Rose Harvey

Executive Director

Prior to founding New City Parks, Rose served as Commissioner of the Office of New York State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Appointed by Governor Cuomo in 2011, Rose oversaw the revitalization, creation, programming, and operations of more than 250 parks and historic sites, and she helped create and execute the $1 billion “Parks 2020” capital improvement program to rejuvenate and transform the New York State Parks system. The New York State Parks system saw a 28% increase in visitation during Rose’s two-term tenure.

Before moving to the public sector, Rose served as the Regional Director of the Mid-Atlantic Region and later became National Director of Urban Programs at the Trust for Public Lands, and Senior Fellow at Jonathan Rose Companies. Under her leadership, TPL’s Mid-Atlantic Region established with community partners over $1 billion of new rural, regional, and urban parks, 300 of which are urban gardens and playgrounds in underserved neighborhoods.

She sits on the Board of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the Yale School of the Environment’s Advisory Council, and is a gubernatorial appointee to the Hudson River Park Trust Board and The Climate Action Council. Rose holds a B.A. from Colorado College and an M.E.S. from the Yale School of the Environment where she was a McCluskey Fellow and Lecturer. 

Contact: Bailey Bystry at bailey[at]newcityparks.org