Jeffrey H Lynford

Jeffrey H. Lynford was appointed to the Board of Commissioners in June 2011 by Governor Cuomo. Mr. Lynford, currently Co-Managing Member of Wellsford Strategic Partners LLC, is the co-founder of the Wellsford group of public and private real estate companies. Over an 18 year period he has served as the Chairman of three exchange-listed corporations: Wellsford Residential Property Trust (NYSE: an investment grade multi-family REIT from 1992 to 1997), Wellsford Real Properties, Inc. (AMEX: a real estate merchant banking and development firm from 1997 to 2007), and Reis, Inc. (NASDAQ: real estate analytics and information firm from 2007 to 2010). Previously, he held senior investment banking positions on Wall Street. Mr. Lynford has served as a trustee/director on the boards of S.E.C. reporting corporations and mutual funds as well as non-profit organizations. He is an expert on capital formation, corporate governance “best practices,” and has extensive experience serving on many audit, finance, investment and executive board committees. Mr. Lynford holds two additional gubernatorial appointments (the New York State Council on the Arts and the Trust for Governors Island) and serves on the board of two institutions of higher education (NYU and Polytechnic Institute). Additionally, he is Vice Chairman of the Global Heritage Fund and the grantor of the Lynford Family Charitable Trust, which supports many eleemosynary organizations with domestic and international missions. He is a trustee emeritus of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Citizens Budget Commission, Caramoor International Center for Music and the Arts, and a former ex officio trustee of the Lower Eastside Tenement Museum. Mr. Lynford holds three university degrees, including a BA in history from SUNY at Buffalo, a Masters in Public Affairs (MPA) from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, and a JD from Fordham University School of Law.