Board of Directors

Steven Spinola is President of the Real Estate Board of New York, the real estate industry’s leading trade association in New York City with more than 12,000 members. The Real Estate Board’s membership includes the city’s top building owners, developers, brokers, and managers, as well as banks, insurance companies, brokerage houses, architects, attorneys and other individuals and institutions professionally involved in New York City real estate.

The Board is a vigorous advocate of policies to promote local economic growth, major city-wide development projects and new residential and commercial construction, and rehabilitation. REBNY represents industry positions before various legislative, regulatory and executive government bodies. In addition, REBNY conducts extensive research programs and publishes studies of its findings on a host of policy issues and market trends. REBNY provides qualifying courses to satisfy professional licensing requirements as well as master seminars in certain real estate specialties. It also provides extensive networking opportunities for members and is involved in such civic endeavors as providing pro bono assistance to social agencies creating housing resources for New York City’s homeless population.

Steven Spinola is regularly cited as an expert on New York’s real estate market in daily newspapers such as The New York Times, New York Post and Newsday as well as a host of magazines and trade publications. Mr. Spinola has appeared on live television programs to discuss real estate topics including those on WABC-TV and NY-1 News among others. In addition, Mr. Spinola has been invited to speak at dozens of press conferences alongside top government officials to make major announcements. Crain’s New York Business has included Mr. Spinola in its list of the 100 Most Influential New Yorkers, describing him as the “authoritative public voice, lobbyist and conscience” of the industry he represents. In 1996, Governor Pataki and New York State Senate Majority Leader Bruno appointed Mr. Spinola to serve on the New York State Real Estate Board, on which he still serves, a panel with advisory responsibilities in regulating the profession.

Mr. Spinola has served as keynote speaker, moderator and participant in numerous seminars, trade shows and industry conferences. Mr. Spinola has also been involved in education programs and seminars for New York University, The Newman Institute and the Manhattan Institute. He has also taught courses at the City College of New York.

Prior to becoming REBNY’s President on June 2, 1986, Mr. Spinola served as President of the New York City Public Development Corporation, the municipal government’s principal instrument for spurring large-scale commercial and industrial development and rehabilitation programs in New York. Mayor Koch also assigned the lead responsibility for developing the city’s waterfront to the Corporation. During Mr. Spinola’s tenure the dollar value of PDC’s total inventory of development projects and programs exceeded $10 billion, its annual operating budget program was more than $100 million and its annual capital budget program was more than $8 million. Among the projects in which the Public Development Corporation was involved while Mr. Spinola was at its helm included the South Street Seaport, the 42nd Street Redevelopment Program, the Morgan Stanley Computer Center scheduled for downtown Brooklyn, the College Point Corporate Park in Queens and Fordham Plaza in the Bronx.

Previously, Mr. Spinola held a number of senior positions with the New York City Office of Economic Development where he eventually became Deputy Director/Chief of Staff for Development.

Before joining the municipal government, he served as a legislative assistant on the staff of the New York State Assembly Education Committee.

Mr. Spinola has also served as Executive Director of World Hunger Year, the organization which provided public information regarding world hunger issues. He was also active in the effort to enact federal legislation intended to address this problem.

He entered public life as Director of Community Relations for the New York City Off-Track Betting Corporation.

Mr. Spinola holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the City College of New York with a concentration in political science and government. He attended the Harvard Business School/Kennedy School of Government Summer Program for Senior Managers in Government.

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