The Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) has been without a President/CEO since January 6, 2024 when Shelton Haynes was placed on paid administrative leave pending results of an internal investigation into charges of wrongdoing and eventually fired in November 2024.
Since January 2024, an Interim Leadership Team has been nominally in charge of Roosevelt Island running RIOC with no single person in charge. Before he left RIOC for private practice in June 2024, former Deputy General Counsel and Leadership Team member Gerrald Ellis told me the problem of not having a permanent President/CEO for RIOC:
… this interim situation is very difficult…. There are all kinds of challenges that just flow from that alone. That’s at the top of my list …. There are certain hiring decisions that we cannot or should not make while we’re in this interim position. There are big projects that we can’t explore or don’t want to explore while we’re in this position. Basic day-to-day repairs we’re obviously doing and they are big priorities for us….
… The Master Lease discussions are a major priority right now… An extension of the Master Lease. We have had conversations with the City of New York about this but we can’t really make progress on those discussions or on that negotiation until we have more certainty internally about our own governance structure, about our own direction. There are internal/external all sorts of things that flow from that one issue that we we don’t yet have permanent leadership…
RIOC has been conducting a search for a new President/CEO through an Executive Search Firm as well as advertising on the RIOC web site. According to the RIOC web site, the search process will conclude next Monday April 28. The job responsibilities and experience required are shown below too.
Multiple reliable sources have confirmed to me that among those applying for the RIOC President/CEO position are Mr Ellis and former Roosevelt Island NYC Council Member Ben Kallos.
Both have significant experience and knowledge of Roosevelt Island issues. Here’s Mr Ellis speaking to the May 2024 Community Board 8 Roosevelt Island Committee on:
Mr Kallos represented Roosevelt Island and the Upper East Side in the NYC Council for eight years from 2014 to 2022 and would have been re-elected if he had not been term limited.
Here’s Mr Kallos speaking at the July 2021 FDR Hope Memorial dedication at Southpoint Park
and the December 10, 2021 dedication of the Nelly Bly Girl Puzzle monument at Lighthouse Park.
At least one other applicant for the RIOC President/CEO position is connected to the Battery Park City Authority, considered to be RIOC’s sister agency in NY State government.
Any other ideas for new RIOC President/CEO?
How about you? There is that beautiful view and quarter million dollar salary.