Two government officials specializing in development — one from the city, one from Long Island — left the public sphere in the past month for the private sector, parlaying their experience into top positions at two of the fastest-growing development firms in New York City.
Marc Shaw, the former first deputy mayor under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, started work in late March for Extell Development Company, and David Wasserman, commissioner of buildings, planning, and economic development for the Town of North Hempstead in Nassau County, left that post to become in February vice president and project manager for Douglaston Development.
Shaw stepped down as first deputy mayor in late November, the New York Times reported, and had spent the three months since helping train his successor, Patricia Harris, the former deputy mayor for administration. A former executive director of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Shaw, according to reports, served as a de facto chief operations officer for the city. He’s now executive vice president for strategic planning at Extell, which emerged as a major player in Manhattan development in 2005. Shaw did not return calls for comment.
Wasserman spent six years with North Hempstead, overseeing the town’s land use policies. Wasserman told The Real Deal that his move to Douglaston was eased by his prior relationship with Douglaston CEO Jeff Levine, whom he met during his last round in the private sector, when Wasserman was the senior architect and operations director for a Westchester County-based development firm.
At Douglaston, Wasserman said he would be in charge of coordinating the development requirements of the firm’s projects. Recent Douglaston projects include the luxury condo developments at 325 Fifth Avenue and 555 West 23rd Street.