Urban Studies Panel

Get to know Urban Studies! Would you like to be a change maker? Do you want to better understand your city?

Thursday, October 12th, 3-4:30 pm, Information Commons

Panelists

Jacob Balter

Jacob Balter
Long Island Railroad (LIRR)
Director, Strategic Investments

Jacob Balter is Director – Strategic Investments at MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), the biggest and busiest commuter railroad in North America. Since joining the LIRR in the Strategic Investments Department in 2004, Jacob’s focus has been capital and long range planning. This includes spearheading the development of the railroad’s Twenty Year Capital Needs as well as the overall planning for the five year capital programs. In addition, he leads the planning efforts for LIRR capital project development, environmental review and documentation for Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funded projects, and various LIRR planning studies and corporate planning efforts.

Anne Krassner

Anne Krassner
Citi Bike
Education and Outreach Manager

Anne Krassner is an urban planner from Brazil working with sustainable transportation in NYC. She is currently the Education and Outreach Manager at Citi Bike, NYC’s bike share system. With 10,000 bikes at over 600 stations across NYC (and growing!) Citi Bike is the largest bike share in North America. As Education and Outreach Manager, Anne focuses on getting more people of color and lower income New Yorkers engaged with bike share, coordinating different community engagement and equity initiatives.

Previously, Anne worked on the BRT Planning Guide for the Institute of Transportation & Development Policy and helped small businesses as a community organizer for the Fulton Area Business Alliance and Community League of the Heights. She holds a degree from Barnard College, where she majored in Urban Studies, and a Masters in Urban Planning from the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation.

Angel Vasquez

Angel Vasquez
Chief of Staff for Marisol Alcantara, NY State Senator, Upper West Side and Washington Heights

Angel Vasquez is the Chief of Staff to New York State Senator Marisol Alcántara, the first Dominican woman to serve in the New York State Senate and currently the only Latina serving in the chamber. In his role, Angel has worked to secure over $5 million in state funding during the 2017-2018 budget cycle for community-based organizations serving the working-class communities of Washington Heights and Inwood, mandate that all permanent and temporary court orders be translated into the language of all parties involved, and pass legislation requiring the State Education Department to draft suicide prevention curriculum for school districts.

Josh Fraidstern

Josh Fraidstern
New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA)
Train Operator

Josh Fraidstern has worked for MTA New York City Transit for the past twenty years. After graduating from Hunter College (B.A. Sociology ’97) he was hired as a Station Agent. He was promoted to Conductor and then Train Operator which has been his job title for the last eighteen years. He is a Shop Steward and activist in Transport Workers Union Local 100.

Shane Deaton
Tesla
Director of Corporate Finance

Shane Deaton is the Director of Corporate Finance group at Tesla. He attended Indiana University for both undergrad and law school. Received a Bachelor of Science in Finance, Minor in Political Science from the Kelley School of Business and a J.D. from the Maurer School of Law. Prior to working at Tesla, he was an attorney at Mayer Brown; Vice President in the Investment Banking Division at Goldman, Sachs & Co.