User:Hannahschreiner/sandbox

Michael Samuelian is the President and CEO of the Trust for Governors Island, the not-for-profit organization created by the City of New York and charged with the planning, redevelopment, and ongoing operations of 150 acres of Governors Island. Prior to his appointment as President of the Trust, Michael was a Vice President with Related Companies, where his work focused on the design of large-scale public private development projects. He was responsible for the urban planning and design of Hudson Yards, a $25 billion master plan for 18 million square feet of mixed-use development on Manhattan's West Side. After 9/11, Michael was the Director of Lower Manhattan Special Projects at the New York City Department of City Planning, helping the city's efforts to redevelop downtown. In this position, he worked with a variety of constituents, ranging from the local community boards to state and city agencies to develop consensus for the disposition of federal funds dedicated to the recovery and rebuilding of Lower Manhattan. Michael also led the effort to plan and design a new waterfront park on the East River and was the city's representative in the development and production of the World Trade Center Commercial Design Guidelines. Michael's professional career as an architect has focused on large-scale commercial and urban planning projects beginning his career with Machado Silvetti in Boston, SMWM in San Francisco and HOK Architects in New York. At HOK he was the lead designer on a number of commercial, transportation and institutional projects including; Penn Station Acela Improvements, the Integrated Science Facility at SUNY Geneseo and the Somerset Corporate Center. He received a Master of Architecture in Urban Design from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Cooper Union. Michael is also an Assistant Professor at Cooper Union, where he teaches a course titled "Professional Practice" in the School of Architecture. He was honored in 2018 with the John Q. Hedjuk Alumni Award in 2018 and inducted into the Cooper Union Alumni Hall of Fame Michael is a Fellow of the AIA, a registered architect in New York State and a member of the New York State Board for Architecture. He has served on the Board of Governors of Open House New York (OHNY) and the Friends of Governors Island.