Valerie D. White is a chief executive, economic development expert, and leading advocate with more than 30 years of experience across private, public, and non-profit sectors. Valerie’s professional career started in city government, working for the City of New York’s Department of Personnel followed by eight years with the New York City Housing Authority, where she led the highly visible implementation of three urban revitalization projects with a budget totaling over $250 million.

Following her work in city government, Standard & Poor’s Rating Services tapped Valerie to help lead its municipal and public finances department. As managing director, Valerie led a team of approximately 50 analysts and established herself as the go-to thought leader in the international public finance housing sector, authoring nearly 60 commentary papers on market trends and issues relevant to the sector.

Since her time spent in the private sector, Valerie has become a leading figure in New York’s economic development space, particularly in devising and implementing community development initiatives for the state’s most vulnerable and financially distressed communities. Valerie played a critical role in the resurgence of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where she served as vice president of external affairs, building strategic partnerships with government leaders, community groups and corporations, which in turn generated significant grant funding and raised the Navy Yard’s global, national, and local visibility.

Valerie’s success at the Navy Yard led her next to Empire State Development (ESD), a statewide organization that provides loans, grants, tax credits, real estate development, marketing and other forms of assistance to promote economic opportunity.

As executive vice president at ESD, as well as executive director of the agency’s Division of Minority and Women’s Business Development, Valerie spearheaded business development and engagement strategies for MWBEs, while establishing and executing the strategic development of outreach, positioning, and marketing strategies for the division’s goals for MWBEs, developers, prime contractors, community partners.