TBC Cecilia Kushner is the Chief Strategy Officer, a role in which she leads multidisciplinary teams to deliver projects and programs focused on developing emerging sectors equitably and building neighborhoods of economic success. Prior to her current role, Cecilia spent over a decade working for the City on a range of infrastructure, transit operations, land use, and community development programs and policies, most recently as the Executive Vice President for Planning and NYC Ferry at NYCEDC, and earlier at the Department of City Planning in the Brooklyn, Resiliency, and Executive Offices.
Prior to immigrating to New York City in 2005 from France, Cecilia lived in London for two years, working on economic analysis for historic preservation. Cecilia received her bachelor’s degree from La Sorbonne and holds a master’s degree in historic preservation from the Bartlett School of Planning at University College London, and a master’s degree in city planning from Hunter College, where she has taught planning as an adjunct. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children.
Geraldine Knatz is Professor of the Practice of Policy and Engineering, a joint appointment between the University of Southern California’s Price School of Public Policy and the Viterbi School of Engineering.
She served as the Executive Director of the Port of Los Angeles from 2006 to January 2014. She was the first woman to serve in this role and made a significant impact through the creation and implementation of the San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan, an aggressive plan that reduced air emissions by combined port operations of over 70 percent over five years which is recognized around the world for its innovation and success. She was also the Managing Director of the Port of Long Beach where she also led a number of environmental initiatives, including the Green Port Policy and Truck Trip Reduction Program and pioneered the first habitat and wetland restorations. She is widely recognized as an authority on U.S. trading patterns, port sustainability, navigation projects and the global shipping industry. She is past president of the American Association of Port Authorities and past president of the International Association of Ports and Harbors, and currently serves as the Chairman of the World Port Climate Initiative. She serves as Gov. Brown’s appointee on the Ocean Protection Council. In 2014, she was named a member of the National Academy of Engineering in recognition of her international leadership in the engineering and development of environmentally clean urban seaports.
