Avi Schick

Avi Schick’s foray into the world of economic development has been swift. Less than two years ago, Mr. Schick, 41, was a deputy in the state attorney general’s office, the lead prosecutor on Eliot Spitzer’s suit against former New York Stock Exchange Chairman Dick Grasso.

A longtime attorney, today he sits as president and acting CEO of New York State’s powerful development agency, with control over numerous multibillion-dollar projects such as the redevelopment of Pennsylvania Station, the Javits Center expansion and the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn. With a new administration in Albany and the top position vacant following the recent resignation of the Empire State Development Corporation’s co-chairman, Patrick Foye, a well-connected Mr. Schick is pushing to make his temporary role at the agency’s top a permanent one, according to people with knowledge of his plans.  read more »