Carl Weisbrod is the Director of the New York City Department of City Planning and Chairman of the New York City Planning Commission. He previously was a partner at HR&A. Carl is currently a member of the Selection Committee for the prestigious “Innovations in American Government” award administered by Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He is a former Trustee of the Ford Foundation and a former Trustee of the Urban Land Institute. From 1995 to 2005, Carl served as the Founding President of the Alliance for Downtown New York. He served as the Founding President of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, and prior to that as the Executive Director of the NYC Department of City Planning and New York State’s 42nd Street Development Project where he led, from the late 1970s through the early 1990s, City and State efforts to transform Times Square from an international symbol of urban decay into a world renowned center for tourism and entertainment. Carl holds a B.S. from Cornell University and a J.D. from New York University School of Law.