N.Y. Gov. Paterson Picks New Executive Director for ESDC

The reorganization of New York's economic development agency continued yesterday with the appointment of a new executive director. Gov. David Paterson announced that Peter Davidson, chairman of the J.M. Kaplan Fund, a philanthropic organization, would fill the newly created post.

Last year Paterson reunified the Empire State Development Corp.'s leadership, which had been divided between upstate and downstate chairmen.

A new structure - which had a chairman to oversee larger strategy goals and a combined president and chief executive officer to oversee more day-to-day operations - was scrapped in June when the governor announced that Dennis Mullen would take on the combined office of chairman and CEO.

Under the latest structure, Davidson will report to Mullen along with the chief financial officer, general counsel, and three senior vice presidents. The new executive director will oversee the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn for which the ESDC expects to issue $700 million of bonds to finance a basketball arena. Other projects on tap include development at Governor's Island in New York City, development at the Erie Canal Harbor in Buffalo, construction of the Brooklyn Bridge Park, and redevelopment in downtown Rochester.

Davidson was chairman of the J.M. Kaplan Fund for nine years. The fund, which reported assets of $120 million this year, gives grants to support environmental and historical conservation, promote access to public space in New York City, and to support immigrant-friendly policies.

He was also the owner and publisher of El Diario/La Prensa, a Spanish-language daily newspaper in the United States, from 1989 to 2000. Davidson graduated from Stanford University and the Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration.

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