Francisco Pineda

Francisco Pineda, COO and EVP for Business and Operations
The New School

Francisco X. Pineda is a faculty member at Columbia University and Executive Vice President (Deputy Commissioner) at the New York City Economic Development Corporation where he oversees NYC’s largest real estate (60 million square feet) and waterfront ports portfolio as well as the largest urban de-carbonization program in the USA. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (UK) and his research and professional interests lie in organizational intelligence, critical capabilities, and the structuring and management of complex project-based teams and enterprises.

In his twenty-year career, he has worked on all aspects of the development cycle—investment, development, and construction. He has led and turned around property development companies and construction projects, as well as businesses in hospitality, building materials, energy and more recently in climate-tech focused on waste valorization in Mexico.

His early career included corporate strategy roles at Hess as well as investment banking and private equity at Merrill Lynch. He was also engaged to lead one of the Middle East’s largest corporate recovery initiatives working alongside Shearman & Sterling and Moelis & Co. on restructuring a $1.6 billion real estate portfolio.

He holds an MBA in Finance from Columbia Business School, an MPA in Applied Economics from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a BA in History. He is currently pursuing his PhD in Urban Systems at NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering advancing his research on Sustainable Regional Systems and the intersection of finance, technology, and governance and has completed advanced courses at the US Naval War College in Newport, RI.

In 2018, he was selected as a Presidential Leadership Scholar by the Clinton‐GW Bush‐HW Bush‐LBJ Foundations and continues to serve as a US Navy (Reserves) supply and logistics officer attached to US Forces Korea in support of Joint Logistics and the UN and with previous operational tours to Africa in support of Global War on Terror Operations and Asia in support of large-scale war game exercises in the Pacific.

He has served on several boards, industry committees, and as a senior advisor:

– NYC Mayor Task Force, Assessment and Recommendations of NYC Contracting and Procurement Reform
– MTA, Member of the Major Construction Review Unit
– Biden Infrastructure Policy Committee 2020
– World Economic Forum, Infrastructure 4.0
– Urban Land Institute’s (ULI-NY) Program Steering Committee
– Cities4All Global Leaders Council (Ford Foundation, UN-United Cities & Local Government)

Selected Projects & Deal Experience

– New York MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) +$11 billion East Side Access Ops Readiness Review: Member of the MTA’s Major Construction Review Unit (MCRU)
– New York MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) ~$2 billion Penn Station Access Project: Appointed member of the MTA’s Major Construction Review Unit (MCRU)
– $4 billion Delta/La Guardia Airport Reconfiguration Plan (NYC) Advisor to General Superintendent on Field Training and Development
– $7 billion Columbia University Manhattanville Development (NYC) Advisor on Sub-contractor Diversity Procurement and Development, MWBE
– $1.6 billion Restructuring of Sovereign Wealth Fund Real Estate and Construction Portfolio SVP Investment and Development and Executive Restructuring Committee (Infra, Hospitality, F&B, and Luxury Resi Assets)