Marilynn helps to conceptualize and implement dynamic real estate projects that create vital places and build more equitable and resilient communities.

Immediately before joining HR&A in March 2022, Marilynn was Chief Real Estate Officer at Clark Atlanta University, the first to hold that newly-created role, where she led the optimization of the University’s real estate portfolio, strategizing the commercial development of its 50+ acres of underutilized off-campus assets. A key objective of the CAU development strategy was to generate accretive, long-term revenues to the University through thoughtful projects that are regenerative and that create opportunity for disinvested communities.

Marilynn’s career has placed her in leadership positions along a range of industry platforms, most recently addressing the dynamics of cities and their impact on the built environment. Among these have been Managing Director of the New York office of IMC Octave, a real estate development subsidiary of industrial conglomerate IMC Pan-Asia Alliance; Chief Executive Officer at landscape architecture firm, Martha Schwartz Partners; and Assistant Secretary of Administration at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, nominated by President Clinton, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Her earlier experiences were in global business, including FleetBoston Financial Corporation (now a part of Bank of America), American Express Corporation and General Motors Corporation.

Marilynn has served on several boards or in advisory roles related to the arts, architecture, and cities, including the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Skyscraper Museum (NYC), Open House New York, the NY/NJ Regional Planning Association’s Community Planning and Development Committee and the World Policy Institute’s Emerging Cities Project. She is a member of the University Development and Innovation Council of the Urban Land Institute. She was selected as a Fellow of the David Rockefeller Program of the New York City Partnership, and was later recruited to serve on its Advisory Committee. Her previous for-profit board experience was at Loop!, a telecommunications affiliate of Covad Communications, based in Barcelona, Spain.

Marilynn earned her B.A. from Smith College, Masters degrees in economics from both the University of Michigan and Washington University in St. Louis, and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.

Derek Fleming is a nationally recognized real estate and economic development leader who structures catalytic public-private partnerships and leads master planning and development strategies that protect culture, align capital, and generate durable economic power.

With more than 20 years of experience across public agencies, private equity, and entrepreneurial development, Derek operates at the intersection of policy, finance, land use, and community identity. He advises cities, institutions, and mission-driven developers on the repositioning of catalytic sites, creative and cultural districts, retail corridors, and food-based economic ecosystems, translating vision into implementation-ready strategies that unlock investment while safeguarding community ownership.

Derek’s work spans highest-and-best-use analysis, capital stack structuring, entitlement strategy, retail and tenant ecosystem positioning, governance design, and long-term operating frameworks. He is particularly skilled at sequencing public and private investment to de-risk catalytic projects, align incentives, and establish financially viable district-scale redevelopment models. His approach ensures that master plans are not aspirational documents, but executable roadmaps tied to capital strategy and measurable economic impact.

Central to his practice is the advancement of Cultural Capital as a development platform, positioning neighborhood identity, heritage, creative production, and local entrepreneurship as economic infrastructure rather than peripheral assets. Through this lens, Derek has led redevelopment strategies in historically marginalized communities that elevate cultural districts as engines of tourism, small business growth, and generational wealth creation while protecting existing residents from displacement.

In addition to his advisory work, Derek brings hands-on development experience, having led the adaptive reuse and repositioning of culturally significant assets into high-performing commercial and community anchors. This dual-sector fluency allows him to bridge institutional priorities and market realities, structuring partnerships that leverage public investment effectively while meeting private capital performance expectations. His experience managing empowerment zone lending portfolios and navigating complex entitlement environments equips him to guide clients through the full development lifecycle, from early visioning and district strategy through capitalization and implementation, ensuring projects are financially durable, politically viable, and culturally grounded.

Derek’s 12 years of public sector experience focused on neighborhood revitalization and economic development. At Empire State Development, NY State’s economic development agency, Derek managed a NY Empowerment Zone public lending portfolio of $60 million for real estate and business development transactions in some of New York City’s most economically marginalized neighborhoods, in particular Harlem and the Bronx. During his four years as Project Manager for the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, Derek successfully led a team through the entitlement and re-zoning of the 300-acre underdeveloped Mission Bay brownfield site, leading to the development of over 1,500 affordable housing units as well as retail, commercial, hotel, and market-rate housing.

Derek holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley and an MBA from Kellogg School of Management. In addition to his role as Senior Advisor at HR&A, Derek is a senior board member of the Neighborhood Charter School Harlem & the Bronx.

With over 40 years of experience in public service and urban development, Carl’s distinguished career is a testament to his commitment to building equitable, resilient, and economically vibrant communities.

Carl Weisbrod is a national authority on city planning, affordable housing policy, urban development, and public-private real estate development. In his four decades of experience, Carl has brokered and led complex public-private partnerships and created innovative governance strategies to spur economic development. His record of visionary, innovative, and successful urban development initiatives has made him an internationally sought-after advisor.

Throughout his career guiding public agencies and transformative development initiatives, Carl has served the City of New York in many capacities– most recently, as Chairman of the New York City Planning Commission and Director of the New York City Department of City Planning. Prior to these appointments, Carl was a Partner at HR&A, where he managed the successful rezoning of the Hudson Square area in Manhattan, which has transformed the neighborhood into a dynamic hub for creative industries and new housing, including up to 700 affordable units.

Preceding his initial tenure at HR&A, Carl led efforts to revitalize two of New York City’s most iconic neighborhoods – Times Square, from the late 1970’s through the early 1990’s, and Lower Manhattan, both pre- and post-9/11. His former positions include: President of New York State’s 42nd Street Development Project; Founding President of the New York City Economic Development Corporation; Founding President of the Alliance for Downtown New York; and President of the Real Estate Division for Trinity Church and Executive Vice-President of Trinity Church-St. Paul’s Chapel.

Carl is the former chairman of the New York State Health Foundation, a non-profit entity which funds innovative healthcare programs throughout New York State. He is also a former Trustee of the Ford Foundation and the Urban Land Institute, as well as a former full-time faculty member at New York University’s Schack Institute of Real Estate, where he served as Academic Chair of the Concentration in Global Real Estate.

Carl was the inaugural recipient of the 2017 John E. Zuccotti Public Service Award from the Real Estate Board of New York, which recognizes citizens who have displayed exceptional accomplishments and service in the public’s interest. In 2011, Carl was recognized by the Center for an Urban Future as “one of New York’s most innovative economic development leaders over the past three decades” and, in 2002, Carl was honored by Crain’s New York Business as one of the “100 Most Influential Leaders in Business.” He has received both the “Chairman’s Award” by the New York Landmarks Conservancy (2000) and the “Public Interest Service Award” by New York University (1993).

Carl holds a Bachelor of Science from Cornell University and a Juris Doctor from New York University School of Law.