A warm welcome to RPA’s newest board members. These individuals represent a wide range of industries, geographies and experiences, but all share a strong desire to put their talents to use, improving the health, equity, sustainability and prosperity of our region.

“I most look forward to working with and learning from fellow trustees who collectively bring an impressively deep and broad range of expertise and perspectives to bear in supporting the region’s continuous improvement,” said Tokumbo Shobowale, Chief Operating Officer for The New School. ​“I also look forward to sharing elements of our work with my 5- year old son, Hudson, who is a train and transportation planning fanatic.”

For Rachel Haot, joining the RPA Board of Directors is an opportunity to learn from her fellow board members, and the RPA staff. ​“I’m excited to engage the technology community in RPA’s mission of shaping the future of infrastructure and the built environment,” she said. ​“Technology is a means, not an end, and I look forward to exploring how we can use innovation to design safer, more efficient communities centered on the needs of the people.”

Meet the new members of RPA’s Board of Directors.

Steve Denning, Chairman, General Atlantic

Steve Denning is the Chairman of General Atlantic LLC, a global private equity firm. He joined the firm in 1980 and has built the organization into a leading global growth investment firm with thirteen offices around the globe and over $25 billion of assets under management. He also serves on the board of the Council on Foreign Relations, and is an Honorary Trustee of the Brookings Institution and the American Museum of Natural History. Denning was formerly a member of the board and co-chair of The Nature Conservancy, and a member of the board of the National Parks Conservation Association

Winston Fisher, Partner, Fisher Brothers

Winston C. Fisher directs the company’s financing/investing activities, property acquisitions and dispositions, and oversees all new development initiatives. With experience across a broad range of transactions, Mr. Fisher leads all financial analysis, due diligence, project capitalization efforts and joint-venture partnerships for new and distressed real estate projects. He also serves as co-Chair of the NYC Regional Economic Development Council, and as a Trustee on the Citizens Budget Commission. Mr. Fisher is a member of the Real Estate Board of New York, and serves on the Executive Committee.

Christopher Hahn, Director, External Affairs, PSEG LI

Christopher Hahn leads External Affairs for PSEG Long Island where he and his team of professionals are responsible for developing and implementing PSEG Long Island’s Public Policy, Outreach and Communications Strategies. Prior to joining PSEG LI, Christopher was Senior VP for Public Policy at Tonio Burgos & Associates where he worked with major national and international clients including Excelon Williams, National Grid, Red Bull, Suez, Water Wind and FedEx among others

Rachel Haot

Rachel Haot most recently served as the Managing Director for 1776, incubating innovative startups in heavily regulated sectors. Prior to this role, Rachel served as Chief Digital Officer and Deputy Secretary for Technology of New York State under Governor Andrew Cuomo from January 2014 to December 2015. During her time in this role, she led all digital strategy for the State, including New York’s open data platform and the complete redesign and re-architecture of official NY.gov, the first update in 15 years.

Thomas Klin, New York Account Manager & Senior Vice President, CH2M/Jacobs Engineering

Tom serve as CH2M’s New York Account Manager and is responsible for client service with Amtrak, City of New York, Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, MTA and New Jersey Transit. Tom is responsible for CH2M’s services in the innumerable urban challenges that Gotham faces across multiple asset classes. He is CH2M’s Program Executive supporting the Amtrak Gateway Program Management team.

Ben Korman, Founder & CEO, Lotus Equity Group

Ben is a veteran property manager, owner and investor with more than 30 years of industry experience. Mr. Korman leverages his training and hands-on experience in civil engineering and structural design to create, plan and develop large-scale, mixed-use developments that complement and enhance their surrounding neighborhoods.

Clint Plummer, Vice President, Development, Deepwater Wind

Mr. Plummer serves as Vice President of Development for Deepwater Wind. He Manages the company’s planning, origination, and development activities. Since joining Deepwater Wind in 2007, Mr. Plummer has worked to grow the U.S. market for offshore wind energy and to position the company as a respected and responsible market leader. In 2013, he led the company’s successful efforts to acquire the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s first competitively-leaded offshore wind side, and to scope the project now known as the Deepwater ONE.

Tokumbo Shobowale, Chief Operating Officer, The New School

Tokumbo Shobowale became chief operating officer of The New School in 2014. In this capacity, he works closely with colleagues to ensure that resources are allocated in support of The New School’s mission and strategic plan. He has led implementation of a new enterprise-wide resource planning system; facilitated a collaborative process to develop a university climate action plan, to acquire and finance a building that will increase by 15% the amount of academic space owned by the university.

Ryan Simonetti, CEO, Convene

Ryan is the co-founder and CEO of Convene. Convene has set out to change the way the world works by partnering with the largest landlords in commercial real estate to design and service the next generation office building - one that feels more like a full-service, lifestyle hotel. Convene was recently named the #11 Best Workplace in New York by Fortune Magazine, and #30 on LinkedIn’s annual list of Top Startups in 2017.

Kevin Willens, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs

Mr. Willens is Co-head of Goldman Sachs’ U.S. Public Sector and Infrastructure Financing Business and has over 33 years of experience in public sector finance. Throughout his career, he has served as investment banker for some of the largest infrastructure and transportation issuers in the New York region and across the country. Mr. Willens joined Goldman Sachs in 1992 and was named Managing Director in 2001. He also served as a Board Member of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board from 2009 through 2012.