Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today was joined by Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) Chairman John Whitehead to announce the City's four appointments to the LMDC Board. The LMDC is the joint State-City Corporation formed to oversee the revitalization of Lower Manhattan in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks. The appointments are Attorney Sally Hernandez-Piñero, President and COO of Merrill Lynch E. Stanley O'Neal, Architect Billie Tsien, and President of the Alliance for Downtown New York Carl Weisbrod.

"I am very satisfied that we have been able to attract the caliber of excellence exhibited by the group assembled here today," Mayor Bloomberg said. "Each one of these individuals is incredibly accomplished and I am confident that they will serve the City's interests well. They will help guide our effort to rebuild and memorialize those we lost. Together we will create a Lower Manhattan of the future which surpasses everyone's expectations."

"I couldn't be more pleased with the Mayor's selection of these excellent individuals," said LMDC Chairman Whitehead. "They will add invaluable expertise for the Board's task of directing our efforts to rebuild and revitalize Lower Manhattan."

Sally Hernandez-Piñero is an attorney in private practice. Most recently, Hernandez-Piñero was Senior Vice President for Corporate Affairs at The Related Companies, LP, a real estate development organization. Prior to that she was a managing director at Fannie Mae, an attorney with Kalkines, Arkey, Zall & Bernstein, chairwoman of the New York Housing Authority, and Deputy Mayor for Finance and Economic Development. Hernandez-Piñero serves on the boards of Con Edison, Dime Savings Bank of New York, the American Museum of Natural History, and the United Way of Greater New York. She earned a BA at Wesleyan University and a JD at New York University School of Law.

E. Stanley O'Neal is President and COO of Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. and a member of the Board of Directors of Merrill Lynch. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch in 1996, O'Neal was with General Motors Corporation of New York and Madrid, and held various finance-related positions from 1978 to 1986. O'Neal earned a BS from Kettering University and an MBA from Harvard University.

Billie Tsien is principal owner and architect at Tod Williams Billie Tsien and Associates, an architecture firm in New York City. Tsien maintains an active teaching career parallel to her practice and has taught at Parsons School of Design, Southern California Institute of Architecture, Harvard University, Yale University, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Texas at Austin. Tsien is also on the boards of the Architectural League, the Public Art Fund, and is a vice president of the Municipal Art Society in New York City. She earned a BA at Yale University and a Masters of Architecture from UCLA.

Carl Weisbrod is President of the Alliance for Downtown New York. Prior to that, he was President of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, Director of the Mayor's Office of Midtown Enforcement, Executive Director of the City Planning Commission, President of the New York State 42nd Street Development Project, and founding Chairman of the New York City Loft Board. Weisbrod is a trustee of the Ford Foundation, the September 11th Fund, and NYU Downtown Hospital. He earned a BA at Cornell University and a JD at the New York University School of Law.

The LMDC is a joint State-City corporation formed by the Governor and Mayor to oversee the rebuilding and revitalization of Lower Manhattan. The LMDC Board, chaired by John C. Whitehead, will now be governed by a 16-member Board of Directors - eight appointed by the Governor, eight appointed by the Mayor. The change to the LMDC bylaws was made at the request of the Mayor and announced by Governor George E. Pataki at a March 6th joint press conference on the status of the recovery efforts at the World Trade Center site.