoers or binge watchers think much (or at all) about the financial planning and machinations that are essential to making their favorite entertainment productions come to life. Richard McCune, on the other hand, has built a long and storied career doing just that. The senior vice president and regional team manager at City National, who has 35 years’ experience in the field, provides turnkey banking solutions to clients in media, film, television, talent representation and entertainment law. McCune, who has been with City National since 1993, also leads the bank’s Broadway team, with client productions that include Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Mean Girls and Dear Evan Hansen.

Freddy Molano, a proponent of quality health care for all, has been delivering just that for some time. After working as a family practitioner in South and Central America, in 1989 Molano joined Community Healthcare Network, a nonprofit providing more than 85,000 New Yorkers with primary health care and support services. He’s been lauded for implementing successful HIV counseling and testing programs in the context of women’s health, and he is considered an important voice on HIV issues. Molano speaks at forums such as the United States Conference on AIDS and writes for medical journals. He is a board member of the Family Planning Advocates of New York State and several HIV/AIDS-related groups.

Morgan Stanley is proud to congratulate

Jacqueline LiCalzi

Managing Director and Global Head of Regulatory Relations At Morgan Stanley, we believe that diversity is an opportunity— for clients, employees and our firm. Whether advancing our diverse workforce and corporate culture from the inside or sharing our brand with diverse markets across the world, leaders like Jackie are a perfect example. We thank Jackie for her dedication and contributions to our culture of inclusion and belonging and congratulate her on being named to Crain’s inaugural list of Notable LBGTQ Leaders & Executives. Learn more about Morgan Stanley at morganstanley.com/about-us/diversity

20 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | JUNE 1, 2020

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Owner

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President and CEO

Bold LLC

Maximum Entertainment Productions

Executive vice president of government affairs, communications and public policy

JCCA

Project Renewal

Greater New York Hospital Association

Ronald E. Richter has helped vulnerable children and families for three decades. Before joining the Jewish Child Care Association in 2015, Richter was a judge in New York City’s Family Court. After serving as family services coordinator and as deputy commissioner of the city’s Administration for Children’s Services, Richter was appointed the agency’s commissioner in 2011. While leading the ACS, he spearheaded several landmark initiatives, helping significantly reduce out-of-home placements for young people with delinquency issues, creating a plan for services aimed at young people who identify as LGBTQ and creating the Parent Advocate program. Richter’s leadership at the ACS has helped the city become a leader in using data-informed strategies to improve outcomes for vulnerable families.

Eric Rosenbaum brings a wealth of experience on both sides of the profit divide to his role as president and CEO of Project Renewal, a major New York City provider of services to the homeless. For the preceding 10 years, Rosenbaum was the chief operating officer at Win Inc., formerly Women in Need, the city’s largest homeless shelter provider for families with children. Before that, he racked up more than two decades of corporate management experience, working first as director of technology planning for research and development for the Colgate-Palmolive Company and then as director of customer service in India. Rosenbaum is the volunteer board secretary of Vital Strategies, a global nonprofit public health organization.

Since childhood, when he would switch on colored lamps to represent characters in books he read, Brian Orter has loved to set a mood. Orter started working in New York City theaters as a teen, and while studying lighting design at Purchase College and photography at Parsons School of Design, he began setting moods with lighting at clubs such as Limelight, Palladium and the Tunnel. Restaurateurs and hoteliers were soon seeking him out to create similar vibes for their venues, leading Orter to found Bold LLC. While the bicoastal firm maintains a strong footing in traditional design values, Orter explains, Bold allows him and his team to explore the expanding boundaries of lighting and technology. “It’s about why we light,” he says, “not what we light.”

With a résumé that includes 18 Broadway plays, musicals and concerts, as well as off-Broadway and touring productions, Eva Price recently joined the entertainment company Level Forward, founded by Killer Content and Abigail Disney, to produce live, digital and filmed events by and for marginalized communities. Price, a three-time Tony Award winner, has recently been involved in the Tony-winning revival of Oklahoma!, Heidi Schreck’s What the Constitution Means to Me and Dear Evan Hansen. Price, a member of the Broadway League’s board of governors, is launching a new podcast—“My First Show”—on the Broadway Podcast Network. The podcast features interviews with celebrities talking about the first show they saw, the first show they performed in, and how their love of theater helped make them the artists they are today.

David Charles Rich heads up the federal, state and local legislative advocacy and lobbying efforts of the Greater New York Hospital Association, which encompasses advocacy for more than 300 nonprofit and public hospitals and nursing homes. In his role as executive vice president of government affairs, communications and public policy, Rich has played an important role in Medicare and Medicaid legislation, including the Affordable Care Act and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. He has worked with the New York governor’s office, the state Legislature, the New York City mayor’s office and the City Council on budget issues. Rich leads the hospital association’s media relations, publications and events initiatives.

JUNE 1, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 21

JORDAN ROTH

ANDY SALDAÑA

SUSIE SCHER

TODD SEARS

LISA SHERMAN

NOR

President

Executive director

Partner

Founder and principal

President and CEO

Part

Jujamcyn Theaters

New York Tech Alliance

Goldman Sachs

Ad Council

Kram

For many people, overseeing five Broadway theaters where shows such as The Book of Mormon, Frozen and Hadestown fill the house might be the role of a lifetime. Winning five Tony Awards might be too. But Jordan Roth, president of Jujamcyn Theaters, is also a fashion icon. Roth, along with his husband, writer-producer Richie Jackson, is a recipient of a Hero Award from the Trevor Project, which provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ+ youth. Roth’s advocacy and contributions to the arts have landed him on Out magazine’s Hot 100 list and the Crain’s 40 Under 40 Rising Stars list. The New York Landmarks Conservancy has recognized him as a “living landmark.”

Andy Saldaña enjoys building communities. The executive director of New York Tech Alliance since 2018 is a key player in leading and planning the organization’s monthly NY Tech Meetup, the largest tech gathering in the world. Saldaña, the organization’s director of operations from 2013 to 2018, is creating ways for the nonprofit’s more than 60,000 members to engage in more meaningful ways, especially on their new digital platform. Saldaña, who advocates for increased diversity, access and inclusion in tech, organizes the Queer Tech Meetup NYC. He is on the programming board of StartOut, a nonprofit that provides a network to LGBTQ entrepreneurs in the business world.

Susie Scher combines financial acumen with a commitment to support the LGBTQ community, diversity and progressive education. Scher started as an intern at Goldman Sachs in 1990, returned as a vice president in 1997 and made partner in 2006. Scher is co-head of the Global Financing Group in the Investment Banking Division and serves on the Partnership Committee, the IBD Executive Committee, the IBD Risk Council and the Americas Diversity Committee. Scher, an adviser to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Network, is a trustee of Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School. She is on the board of the Posse Foundation, which promotes diversity in the college experience.

Out Leadership Out Leadership is an LGBTQ+ business network founded by Todd Sears with a goal—“return on equality”—that is both admirable and ambitious. Through highly successful events such as OutNEXT, Quorum and OutWOMEN, Sears has made a compelling case for seeing inclusion as a means to economic growth and the recruitment of exceptional talent. Sears began his career in finance as an investment banker, then joined Merrill Lynch as a financial adviser, creating a team focused on the LGBTQ+ community. He serves on several nonprofit boards, including the Global Equality Fund of the U.S. Department of State and Lambda Legal.

Lisa Sherman brings more than 35 years’ experience to her role as president and chief executive officer of the Ad Council, a nonprofit that produces, distributes and promotes ad campaigns that improve everyday lives. (Think: “Take a bite out of crime.”) Sherman brings together media, marketing, digital, technology and entertainment professionals to craft public-engagement campaigns. Before joining the Ad Council, Sherman built the first cable network for LGBTQ+ audiences, Viacom’s Logo TV, and a marketing firm, the Women’s Sports Company. She serves on the advisory boards of a variety of public service organizations. Sherman received the 2019 Matrix Award from the New York Women in Communications.

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When he came out in 2014, Tim Cook became the first openly gay CEO of a Fortune 500 company. | When she was put in charge of Land O’Lakes in 2018, Beth Ford became the first openly gay female CEO of a Fortune 500 company. | In 2014, actor Laverne Cox became the first openly transgender person on the cover of Time. Sources: CNN, Oct. 30, 2014; CNN, July 27, 2018; The Atlantic, May 29, 2014

Clo

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Carnegie East House

Proudly salute the magnificent leadership of our Executive Director

Joe Girven Joe Girven at JLHA’s annual gala with 100 year-old resident, Ruth Ha .

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22 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | JUNE 1, 2020

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RYAN STANA

JESSICA STERN

SEAN STRUB

Partner

Founder and CEO

Executive director

Kramer Levin

Getaway

RWS Entertainment Group

OutRight Action International

The Sero Project

As co-chair of Kramer Levin’s advertising litigation practice, Norman C. Simon not only represents a variety of global brands in false-advertising disputes and class-action litigation, he counsels clients on an array of issues to help them avoid litigation. Simon is the managing editor of the law firm’s weekly Advertising Litigation Report. As a member of its pro bono committee, he has litigated a number of high-profile LGBT+ civil rights cases. He served as chair of Empire State Pride Agenda, an advocacy group that was instrumental in New York’s progress toward marriage equality and transgender rights.

As founder and chief executive officer of Getaway, Jon Staff is pushing the notion of “pioneer” on several levels. Getaway, an online vacation-booking platform, positions itself as a wellness-hospitality brand. It focuses on unplugged escapes—tiny cabins with no Wi-Fi, outside major U.S. cities—inspired by Staff’s upbringing in a cabin in rural Minnesota. Staff says one of Getaway’s major goals for customers is to “stave off burnout” and give people “permission to be off.” He also is pioneering some progressive office culture concepts, including starting each workday reading guest feedback and, refreshingly, requiring employees to take vacation.

What Ryan Stana began in his apartment in 2003 is today North America’s largest provider of branded entertainment and a leading supplier of live events for attractions and leisure industries worldwide. RWS Entertainment Group’s award-winning productions—for theme parks, resorts, cruise lines and New York City fashion events —provide seasonal work for more than 4,000 performers and technicians each year. Since its acquisition of Binder Casting in 2016, those gigs may now lead to work on Broadway, TV and film. Stana, whose empire includes a division that delivers light shows, themed activations and holiday décors, sits on the board of directors for the Broadway Dreams Foundation.

As executive director of OutRight Action International, Jessica Stern has championed gender, sexuality and human rights around the globe, including supporting the legal registration of LGBTIQ groups, securing the U.N. Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity mandate, and moving the U.N. LBGTI Core Group forward. When India’s Supreme Court decriminalized same-sex relations, Stern’s writing was cited in the decision; her writing is also part of the Oxford Handbook of Women, Peace and Security. Stern advises governments and human rights groups, including UN Women, which she serves as a member of the LGBTI Reference Group.

Sean Strub has been fighting for freedom from HIV-related stigma, discrimination and criminalization since the earliest days of the epidemic while also working for empowerment for the community. The Sero Project grew out of his anti-criminalization advocacy work. The writer and activist, who is the treasurer of the U.S. Caucus of People with HIV, has been living with HIV for more than 33 years. In 1990 he became the first openly HIV-positive person to run for Congress. Strub, the founder of POZ magazine, served on the board of the Global Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS. He is the author of Body Counts: A Memoir of Politics, Sex, AIDS and Survival.

atrix men

In a first for New York City, a 1972 order issued by Mayor John Lindsay protected municipal employees from discrimination based on homosexuality. | Twenty-five states and three U.S. territories have no explicit prohibitions against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Sources: The New York Times, Feb. 8, 1972; “Links Between Economic Development and New Measures of LGBTQ Inclusion,” The Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law, March 2018

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JUNE 1, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 23

DR. LOREE K. SUTTON

RITCHIE TORRES

FELICIA TUCKER

ANDREW WARD

KIM WATSON

ARI

Candidate for mayor

Council member, 15th District

Lead principal

Principal, deputy general counsel

New York City

the Bronx, New York City

KPMG

Executive director, the Modern Day Woman Foundation

Co-f com

Ritchie Torres, elected in November 2013 to represent the 15th Council District in the Bronx, has been active in politics since his youth. During his first term, Torres was the chairman of the Committee on Public Housing, where he oversaw the New York City Housing Authority, the largest provider of affordable housing in the country, and enacted legislation to improve safety and quality of life for thousands of residents. In 2017 Torres was reelected and became chairman of the new Oversight and Investigations Committee of the City Council. Legislation that Torres spearheaded has helped protect the city’s affordable housing stock, improve mental health resources for the LGBTQ community, tackle the city’s opioid epidemic and improve interactions between the city police and New Yorkers.

Felicia Tucker has a lot on her plate at KPMG: lead principal in its Metro New York Development and Exempt Organization Tax practice; national leader of the professional-services firm’s International Tax Exempt Services practice; national co-leader of its Tax Exempt Bond practice; and a developer of KPMG’s Tax Exempt Bond tool. Tucker provides knowledge and guidance to a diverse portfolio of tax-exempt clients, including large health care systems, public charities, religious organizations, colleges and universities, trade associations and private foundations. Tucker has supported inclusion during her 19 years with KPMG. Among many other community and civic activities, she is on the board of the Interfaith Nutrition Network, an organization that fights hunger, homelessness and poverty on Long Island.

Andrew Ward, a committed advocate of diversity and an activist for the LGBTQ+ community, is deputy general counsel of the Practice Advisory Group for KPMG’s Office of General Counsel. Ward advises, counsels and strategizes with senior leaders and works with staff on complex and sensitive legal and professional matters. He is an active and founding member of pride@ KPMG, the professional-services firm’s LGBTQ+ employee resource group. Ward served for many years on the group’s national Pride Advisory Board. While at Harvard Law School, Ward was a member of the Legal Aid Bureau and he founded the AIDS Practice Group.

Co-founder, CK (Community Kinship) Life

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Dr. Loree Sutton, a lifelong public servant and retired brigadier general, is running for mayor of New York City. She was the Army’s highest-ranking psychiatrist, and she was decorated for actions in combat. After serving as founding director of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, Sutton led the transformation of the Mayor’s Office of Veterans Affairs in 2016 into the New York City Department of Veterans’ Services, the nation’s first municipal agency devoted to improving the lives of veterans and their families. Before resigning to begin her campaign, Sutton helped decrease veteran homelessness by 90 percent, implement programs to help vets access services and establish veterans and active military as a protected class in New York City human-rights law. She pioneered an award-winning social impact bond for veteran employment.

Kim Watson, a trans activist, spokesperson and writer who has won numerous awards and commendations, heads the Modern Day Woman Foundation, an LGBTQIA advocacy organization, and CK Life, a nonprofit that works to provide the trans community with tools to achieve its goals. Watson, who works with Brightpoint Health and Hudson River Health Care to ensure all patients are treated with care, defines her mission as one of using her experiences—as a trans woman of color, an immigrant, a former sex worker and victim of homelessness, a person with HIV and a mother—to advocate for herself and others in the fight to overcome stigma and improve lives.

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The Drug Policy Alliance thanks Richard Burns for his decades of dedicated service to the LGBTQ community and his thoughtful leadership in building a more just, compassionate, and equitable world. 24 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | JUNE 1, 2020

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GAVIN WHITE

SHANNON WHITTINGTON

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DOUG WIRTH

Co-founder, chief content and community officer

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Clinical director, Gender Affirmation Program

Robert A. and Elizabeth Rohn Jeffe Director of Restoration and Preservation

President and CEO

Green-Wood Cemetery

Doug Wirth is all about putting the “care” back in “health care.” As president of the largest Medicaid-managed Special Needs Health Plan in New York, Wirth is behind the delivery of specialized services to those who need them, helping thousands of HIV patients take control of their health and reclaim their lives. Wirth served on Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s task force to end the AIDS crisis in New York, and he continues to work on increasing access to HIV testing, treatment and prevention. He has been a senior health policy adviser to two New York mayors, and he is a senior faculty member of the American Psychological Association’s HOPE Program, whose mission is to enhance the ability of psychologists to competently and compassionately respond to people infected with and affected by HIV.

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Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Arfa, a consumer goods company that “develops personal care brands based on close relationships with the people who use them,” is fortunate to claim Ariel Wengroff as its co-founder and chief content and community officer. An alum of Vice Media, Wengroff worked as an executive producer of the Emmy-nominated show Woman with Gloria Steinem and served as publisher of Broadly, Vice’s women and LGBTQ+ identity channel. Wengroff, who was named to the 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30 Media list, is on the boards of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, Lesbians Who Tech and Vice’s Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Board. Her most recent film, Vice Studios’ Sitara: Let Girls Dream, premiered on Netflix on this year’s International Women’s Day.

It was no shock when Gavin White was named one of Law360’s Rising Stars in Tax in 2018, an accolade given to a select group of young attorneys “whose legal accomplishments transcend their age.” White advises clients on a whole lineup of tax matters, including public and private acquisitions, divestitures, bankruptcy reorganizations, equity and debt offerings, and joint ventures. He’s worked with a bevy of big-name corporations, such as 21st Century Fox in its $71.3 billion acquisition by the Walt Disney Company and several transactions for Nasdaq Inc., formerly known as the Nasdaq OMX Group. White, Skadden’s global hiring partner, speaks about issues facing LGBTQ attorneys.

Visiting Nurse Service of New York

In developing the Gender Affirmation Program at her longtime place of employment, Shannon Whittington was instrumental in the Visiting Nurse Service of New York becoming a preferred provider for transgender patients. Whittington has been especially effective at coaching clinicians in caring for patients who undergo gender affirmation surgery—efforts that led to her receiving the Quality and Innovation Award from the Home Care Association of New York State. Whittington, who speaks at various conferences across the nation and serves as a board member for Trans New York, holds a master’s degree in nursing from Walden University and lobbies for transgender equality in New York City and state.

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ARIEL WENGROFF

Neela Wickremesinghe, a specialist in architectural and historical conservation, is the on-site conservator at Green-Wood Cemetery, now a National Historic Landmark renowned for its beauty. Wickremesinghe leads her team in implementing conservation best practices, gleaned from her time at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, to care for granite monuments and brownstone mausoleums worn down by time and the elements. In a previous position at EverGreene Architectural Arts, she worked to preserve wall murals, brickwork and mosaics in the New York Public Library Rose Reading Room and the Yale Club, among other places. Wickremesinghe, who lectures regularly at conferences, is a peer reviewer for the Association for Preservation Technology Bulletin.

Amida Care

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PUBLIC NOTICE NOTICE OF FRANCHISE AND CONCESSION REVIEW COMMITTEE PUBLIC HEARING ON AGENCY ANNUAL CONCESSION PLANS Notice of a Franchise and Concession Review Committee (FCRC) Public Hearing on Agency Annual Concession Plans for Fiscal Year 2021 pursuant to Section 1-10 of the Concession Rules of the City of New York (Concession Rules), to be held remotely on Monday, June 8, 2020, commencing at 2:30 P.M., via Webex dial in. At this hearing, the FCRC will further solicit comments about the provisions of the Concession Rules from the vendor community, civic groups and the public at large. The FCRC shall consider the issues raised at the Public Hearing in accordance with the procedures set forth in the New York City Charter under the City Administrative Procedure Act. The following agencies submitted an Annual Concession Plan for Fiscal Year 2021: the Department of Parks and Recreation; the Department of Citywide Administration Services; the Department of Environmental Protection; the Department of Corrections; the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene; the Department of Transportation; the New York City Fire Department; the Department of Housing Preservation and Development; the NYC & Company on behalf of the Department of Small Business Services; the New York City Economic Development Corporation on behalf of the Department of Small Business Services; the New York City Administration for Children’s Services; the New York City Department of Records and Information Services and the New York City Police Department. The portfolio of Agency Annual Concession Plans covers significant and non-significant concessions expiring, continuing and anticipated for solicitation or initiation in Fiscal Year 2021. Furthermore, the portfolio covers, inter alia: x Department of Parks and Recreation: mobile food units, food service facilities, golf courses, driving ranges, marinas, tennis professionals, athletic facilities, Christmas trees, parking lots, markets, fairs, restaurants, concerts, newsstands, stables, gas stations, amusement venues, ice skating rinks, carousels, ferry services, bike rentals, sailboat rentals, souvenirs and gifts, beach equipment, and event programming. x Department of Citywide Administrative Services: maritime/non-maritime occupancy permits, merchandise and marketing, vending machines and restaurants. x Department of Environmental Protection: gas purification. x Department of Corrections: commissary services, mobile food units and vending machines. x Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: drug discount card program. x Department of Transportation: vending machines, pedestrian plazas, food courts, café, markets and dispatch booth/pick-up area for car service. x New York City Fire Department: fire museum and collections. x Department of Housing Preservation and Development: café. x NYC & Company on behalf of the Department of Small Business Services: marketing, advertising, intellectual property and trademark merchandising. x New York City Economic Development Corporation on behalf of the Department of Small Business Service: events/installations, parking lots, maritime and non-maritime occupancy permits. x New York City Administration for Children’s Services: vending machines. x New York City Department of Records and Information Services: licensing representation. x New York City Police Department: vending machines, ATMs and cafeteria. The public may participate in the public hearing by calling the dial-in number below. Dial-in #: +1-408-418-9388 Access Code: 714 149 799 Press # on further prompts Written testimony may be submitted in advance of the hearing electronically to Gregg.alleyne@mocs.nyc.gov. All written testimony must be received by June 5th 2020. In addition, the public may also testify during the hearing by calling the dial-in number. Interested parties may obtain a copy of the Agency Annual Concession Plans by contacting Gregg Alleyne via email at gregg.alleyne@mocs.nyc.gov. Upon request, a PDF version of the Agency Annual Concession Plans is available free of cost. A transcript of the hearing will be posted on the FCRC website at https://www1.nyc.gov/site/mocs/reporting/agendas.page For further information on accessibility or to make a request for accommodations, such as sign language interpretation services, please contact the Mayor’s Office of Contract Services (MOCS) via e-mail at DisabilityAffairs@mocs.nyc.gov or via phone at (646) 872- 0231. Any person requiring reasonable accommodation for the public hearing should contact MOCS at least five (5) business days in advance of the hearing to ensure availability.

Notice of Formation of CASCIATO 2020-8 LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 05/08/20. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: c/o Chris Casciato, 941 Park Ave., Apt. 10A, NY, NY 10028. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the princ. office of the LLC. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Notice of Formation of SOUNDFRONT LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 04/30/20. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 33 W. 60th St., Second Fl., NY, NY 10023. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the princ. office of the LLC. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Notice of Formation of HUDSON LIC LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 04/24/20. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: c/o The Hudson Companies Inc., 826 Broadway, 11th Fl., NY, NY 10003. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Attn: Serena Deng at the princ. office of the LLC. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Notice of Formation of EASTGOLD WC GP OWNER LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 04/15/20. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: Eastgold Holdings, 420 Lexington Ave., Ste. 925, NY, NY 10170. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 122072543. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of 740 HOUSEHOLD LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 04/10/20. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 11/13/18. Princ. office of LLC: 432 Park Ave., #91AB, NY, NY 10022. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, Div. of Corps, PO Box 898, Dover, DE 19903. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Notice of Qualification of 432 HOUSEHOLD LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 04/10/20. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 11/13/18. Princ. office of LLC: 432 Park Ave., #91AB, NY, NY 10022. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c /o Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, Div. of Corps, PO Box 898, Dover, DE 19903. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Notice of Formation of CASCIATO 2020-9 LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 05/08/20. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: c/o Chris Casciato, 941 Park Ave., Apt. 10A, NY, NY 10028. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the princ. office of the LLC. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice is hereby given that a license, Serial Number 1327029, for onpremises consumption of wine, beer, and liquor, at retail on a vessel, has been applied for by SailawayNY LLC, under the NYS Alcoholic Beverage Control Law,at 59 Chelsea Piers, New York, NY. SailawayNY LLC/Paul Dauriac Notice of Formation of EASTGOLD PROPERTIES I LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 0 4/15/20. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: Eastgold Holdings, 420 Lexington Ave., Ste. 925, NY, NY 10170. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 122072543. Purpose: Any lawful activity Notice of Qualification of CITIPACE HOLDINGS LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 05/14/20. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 12/14/18. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC, c/o Pinta Capital Partners, 485 Madison Ave. #202, NY, NY 10022. DE addr. of LLC: Corporation Service Co., 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., PO Box 898, Dover, DE 19903. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Notice of formation of Data Veritas, LLC: Art. of Org. filed 11/18/2019 with SSNY. Office: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Data Veritas, 133 2nd ave. #4, New York, NY, 10003. Purpose: any lawful activity.

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GOTHAM GIGS

BUCK ENNIS

ROSE at the Harbeck Mausoleum, perhaps the most ornate at Woodlawn.

MITCH ROSE BORN Miami RESIDES Dobbs Ferry, Westchester County EDUCATION Associate degree in horticulture, Gainsville Community College; bachelor’s in business administration, University of Central Florida; mortuary science degree, Ogeechee Technical College GIGANTIC GROUNDS Woodlawn has 17 miles of roads within it, more than 150,000 monuments, 1,300 private mausoleums and more than 6,000 large trees. MUSICAL TRIBUTE Every June Woodlawn has traditionally hosted a jazz concert on cemetery grounds to honor all the jazz greats buried there, including Duke Ellington and Miles Davis.

New life at the cemetery

Woodlawn’s CEO keeps famous names alive and focuses on worker development BY MIRIAM KREININ SOUCCAR

istory buffs can celebrate the lives of famous trailblazers such as Celia Cruz, aka the Queen of Salsa, and suffragette Elizabeth Cady Stanton—all by visiting their graves. Woodlawn Cemetery & Conservancy in the Bronx offers trolley tours that highlight the accomplishments of the notable names buried there. “We’ll always be a cemetery first, but we are trying to become more than a cemetery,” said Mitch Rose, president and CEO. He started in the funeral and cemetery business in the late ’80s and came to Woodlawn 10 years ago. “We’re an outdoor museum, a historical society and an interactive learning environment.” Although tours are on hold for now, Woodlawn's events traditionally attract more than 100,000 visitors annually from around the world

to the 400-acre cemetery, which was established in 1863. It was named a National Historic Landmark in 2011. Rose took a job in a cemetery in Florida by chance after college because he liked landscaping and working outdoors. He learned it was a meaningful career path one day when he was preparing an infant burial site. He soon discovered that it had been commissioned by a couple he and his wife knew from Lamaze class. “This taught me how life can change in a moment and how serving a family at such an emotional time is more than a profession,” Rose said. Though Rose guides more than 3,000 families a year through the burial or cremation of their loved ones, he is just as focused on Woodlawn's role as an educational institution. In 2015 he started a workforce development program in connec-

tion with other nonprofits to train underprivileged men and women from the five boroughs in construction work. Each year 20 high school (or the equivalent) graduates go through a 10-week curriculum teaching how to assemble scaffolding on the cemetery’s 150,000 monuments. At some point this year, Woodlawn plans to start an additional training program for people to learn landscaping. The programs are funded through the conservancy’s $1 million annual budget, which is raised through government and private sources. The cemetery has a $15 million annual budget, which comes from the burial fees for new clients. The nonprofit has a $200 million endowment, which helps ensure that the cemetery can help young people make a good living. “We are leading the way to show that cemeteries can do much more than their main mission,” Rose said. ■

“SERVING A FAMILY AT SUCH AN EMOTIONAL TIME IS MORE THAN A PROFESSION”

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