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An election landslide: Rob Speyer gets 5th year as REBNY chair
It's the second time the Tishman Speyer CEO's term has been extended
Four more years! Four more years! Or maybe just one more.
The Real Estate Board of New York has extended Rob Speyer’s term as chairman of the organization through December 2017, a move that gives Speyer, who is president and CEO of Tishman Speyer, an unusual — but not unprecedented — fifth year at the helm of the real estate lobbying group.
“Rob’s continued leadership role at REBNY [TRDataCustom] will be critical over the next 16 months as our industry addresses a series of issues on the local, state and federal levels,” REBNY President John Banks told the Commercial Observer in an email. The chairmanship typically lasts three years, and last year Speyer‘s term was extended for a fourth year.
While REBNY didn’t offer a reason for keeping Speyer on for a fifth year, the moves comes as the organization deals with several key issues facing the industry, including the expiration of 421a (which nearly caused a throwdown between Speyer and Stephen Ross), the rezoning of Midtown East and affordable housing.
“I’m hoping to unlock this riddle of an affordable housing program that can actually produce affordable housing,” Speyer told CO in December 2015. “That would be a wonderful accomplishment—not just for REBNY, but for the city. If it doesn’t happen in 2016, it’s going to have to happen very soon.”
Longer-serving chairmen of REBNY include the late Bernard Mendick, who ran the organization from 1992 to 2001, and Burt Resnick, who served from 1989 to 1991 and again from 2001 to 2003. [CO] — E.B. Solomont