Kate Ascher

Kate Ascher has spent significant time in both private and public sectors working on waterfront, real estate, and economic development issues. She has recently joined Happold Consulting, the urban development and planning arm of Buro Happold, an international engineering practice based in the UK.

Kate recently spent three years at Vornado Realty Trust, where she oversaw a number of complex development projects in midtown Manhattan. Prior to her role at Vornado, she spent four years in the Bloomberg Administration as Executive Vice President of Infrastructure at the Economic Development Corporation, where she was responsible for developing city-wide policy relating to various aspects of municipal infrastructure and for implementing a number of significant waterfront development projects.

Her passion for the waterfront dates back to an earlier life in the public sector, when she served as Assistant Director of the Port Department at the Port Authority and was responsible for leasing and business planning for the department’s passenger and cargo terminals.

Kate holds an undergraduate degree from Brown University, and both masters and doctoral degrees from the London School of Economics. She is the author of several books, the founder of a trade and transportation magazine, and the producer of a PBS documentary about the waterfront. She currently lives on the upper west side of Manhattan with her two children.