RPA is excited to welcome six new members to its board of directors. From real estate to finance to wireless infrastructure, our new board members bring a wealth of knowledge, experience and expertise that will help us move forward in our work to make our region a more sustainable, healthy and equitable place to live.
“For decades, RPA has built a legacy of helping tri-state area leaders analyze challenges, implement solutions, and thrive in the face of seemingly intractable problems,” said Sarah Fitts, partner at Schiff Hardin. “I have spent much of my career working on real-world projects related to energy and infrastructure, and am excited to contribute to RPA’s continuing legacy and the development of its future vision.”
Eric Yarbro, who is the Founder and Chairman, Madison Square Realty, looks forward to learning more about the master planning efforts of the NYC region and how lessons he has learned throughout his career can contribute to those plans. “In joining the RPA board, I look forward to lending my voice so that there is diversity of thought in some of the most important outcomes for our region.”
As a new board member, David Quart, Regional Real Estate Market Leader at VHB, looks forward to being part of an incredible team of industry thought leaders who are addressing some of the most pressing challenges in the region. “Having recently moved from NYC government to the private sector, I am eager to work on the fundamental housing and infrastructure planning issues, among others, that drove me to become a planner in the first place.”
Meet the new members of our Board of Directors.
Peter D’Arcy, Area Executive, M&T Bank
Peter D’Arcy joined M&T Bank in 1995 after graduating from Vassar College. He currently serves as Area Executive responsible for supervising the bank’s activities in New York City, Long Island, Philadelphia and the State of Delaware. In addition, Peter is the head of the Commercial Real Estate Segment for the Bank. Peter resides in Larchmont, NY with his lovely wife and three beautiful daughters.
Sarah Fitts, Partner, Schiff Hardin
Sarah A. W. Fitts is a partner in the New York office of Schiff Hardin LLP, where she advises clients on private mergers and acquisitions, development projects, joint ventures, financings, sustainable investing, and restructurings, with a focus on the energy and infrastructure industries. Sarah represents U.S. and global clients, including power developers,investors, sovereign wealth funds, and private equity across a broad range of industries, such as power generation, publishing, biotech and medical devices, and automotive. In addition to her corporate practice, Sarah has long been committed to public service and she actively lends her expertise to pro bono initiatives.
Christopher Levendos, Vice President, Crown Castle
Christopher Levendos is Vice President of Fiber Operations for Crown Castle’s national fiber and wireless infrastructure network. He recently was executive vice president of Field Operations for Frontier Communications where he was responsible for service delivery across twenty-nine states. Prior to joining Frontier, Mr. Levendos was an executive of Google Fiber (Alphabet), where he led Network Development and Operations and help expand Google Fiber’s network operations from three cities to ten cities.
David Quart, Regional Real Estate Market Leader, VHB
David Quart, AICP, is the Regional Real Estate Market Leader at VHB, a national engineering, planning and design firm with public and private clients in the transportation, real estate,institutional, and energy industries. Building on the success of VHB’s northeast regional offices, David is leading the firm’s integrated real estate services practice to support new development, redevelopment, land acquisition, permitting compliance,and transportation improvements for private and public clients.
James Rubin, CEO North America, Meridiam
James Rubin is the North American CEO of Meridiam, a firm specializing in developing, financing and managing infrastructure projects. Prior to joining Meridiam, Jamie held several positions in the public sector. In 2017, he was appointed the Director of State Operations for the State of New York, and was responsible for day to day oversight of the 90 state agencies.From May 2015 until January 2017, Jamie was Commissioner of NYS Homes and Community Renewal (HCR). Before that, he headed the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery(GOSR) where he served as the founding Executive Director, overseeing and creating programs to disburse $4.4 billion in disaster recovery funds allocated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Eric Yarbro, Founder and Chairman, Madison Square Realty
Bringing more than 25 years of experience to the table, Eric Yarbro combines his expertise in deal-making for both tenants and large corporations, his exceptional development proficiency, and his informed implementation of diversity strategies, based on an extensive network of professionals and organizations, to serve his clients.Ericis the founder and Chairman of Madison Square Realty, a certified minority business enterprise (MBE) focused on all aspects of commercial real estate as well as Diversity Marketplace a web-based portal matching opportunities with Minority, Women and Veteran firms for procurement.