REBNY President John Banks Is Retiring
After four years leading the industry's peak lobby group the Real Estate Board of New York, President John Banks is retiring. Jim Whelan, the executive vice president, will be president as of July 1, REBNY announced Wednesday morning.
“Throughout my career, I have been extremely fortunate to work with people and organizations that have helped me grow both personally and professionally; and because of this tremendous support I now have the ability to make this very personal choice,” Banks said in a statement, adding that he plans to spend more time with his family and concentrate on his nonprofit and charitable interests.
He was appointed president of REBNY in 2015, taking over from Steve Spinola. He negotiated REBNY through the switch from 421a to Affordable New York, the rezoning of Midtown East and the Garment District and, most recently, major rent regulation reform that many in the industry say is “devastating.”
Before joining REBNY, Banks was the vice president of Government Relations at Consolidated Edison. He also served as a chief of staff for the New York City Council and worked in the Mayor’s Office of Operations for the Koch administration, according to a release.
The retiring president told Politico that being a stay-at-home dad is his “dream job” and that he plans to continue as a consultant to REBNY through March.
REBNY chair Bill Rudin said in the release that Banks had “successfully guided us through many challenges and complicated issues,” and that the incoming president Whelan is a “great leader.”
“He has been instrumental in REBNY’s work over the past nine years, and we all look forward to working with him as our President, and positioning our city and industry to be stronger than ever,” he said.
The past year has been a challenging one for the lobby group, with political shifts resulting in major changes for the city’s real estate industry. Last year, REBNY began preparing for a Democrat-controlled Senate and raised donations to the Democrats.
However, while the industry did have a win in fending off a potential “pied-à-terre tax,” the new rent regulation laws passed this month have been viewed as a major blow to the real estate industry. REBNY has slammed the laws, arguing they do nothing to address housing affordability.
“I am concerned that some of the public policies that are being discussed and debated are not founded in an empirical, analytical approach to the problem. That has warning signs in my mind,” Banks told Politico.
“We need to be more grassroots; we need to be more like some of the other advocacy groups and show some of the elected officials that we are not just wealthy Manhattan owners.”
CORRECTION, JUNE 26, 12:30 P.M. ET: The New York state budget did not include a “pied-à-terre tax" but did include a "mansion tax." An earlier version of this story misstated the name of tax that was included. This story has been updated.
