Elizabeth Velez – Downtown Magazine

DOWNTOWN’s board member Elizabeth Velez was named to the board of MTA, along with Janno Lieber as Chair and CEO of the MTA Board.

“We’ve been fortunate to work with both Elizabeth and Janno, a perfect pair to ensure the continued success for MTA, and we are excited to see what the future holds for our public transportation system. We wish them the best in their newly appointed positions,” says DOWNTOWN’s publisher and founder, Grace A. Capobianco.,

Governor Hochul today announced Janno Lieber has been nominated to serve as Chair and CEO of the MTA Board and Elizabeth Velez has been nominated to serve on the MTA Board.

“As Governor, my first duty to New Yorkers is to ensure that those who serve our state are experienced, committed, and ready to tackle the challenges we face,” Governor Hochul said. “Janno is leading the MTA forward with expert management and vision, and Elizabeth will bring a wealth of invaluable knowledge and expertise to our challenges together. These are strong, competent leaders who will help steer the MTA through this critical time. We will continue to make appointments that ensure our transit system delivers for riders.”

“I am honored and grateful to be nominated by Governor Hochul, who has been a supporter from day one of a smart transit system that serves all New Yorkers. I look forward to working with the governor, her team, and our partners in the legislature to ensure that subways, buses, and commuter railroads continue to be an engine fueling the region’s economic recovery,” Janno Lieber said. “Elizabeth Velez has a deep understanding of the value of transportation to New Yorkers, will be an excellent addition to the board and I’m eager to work with her on important issues facing the MTA, including a historic capital program that will modernize and expand the transit network and provide enhanced equity and accessibility to New Yorkers in the years ahead.”

“I am thrilled to be nominated by Governor Hochul to the MTA Board,” Lieber said. “The MTA is a crucial connection point for New Yorkers throughout our city. With the impending influx of infrastructure dollars, the MTA is central to not only improving essential transportation but also to create opportunities both in workforce and procurement that affect our communities.”

Janno Lieber will be nominated to serve as Chair and CEO of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board. He has been Acting Chair and CEO since July 2021.

In his role at MTA Construction and Development, Mr. Lieber oversaw the agency’s $55 billion five-year capital program, including State of Good Repair investments in infrastructure and facilities of New York City Transit, Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North Railroad, and MTA Bridges and Tunnels. He is responsible for upgrades to signals and other major systems, system expansions, and mega-projects such as East Side Access, the second phase of the Second Avenue Subway, and the Third Track expansion of the Long Island Rail Road mainline. He is also responsible for upgrading and professionalizing the MTA’s project management capacity and for integrating real estate planning and economic development into MTA infrastructure projects.

From 2003 to 2017, Mr. Lieber served as President of World Trade Center Properties LLC, where he was responsible for managing all aspects of the Silverstein organization’s efforts to rebuild the World Trade Center site, including planning, design, and construction issues; business, financing, and legal matters; and public affairs, government, and community relations.

Earlier in his career, he held positions in the administrations of President Bill Clinton and NYC Mayor Ed Koch and worked as an attorney in private practice.

Elizabeth Velez will be nominated to serve on the MTA Board. She is currently the President of the Velez Organization, a second-generation construction firm started in1972 by her father, Andrew Velez.

Elizabeth Velez photo by Velez Organization

To her credit are hundreds of projects which have come to fruition under her direction, including over 600 units of housing made affordable by state and federal grants in the Bronx and Harlem, and over ten billion dollars of significant educational, healthcare, and large-scale projects throughout New York.

She is a Trustee of Boricua College; an accredited private institution serving primarily Latinas through three campuses in New York. She serves on the advisory boards of numerous New York City and New York State agencies, industry non-profits, and groups supporting mentorship and scholarships for youth. She is a member of the Board for Catholic Charities and the New York City Police Foundation. She is currently serving as a Commissioner of the New York City Property Tax Reform Commission. Following Hurricane Maria’s disastrous landfall, Elizabeth was appointed to the NY Stands with Puerto Rico Recovery & Rebuilding Committee, the NY Memorial Commission for Hurricane Maria, and has spearheaded numerous workforce and economic development programs – including a satellite corporate office in Ponce Puerto Rico. On the international front, Ms. Velez is Co-Chair of Iran 180 – an organization that advocates for human rights and the end to Iran’s nuclear threat. She is a contributor to media outlets such as Matter of Fact TV with Soledad O’Brien, Fox News Latino, The New York Daily News, The Wall Street Journal, El Diario, La Prensa, Hispanic Business, ENR, City & State, and Crain’s New York Business, and most recently, DOWNTOWN Magazine.

She is an outspoken advocate for diversity and empowerment of women and a sought-after speaker on women’s leadership and work/family balance issues. In addition to numerous awards and recognition, Ms. Velez was recognized by City & State as one of the “Manhattan Power 50“.

Help us in congratulating both Janno Lieber and Elizabeth Velez.

Reposted from https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-announces-nominations-mta-board

This year, the Velez Organization is proud to announce its nomination for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award. For the past 31 years, the accounting firm praises leaders shaking up the business world with big ideas to shape the future. President and Chief Contract Administrator Elizabeth Velez was delighted that after the company’s 45 years of dominating the NYC construction industry, the company is still considered to be blazing trails.

“You can be entrepreneurial in your spirit, what you do, and where you take your company,” she explained, ”how you use your company to create change and create good.”

The Velez Organization was started in 1972 by Velez’s father, Andrew Velez. He settled in New York City at age eight after immigrating from Puerto Rico with his family. In what can only be described as the plot of romance novel, he eventually fell in love with an aspiring ballerina from Ohio named Lois.

“My grandparents, to protect [my mother] from New Yorkers, put her in a convent to live during the summers,” said Velez with a laugh, “but that didn’t stop her from meeting my father when he was working in a deli in the area.”

After getting married at Corpus Christi Church near Columbia University, the couple quickly transitioned to family life.

“Many babies followed very quickly,” said Velez.

She’s fourth in the line-up of seven girls. After a friend recommended him to the Carpenter’s Union in the 1960s, her father Andrew worked in construction until a badly broken ankle on the job inspired him to start his own firm. Velez distinctly remembers her parents invoicing and writing up proposals long into the night.

“Because he was so tenacious, and such a hard worker, he rose up the ranks very quickly, and was Contractor of the Year for five years running until they instituted a graduation program,” she explained.

Gesturing to a plaque mounted on the wall of her father’s old office, Velez clarified the motto that truly informed her his career: “It will come to he who hustles.”

“As a young girl, if I wanted to spend time with my father, I had to go to work with him,” she said.

Yet, she was adamant that family always came first to her father, and still does.

“We had this 1970s red van, and he painted all of his daughters’ names on it,” she said with a smile.

While pursuing an undergraduate degree in business at Hofstra University, Velez worked part-time for her father.

“I always liked it, but I never saw myself, necessarily, in the industry,” she said.

Yet, when her proposal for an affordable housing development in the Bronx was accepted, her father begged her to stay and finish the project. Working with the Partnership for New York City, a nonprofit organization that works with government and business leaders to strengthen the city’s education, infrastructure, and economy, Velez organized the construction of approximately 600 units.

“It was an amazing feeling to be able to put your DNA on a project,” she explained.

After that project, she never looked back.

“Once I got into it, it was a milestone moment for me,” Velez stated.

Although pained to pick a favorite project from her over 30-year career, Velez choose the construction of the Bronx campus of Boricua College as her favorite “child.”

“It’s a beautiful glass building, and for the college, it represented this tremendous growth. It represented a commitment to the amazing borough of the Bronx,” she explained.

Boricua College is composed predominantly of female students, 80 percent of which are Latina.

“The vast majority are moms coming back to do formal education,” explained Velez.

As a trustee of the college, she was also excited to see the opening of a charter school in the building for the kids of those moms. A strong supporter of education, Velez hopes the experience of going to school with their moms “instills in them the seeds to keep going on.” She also serves on advisory boards at Mercy College and Hostos Community College, a CUNY school.

“I believe education is such an empowering thing, and we can change communities by educating our youth,” she explained.

Additionally, Velez advises two programs, YouthBridge-NY and ACE, that each combine her passions for diversity, education, and construction. YouthBridge-NY is a program that helps youths of different backgrounds communicate with each other, while the ACE (Architecture, Construction, Engineering) Mentoring Program introduces high schoolers to the construction industry through mentorship with member firms.

“We have a real diversity in the kids that come in. About 50% are females, which is terrific!” said Ms. Velez.

She also advocates for gender and racial diversity in the construction industry through her membership to the Women Builders Council.

“I still feel like an anomaly, which is tough after being in the industry for almost thirty years,” she confessed.

Yet, Velez is firm believer that more women can and should be involved in the construction industry, especially if they empower each other.

“Very early on, I met very strong women that wanted to help and mentor other women,” she said.

While she stated her father was “one of her biggest cheerleaders,” Velez also mentioned Kathryn Wylde, CEO of the Partnership for New York City, as one of her mentors and idols. They first met when the Velez Organization partnered with the non-profit to build the affordable housing development in the Bronx while Ms. Velez was still in college.

Today, she believes there is a tremendous pressure on women to be successful, yet maintain a perfect work-life balance. Velez said that freeing yourself from this paradox is one of the greatest favors women can do for themselves.

“It was important to me to keep in touch with all the aspects that made my heart beat, and so, not everything is at a balance. I almost think it’s more like pendulum,” she said, “Life swings in one way or another.