Annual Meeting

Ben Margolis brings over 30 years of experience in economic development, public-private partnerships, and urban revitalization. Known for unlocking transformative opportunities, Ben has led nationally recognized redevelopment projects, blending strategic planning with innovative funding solutions to address systemic challenges. His expertise lies in driving growth, maximizing public benefits, and enhancing economic resilience. As a senior economic development official in New York City, Ben spearheaded high-impact initiatives, overseeing more than $1 billion in public-private investments that helped revitalize neighborhoods and address systemic needs. After Hurricane Sandy, he served as Special Advisor to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, leading economic recovery efforts that helped shape NYC’s first comprehensive resiliency plan. In the private sector, Ben’s downtown work—in diverse markets from Augusta to Brooklyn—has been pivotal in revitalizing urban cores. He has led regional, citywide, and district-level economic strategies, as well as master planning exercises in cities like Newark and Philadelphia. He has designed financial toolkits and incentive structures to support workforce housing, adaptive reuse, and public-private investment. As Executive Director of the Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corporation, he fostered innovative economic and workforce development programs. At the Brookings Institution, he developed policy frameworks for urban growth. A Public Policy Fellow at the Design Trust for Public Spaces and a faculty member at Pratt Institute, Ben combines his deep expertise with a commitment to education and thought leadership. He holds an MPA from Columbia University.

Jay Renkens is a planning and design leader with national experience in downtowns, transit-oriented development, streetscapes, land use, and comprehensive planning. While researching health and motivational theory, Jay was struck by the significant influence that the environment has on people’s choices and behavior, and he has sought to shape environments for the better ever since. Although his original studies are now well behind him, they still form the lens that Jay uses in taking a holistic approach to optimizing social, economic, and physical wellness for the greatest number of people. He strives to integrate equity into planning and design and to address the unintended consequences of gentrification such as displacement and the losses of culture and authenticity. Jay can distill concepts and articulate complex ideas in written, verbal, and visual communications that provide a common foundation for decision-making. He is adept at facilitating client, community, and stakeholder collaboration, consensus, and engagement. Through strategic integration of his diverse skillset, Jay has successfully led projects from high-level vision to implementation and his work is focusing more on more on the tools and strategies to make plans a reality. Jay’s management, design, and planning skills have contributed to transformational change in communities of all sizes from coast to coast throughout the United States. Notable recent projects include the Downtown Albany Strategy (NY), Buffalo (NY) Downtown Waterfront Improvements Plan, Madison (WI) Greater Downtown Economic Investment Strategy, the Tulsa Forward Downtown Investment Strategy, and the Charlotte (NC) Future 2040 Comprehensive Plan.