Gary Barnett is the founder and president of Extell Development, one of the most active development companies in New York City.

Barnett made his fortune in the diamond trade. He became active through Extell in the 1990s, ramping up his number of projects, both residential and commercial, significantly during the pre-recession boom. On the residential side, Barnett's projects have included the 1,000-foot One57; the 37-story Ariel East and 31-story Ariel West condos at 100th Street and Broadway; the Lucida rentals and condos (more than 170 apartments in all, some as big as five bedrooms) at 151 East 85th Street; the 26-unit 995 Fifth Avenue, where some of the condos occupy an entire floor; the 271-unit Rushmore at 80 Riverside Boulevard; the 150-unit Aldyn nearby at 60 Riverside Boulevard and most recently, the $2.98 billion, 1,550 feet tall Central Park Tower at 217 West 57th Street, which is in development.

On the commercial side, Barnett's projects include the 750,000-square-foot, 34-story International Gem Tower, which topped out in March 2012, and the 1.5 million-square-foot World Product Centre at 555 West 33rd Street, the site of the old Copacabana.

Born Gershon Swiatycki, Barnett grew up on Manhattan's Lower East Side and earned a math degree from Queens College and a master's in economics from Hunter College.