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May­or de Bla­sio Announces New Gov­er­nors Island President

Sep 15, 2016 11:53 am

We are delight­ed to wel­come Michael Samuelian as the new Pres­i­dent of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island! Samuelian brings a wealth of expe­ri­ence in in both the pub­lic and pri­vate sec­tors in urban design, plan­ning, and over­see­ing the imple­men­ta­tion of large-scale devel­op­ment projects. He will be respon­si­ble for direct­ing and man­ag­ing all of Gov­er­nors Island’s activ­i­ties and oper­a­tions, and sup­port­ing the devel­op­ment of Gov­er­nors Island as a vibrant, year-round des­ti­na­tion for recre­ation, inno­va­tion, and cul­ture. The Trust’s Board of Direc­tors vot­ed to elect Samuelian on Sep­tem­ber 14, 2016.

Most recent­ly, Samuelian served as Vice Pres­i­dent at Relat­ed Com­pa­nies, where he was respon­si­ble for for the urban plan­ning, design man­age­ment and pub­lic approvals of Hud­son Yards, a $25 bil­lion mas­ter plan for 17 mil­lion square feet of mixed-use devel­op­ment on Manhattan’s West Side. Pri­or to join­ing Relat­ed, Samuelian served as Direc­tor of Low­er Man­hat­tan Spe­cial Projects at the Depart­ment of City Plan­ning, help­ing the City’s efforts to rede­vel­op down­town post‑9/​11. He worked with a vari­ety of con­stituents, rang­ing from the local com­mu­ni­ty boards to state and city agen­cies to devel­op con­sen­sus for the dis­po­si­tion of fed­er­al funds ded­i­cat­ed to the recov­ery and rebuild­ing of Low­er Man­hat­tan. Samuelian also led the effort to plan and design a new water­front park on the East Riv­er and was the city’s rep­re­sen­ta­tive in the devel­op­ment and pro­duc­tion of the World Trade Cen­ter Com­mer­cial Design Guidelines. 

Michael is a Fel­low of the AIA, a reg­is­tered archi­tect in New York State and a mem­ber of the New York State Board for Archi­tec­ture. He also serves on the Board of Gov­er­nors of Open House New York (OHNY) and has served on the Board of Direc­tors of the Friends of Gov­er­nors Island.

“As a born and bred New York­er, I am both excit­ed and hon­ored to again serve this great city and its res­i­dents. Parks bring New York­ers togeth­er. They are our back­yards and our respite, and Gov­er­nors Island is a true gem that every­one in the city should be able to enjoy. Build­ing upon all of the hard work that’s been put into mak­ing Gov­er­nors Island a great des­ti­na­tion, I look for­ward to fur­ther enhanc­ing the Island and intro­duc­ing even more New York­ers and unique expe­ri­ences to this spe­cial place,” said Samuelian.

Read more about Samuelian’s excit­ing appoint­ment in The New York Times!