Who We Are

Elizabeth H. Berger

President

Elizabeth H. Berger joined the Alliance for Downtown New York as President in November 2007. The organization manages the Business Improvement District for Lower Manhattan and promotes Downtown as a premier global address for businesses, residents and visitors through programs, service and advocacy.

Under Ms. Berger’s leadership, the Downtown Alliance has successfully advocated for full funding and timely completion of the Fulton Street Transit Center, the reconstruction of Fiterman Hall, and post-9/11 commercial leasing incentives.

During Ms. Berger’s tenure, the organization has also expanded its bus service, the Downtown Connection, established the Hive at 55, a co-working facility for freelancers and entrepreneurs, undertaken three comprehensive studies designed to advance Lower Manhattan as a new kind of 21st-century central business district, and published State of Lower Manhattan 2011, the definitive report assessing a decade of progress within the district’s commercial, residential and tourism sectors.

Ms. Berger has more than three decades of experience in government, community affairs and strategic planning. She established government relations practices at the law firms Lord Day & Lord Barrett Smith and LeBoeuf, Lamb Greene & MacRae, and is credited with creating the Department of Government and External Affairs at Lincoln Center. She served as an Assistant Mayoral Representative to the New York City Council during the Koch administration.

A graduate of Yale College, Ms. Berger has been involved with civic organizations in New York City for more than 20 years. She is President of the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association and a board director of The Municipal Art Society, Film Forum, Second Stage Theatre, American Museum of Natural History Planetarium Authority and the New York Building Congress. She is a mayoral appointee to the board of the Trust for Governors Island.