Staff
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Vicki Been More info
Vicki Been, the Boxer Family Professor of Law at New York University School of Law and an Associate Professor of Public Policy at NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, is Faculty Director of the Furman Center. Vicki teaches courses in Land Use Regulation, Property, and State and Local Government, as well as seminars on The Takings Clause, Environmental Justice, and Empirical Issues in Land Use and Environmental Law. She also co-teaches an interdisciplinary Colloquium on the Law, Economics and Politics of Urban Affairs.
She received a B.S. with high honors from Colorado State University in 1978 and a J.D. from the NYU School of Law in 1983, where she was a Root-Tilden Scholar. After graduation, Vicki served as a law clerk to Judge Edward Weinfeld, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York from August 1983 to July 1984 and as a law clerk to Justice Harry Blackmun, United States Supreme Court from August 1984 to August 1985. She was an Associate at the firm of Debevoise & Plimpton in New York City for one year, then served as an Associate Counsel at the Office of Independent Counsel: Iran/Contra in Washington, DC. She joined Rutgers University School of Law in Newark as an Associate Professor in August 1988.
She has written extensively on the Fifth Amendment’s Just Compensation Clause, Environmental Justice, Impact Fees, Housing Affordability, “Smart” Growth, and other land use topics, and is a co-author of Land Use Controls: Cases and Materials (with Robert C. Ellickson) (2005, Aspen Law & Business).
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Samuel Dastrup Email More info
Samuel Dastrup is a Research Fellow at the Furman Center. His research explores the interactions of residential real estate markets, neighborhoods, and household decisions with a focus on energy choices. Samuel received a B.S. in Economics from Brigham Young University in 2005, where he has returned to teach Introductory Economics as a visiting lecturer, and completed a Ph.D. in Economics at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). While at UCSD, his research on how solar panel installations affect home prices received funding from the University of California Center for Energy and Environmental Economics. This work and companion research on solar panel installation decisions has been awarded the Joseph L. Fisher Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship by Resources for the Future. Samuel also worked as a Research Analyst for a nonprofit strategy consulting organization supporting San Diego nonprofits.
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Ingrid Gould Ellen More info
Ingrid Gould Ellen is Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy at New York University’s Wagner School and Co-Director of the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy. Her research centers on neighborhoods, housing, and residential segregation. Professor Ellen is author of Sharing America’s Neighborhoods: The Prospects for Stable Racial Integration (Harvard University Press, 2000) and has been published in such journals as Urban Studies, the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Brookings-Wharton Papers on Urban Affairs, and Housing Policy Debate. She is currently undertaking a national study of economic change in U.S. neighborhoods. In addition, she is studying the interaction between investments in schools and subsidized housing and examining why some parcels of land remain underdeveloped, even in hot markets. Professor Ellen teaches courses in microeconomics, urban economics, and urban policy research. Before coming to NYU, Professor Ellen held visiting positions at the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution. She attended Harvard University, where she received a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics, an M.P.P., and a Ph.D. in public policy.
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Ben Gross Email
Ben Gross is the Herbert and Lorraine Podell Fellow at the Furman Center. His research focuses on the emerging role of technology in urban life as well as tenant decision-making and the evolving profile of low-income landlords. Prior to joining the center, Ben worked with New Haven’s Livable City Initiative as a Yale Public Interest Fellow, where he oversaw the modernization of the city’s code enforcement apparatus and organized an outdoor film fest on the New Haven Green. He received a J.D. from Yale Law School, where he was a senior editor of the Yale Law Journal and served as a director of the Landlord/Tenant clinic. Ben received a MPhil in Criminology from the University of Cambridge, where he was a Gates Scholar, and earned a B.A. in Philosophy from Northwestern University.
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Andrew Hayashi Email
Andrew Hayashi is a Research Fellow at the Furman Center. His research at the Center focuses on the effects of tax policy on real estate and housing markets. He received a B.S.F.S., magna cum laude, in philosophy and international economics from Georgetown University in 2002, an M.Sc. in economics and philosophy from the London School of Economics in 2003, and a J.D., Order of the Coif, and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley in 2008. His dissertation research covered topics in behavioral law and economics and he continues to do research in this area, particularly as applied to tax policy. While at Berkeley , Andrew was a Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Graduate Scholar, a Berkeley Law and Economics Fellow, and received research funding from the Russell Sage Foundation and the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education. Before joining the Furman Center Andrew was an associate at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, where he practiced tax law.
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Jennifer Ilekis Email
Jennifer Ilekis is the Furman Center’s Fiscal and Grants Manager. Previously, Jennifer was a grants officer at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, where she was responsible for federal grant applications and compliance. Her university development experience also includes her roles as Assistant Director of Development at the University of Chicago Law School and Program Assistant at Northwestern University. Jennifer earned her M.P.A. from NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, with a concentration in public and nonprofit management. As a graduate student, Jennifer was a research assistant at the Furman Center, where she worked on projects such as the strategic plan and special events. She earned her B.A. in International Affairs from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
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John Infranca Email
John Infranca is the Jonathan L. Mechanic/Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson Fellow at the Furman Center. Prior to joining the Center, he served as a law clerk to Judge Julio Fuentes, United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and Judge Berle Schiller, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. John received a J.D., Order of the Coif, from New York University School of Law, where he was an editor of the New York University Law Review, a Lederman Fellow in Law and Economics, and a fellow in the Arthur Garfield Hays Civil Liberties Program. He also earned a B.A and an M.T.S. degree from the University of Notre Dame. After college and during graduate school, John worked with a number of homeless services organizations, as a case manager for refugees, and as the director of a service learning program in Mexico. He has authored law review articles on the Earned Income Tax Credit and the informal economy and on protecting Social Security benefits from bank freezes and garnishments. At the Furman Center, John’s research focuses on land use regulation and affordable housing.
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Susan Latham Email
Susan Latham is the Associate Director of the Furman Center, where she is responsible for overseeing fundraising, finance and human relations. Previously, she was the Director of Development and Communication at the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, a membership organization for New York City community and faith based human service providers, where she expanded the donor base and implemented an online communication system. From 2000 – 2006, Susan was the Associate Vice President for Human Resources and Strategic Planning at Metropolitan College of New York, where she established and ran the college’s first human resources department, developed the program design and helped secure funding for their Welfare to Careers Project, and managed college-wide strategic planning efforts that resulted in a name change and facilities expansion. For many years she worked in New York City’s performing arts world as a producer, fund raiser, and company manager, producing shows and tours that were presented on four continents. Susan serves on the boards of several arts organizations and a community-based education program. She holds a B.A. in Communication from Hope College, and an M.S. in Social Administration from the Columbia University School of Social Work.
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Meghan Lewit Email
Meghan Lewit is the Communications Associate at the Furman Center. Prior to joining the Furman Center, she was a media relations specialist at the University of Southern California, where she developed multimedia strategies to promote faculty research and campus initiatives. Meghan also previously worked as a reporter at the Press-Enterprise Newspaper for three years, covering government, education, and social services in several Southern California communities. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from Boston University, and a Master of Professional Writing from USC. Additionally, she has written for a number of publications, including L.A. Weekly, The Christian Science Monitor and The Atlantic.com.
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Josiah Madar Email
Josiah Madar is a Research Fellow at the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, where his research focuses on mortgage lending, foreclosure, neighborhood stabilization, residential development and land use regulation. Before joining the Furman Center in 2007, Josiah was an associate at Davis Polk & Wardwell, where he practiced corporate and real estate law for a variety of corporate and private equity clients and, on a pro bono basis, New York non-profit organizations. He received his B.S.A.D in architecture from M.I.T. in 1997 and a J.D. from New York University School of Law in 2002. Before law school, Josiah worked as an urban planner at Sasaki Associates in Watertown, Massachusetts from 1997 to 1999.
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Bethany O’Neill Email
Bethany O’Neill is the Administrative Associate at the Furman Center. She earned her B.S. in Food Science & Human Nutrition from the University of Florida, and is pursuing an M.A. in Food Studies at NYU. Bethany is interested in urban agriculture and the local food movement. At the Furman Center, she is enjoying the opportunity to learn about urban planning and housing in New York City.
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Vincent Reina Email
Vincent Reina is the Herbert Z. Gold Housing Fellow at the Furman Center. Prior to joining the Furman Center, he worked at the Local Initiatives Support Corporation as a Senior Program Officer in their Affordable Housing Preservation Initiative, where he was involved in assessing the feasibility of, and structuring financing for, preservation transactions. Vincent has also worked as a Project Manager in HUD’s Office of Multifamily Housing and as a Community Planning and Development Representative in the Office of Community Planning and Development. In addition, Vincent was a Coro Community Fellow and is currently an Associate at the Centre for the Analysis of South African Social Policy. He earned a B.S. in Urban Studies from Cornell University and an M.Sc. in Comparative Social Policy from Oxford University.
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Max Weselcouch Email
Max Weselcouch is the Data Manager and a Research Analyst at the Furman Center. Prior to joining the Furman Center, she was a research assistant at RESI of Towson University, a non-profit economics research group located in Baltimore, Maryland. While at RESI, she devoted most of her time to studying welfare and subsidized childcare expenses in Maryland. Max received a B.A. with honors in Mathematics and Dance from Goucher College in 2005. She also spent a year studying biostatistics at John Hopkins University as a mental health trainee sponsored by the National Institute on Mental Health.
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Mike Williams Email
Michael Williams is the Data Manager and a Research Analyst at the Furman Center. He holds both an M.S. in Mathematics and an M.A. in Economics from NYU as well as a B.A. in Theater from Fordham University where he had a concentration in playwriting. While in graduate school, Michael held a number of teaching appointments in both the Math and Economics departments. He was also employed at the Data Service Studio where he assisted student and faculty researchers with their statistical and data needs. Immediately prior to his current position, Michael was a student research assistant at the Furman Center. Before beginning his graduate studies, Michael worked briefly in the financial sector as an index analyst with Standard & Poor’s.
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Mark Willis Email
Mark Willis is a Resident Research Fellow at the Furman Center. Before joining the Center, Mark was a Visiting Scholar at the Ford Foundation, working on research related to community development and the financial services sector. Prior to his time at Ford, Mark spent 19 years at JPMorgan Chase, overseeing its community development programs and products to help strengthen low- and moderate-income communities. Among his many accomplishments there, Mark founded the Chase Community Development Corporation. Before joining Chase, Mark held various positions in economic development and tax policy with the City of New York, including Deputy Commissioner for Development at the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, and worked as an urban economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Mark co-chairs Housing First! in New York City and has previously chaired the New York Community Investment Company and the Consumer Bankers Association’s Community Reinvestment Committee, and co-chaired Living Cities: The National Community Development Initiative. Mr. Willis has also served as a member of the Bankers/Community Collaborative Council of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. He currently serves on a number of boards including the executive committees of the Center for Housing Policy and the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce as well as the advisory board of the Office of Financial Empowerment of the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs. Mark teaches Housing and Community Development Policy jointly at New York University’s Law and Wagner schools. He has a B.A. degree in economics from Yale University, a J.D. degree from Harvard Law School, and a Ph.D. degree in urban economics and industrial organization from Yale University.
