Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday announced the nomination of Eric Gertler to serve as president and CEO of Empire State Development (ESD), New York’s chief economic development agency.
Gertler, who is currently the executive chairman of U.S. News & World Report, also served as co-chairman and co-publisher of the New York Daily News from 2015 to 2017, Cuomo’s office said in a Monday news release.
Gertler has served on the ESD board since June 2018.
He’ll assume his new role effective Sept. 3 and replace Howard Zemsky, who will remain chair of the ESD board.
“Eric is an innovative leader who spent decades at the intersection of business, media and government, making him uniquely suited to run our chief economic development and tourism agency,” Cuomo said. “I’m grateful to Howard for continuing to serve as chairman of the board after a successful term overseeing this administration’s locally-driven economic development strategy and in particular helping turn around Buffalo’s economy and bringing young people back to Upstate cities. New York is the better for his service and the combination of these two fantastic leaders will be dynamite for future growth across the state.”
The New York State Senate will need to confirm Gertler’s nomination.
About Gertler
In addition to his role as executive chairman of U.S. News & World Report, Gertler has overseen Ulysses Ventures, a multi-strategy investment fund based in New York City.
He previously served as executive VP of the New York City Economic Development Corporation and as managing director of the Center for Economic Transformation under multiple mayoral administrations, where he was responsible for spurring economic development by overseeing more than 100 initiatives and directing hundreds of millions of dollars of city investments into the local economy, Cuomo’s office said.
Among these initiatives, Gertler spearheaded New York City’s $150 million life-science fund and associated programs to accelerate the life-sciences industry in New York City, oversaw development of the city’s tech platform digital.nyc and expanded the BigApps civic competition.
He began his career as an attorney with New York City–based Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
