Alexandra Belyaev

Manager, Strategic Initiatives

Alexandra is an emergent strategist, place-based planner, and systems thinker who designs for connection—across people, place, and purpose. Her work integrates play and rigor to align people, processes, and possibilities, shaping environments that reimagine what’s possible.

Based in HR&A’s New York office, Alexandra advances cross-sector business development strategies within Affordable Housing and Cultural Capital. She began her tenure in the Executive Office as the firm’s first Special Assistant, serving as a force multiplier by translating leadership priorities into strategic initiatives that strengthened internal functions and deepened collective purpose.Alexandra spearheaded the design and execution of HR&A’s first Firmwide Summit, bringing staff together from across the country to reflect on the company’s past, present, and future. She also launched a series of studio retreats in cities across the U.S., ensuring that staff engage directly with the communities where their work takes shape. These place-based gatherings strengthen collaboration with partners while celebrating the people and places HR&A serves.

Before joining HR&A, Alexandra contributed to New York City’s first Climate Adaptation Roadmap while working in the Mayor’s Office of Climate Resiliency, helping to shape cross-agency strategy. At Pratt Institute’s Graduate School for Planning and the Environment, she partnered with community organizations like UPROSE to co-develop a framework for realizing the Green Resilient Industrial District in Southwest Brooklyn. In the Pacific Northwest, she led public engagement strategies for sustainable utility expansion and major transit infrastructure upgrades.

Alexandra holds a Master of Science in Place-Based Planning and Management with distinction from Pratt Institute. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Environmental Studies, cum laude, from Macalester College, where she also studied in the International Honors Program on the Politics of Land, Water, and Energy Justice.