“I will be leaving RIOC at the end of the month,” Deputy General Counsel Gerrald Ellis wrote in a RIOC staff email yesterday. Since the first of the year, Ellis has shared leadership duties with CFO Dhruvika Patel Amin, following the suspension of CEO Shelton J. Haynes.
(Photo: Gerrald Ellis with Four Freedoms Executive Director Howard Axel and board member Ben Fhala at I Love My Park Day 2024.)
by David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
In his note to the staff, Gerrald Ellis gave credit to them for the improving presence of RIOC on Roosevelt Island. Under the guidance of Ellis and Patel, changes came almost overnight but are, so far, enduring.
Transparency is there as never before. Communications are clear and crisp, and while accountability still lags, it’s better.
Significantly, mostly behind the scenes, Ellis calmed a fractious board and fostered progress on key issues, especially involving infrastructure needs.
When Gerrald Ellis Leaves
A wise hire by Haynes, Ellis landed on Roosevelt Island seasoned with years of real estate experience. But interestingly, he already had a grounding on the community. On countless bicycle jaunts from his home in Astoria, he toured Main Street, the promenades and parks. He loved the place and wanted to work here.
Until recently, though, he was a virtual unknown. Haynes kept a clamp on community involvement, but that crumbled early this year.
Along the softer-spoken, but financially astute Amin, he welcomed residents into RIOC world. It was like a light turned on in a long dark room. It was surprising too because it introduced a team eager to join with residents in making the community better.
When Ellis leaves, though, that openness may stay, at least for a while, but his exceptional insights on real estate coupled with his gifts as a “people person” who got along with everyone will go.
What Went Wrong?
For most of us with decades long memories of RIOC under a string of leaders, Gerrald Ellis was the best. In a short tenure, he established norms of honestly and responsiveness surpassing any before. It seemed to come naturally with him, a gift few possess.
It’s no wonder that others came looking for him.
But Ellis wanted to stay. At any time since he took the interim leadership position, RIOC’s board could made him CEO. Hiring and firing executives is in their job descriptions, although they’ve bent the knee for Team Albany for years.
Instead, the board set up an investigation of charges against both Haynes and Chief Counsel Gretchen Robinson. Headed by Carter Ledyard, it’s dragged on for nearly five months while the suspended executives sit home at full pay and benefits.
Finally, the string ran out on Ellis and a possible promotion. An offer for his services by an outside firm dealing with affordable housing was dangled as early as February. But because of his affection for Roosevelt Island and his work here, Ellis held out.
Then, within the last week or two, he learned that Carter Ledyard would still have no results to report on Haynes in June, he made an unavoidable choice.
“I have accepted a position as in-house counsel at an affordable housing developer here in NYC,” he wrote to the RIOC staff.
Diminished Staff
In the broader picture, Ellis’s departure adds to significant losses of skilled managers at RIOC. Transportation Director Cy Opperman retired last month, and human resources head Tajuna Sharpe left shortly before.
Add in Haynes’s and Robinson’s inactivity, and you’ve got a perilously short staff without a bench behind them. Amin remains as does Acting COO Mary Cunneen and PSD Chief Kevin Brown, but other key seats at the table are or will soon be empty.
No one knows what comes next for Roosevelt Island and RIOC, but the options left after Ellis leaves are not promising.
Most likely, Hochul’s unimpressive operatives running RIOC remotely will hire what a key manager describes as “another carpetbagger,” a politically connected outsider with little to no connection with Roosevelt Island. Capability and experience will not be major factors in the decision. They seldom are out of the Albany stew.
All we can be sure of now is a loss as staggering as it is unnecessary. The Governor’s office and the local board failed again. We will all suffer for it.
However, if enough Roosevelt Islanders stand tall and demand better, positive results are possible. Tell RIOC’s board members where you stand. Contact the electeds: Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright and Senator Liz Krueger. Ask that they pressure Hochul to do the right thing, not the expected thing.
Make a little noise, but also, when you see Gerrald Ellis on the street, thank him. He’s shown the community what’s possible. We owe him some recognition.
On naming, neglect, and the quiet work that keeps things standing
About twenty years ago, there was Harbor Police activity near the water, just south of the subway entrance. At the time, no one really thought of it as a pier, though technically there was a small boardwalk there. Of course it wasn’t a pier. A pier implies intention.
