Real estate heavyweights MaryAnne Gilmartin, CEO of Forest City Ratner, and Douglas Durst, head of the Durst Organization, were among 60 chosen for Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio’s transition team. Their task is to advise the incoming mayor on who to appoint to his administration.
The leaders’ expertise ranged from labor to education to real estate. Their objective will be to “identify women and men from every part of our city and walk of life that share a commitment to progressive and competent city government,” de Blasio, elected earlier this month, said in a statement.
Others aboard the transition committee include John Banks, vice president of government relations at Con Edison; Derrick Cephas, former CEO of Amalgamated Bank; Vincent Alvarez, president of the city’s Central Labor Council; Marian Fontana, board member of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation; actress Cynthia Nixon; and Harold Ickes, former White House deputy chief of staff. The members are not seeking to serve in the administration itself. [Politicker] — Mark Maurer