Eric Gertler serves as Executive Chairman & CEO of U.S. News & World Report, the nation’s leading news authority on rankings and expert guidance on life decisions. He has had several stints in public service including as Commissioner/President & CEO-designate of Empire State Development (ESD), New York State’s principal economic development agency as well as the Executive Vice President of the New York City Economic Development Corporation and Managing Director of the Center for Economic Transformation in multiple mayoral administrations. Gertler is also Managing Partner of investment fund Ulysses Ventures, LLC. He serves as trustee to the Zuckerman Family Foundation. He sits on various boards of a number of universities, including at Harvard Kennedy School, Technion-Israel Institute, Tel Aviv University and the Weizmann Institute. He is also a trustee of Memorial Sloan Kettering and of the Citizen’s Budget Commission; Chairman of the American-Israel Friendship League; and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Eric Gertler has written extensively over the years on key policy issues and economic development priorities including workforce and employment matters, infrastructure investment, urban development, education, leadership, entrepreneurship and innovation. His writing has been published in numerous news outlets over the years, including the New York Daily News, The Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Huffington Post, U.S. News & World Report, International Herald Tribune, am New York and many others.