A senior vice president of New York City’s economic development unit, Joan McDonald, is Gov. M Jodi Rell’s pick to be the new commissioner of the state Department of Economic and Community Development.
Rell introduced McDonald, 51, to the media at an afternoon press conference May 9 in Rell’s office, saying she “brought the exact blend of economic development and transportation ideas and philosophies that we have been looking for.”
Transportation is McDonald’s top area of experience, as she managed the transportation portfolio under N.Y.C. Mayor Michael Bloomberg since 2003, negotiating a new lease for LaGuardia and Kennedy airports and overseeing the completion of the $83 million Staten Island Railroad construction project.
Prior to a brief stint as a consultant for the Boston Redevelopment Authority, she worked on statewide transportation issues as a deputy at the New York State Department of Transportation, where she supervised a staff of 500 and an annual operating budget of $112 million.
She also was a senior manager of Metro North Railroad from 1992 to 1995.
Developing Business
McDonald, a Democrat, pledged to be aggressive in looking for both small and large companies interested in opening operations in the state and adding jobs. She said one of the first things she would do would be to reach out to the business community.
“I think part of what’s important is No. 1, communicating with the business community. Establishing a baseline for what works and what doesn’t work,” she said.
Specifically, she expressed interest in transit-oriented development, zoning issues and brownfield remediation.
“The days where the environmental agenda and the economic development agenda were at odds with one another—those days are over. We all have to work together for responsible growth,” she said.
McDonald, a resident of Greenwich Village who earned a master’s in public administration at Harvard University, said she has no plans to bring in new team members with her. A current deputy at DECD, Ronald F. Angelo, Jr., was also a finalist for the post.
Though state Sen. Gary LeBeau (D-East Hartford) joined Rell for the announcement, state Senate President Pro Tempore Donald E. Williams, Jr. (D-Brooklyn) immediately questioned the pick in a press release, saying, “I am concerned that Ms. McDonald’s experience and expertise seems to be completely in transportation. She would probably make an ideal choice for transportation commissioner.”
The Department of Economic and Community Development develops strategies to attract and keep businesses and jobs, revitalize neighborhoods and communities and promotes quality housing.
McDonald, whose appointment requires legislative approval, takes the post on an interim basis on May 29. The job pays $136,000 a year.
She succeeds James Abromaitis, one of several state commissioners to lose their jobs in a reshuffle in the Rell administration early this year.