Jeffrey H. Lynford is currently the President and CEO of Educational Housing Services, Inc. (EHS), the leading not-for-profit New York City organization that has provided safe and affordable off-campus housing for college students and interns since 1987. Today, EHS works with many academic institutions and corporations to provide housing for over 10,000 students annually.

He also serves as Co-Managing Member of Wellsford Strategic Partners, LLC, a family investment firm, was the co-founder of the Wellsford group of public and private real estate companies, and has provided executive leadership as chairman of three exchange-listed corporations which he has taken public. He has served as an independent director on numerous corporate and non-profit boards, including Equity Residential Properties (NYSE: EQR), the largest residential real estate investment trust, and several open- and closed-end mutual funds sponsored by Cohen & Steers, Inc. (NYSE: CNS), a major investment management firm. Previously, for nearly a decade, he held senior investment banking positions on Wall Street.

Mr. Lynford has held three gubernatorial appointments, currently as Vice Chairman of The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, and formerly as a Director of the Trust for Governors Island and as a Member of the New York State Council on the Arts.  He has also  served on the board of three institutions of higher education: NYU,  NYU Tandon School of Engineering (formerly Polytechnic University), and the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University.  Additionally, he is the grantor of the Lynford Family Charitable Trust, which supports many eleemosynary organizations with domestic and international missions.  The Trust has endowed fellowships at Princeton University, Weill Cornell Medical College, and the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts. He is an emeritus trustee of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, The Lower East Side Tenement Museum and the Citizens Budget Commission, and was the co-founder of the Institute for Mathematics and Advanced Supercomputing at Polytechnic University, now the NYU Tandon School of Engineering.

Mr. Lynford holds three university degrees, including a Master in Public Affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University and a Juris Doctor from Fordham University School of Law. He is married to Tondra Lynford, who is a psychotherapist; they are the parents of four children.

Corporate Experience
Entrepreneurial Leadership and Management (1986 to present):
Mr. Lynford is Co-Managing Member of Wellsford Strategic Partners LLC, a private investment firm.  He has served sequentially as the Chairman of the Wellsford Residential Property Trust (NYSE:  an investment grade multi-family REIT from 1992 to 1997), Wellsford Real Properties, Inc. (AMEX:  a real estate merchant banking firm from 1997 to 2007), and Reis, Inc. (NASDAQ:  real estate analytics and information firm from 2007 to 2010).  Through these public companies and private investment vehicles he has acquired, operated, rehabilitated, developed and sold billions of dollars' worth of real estate assets and related financial instruments.

Mr. Lynford is an expert on capital formation and corporate governance “best practices,” including:

• Pricing of initial public offerings and subsequent convertible and preferred issuances,
• Mergers and acquisitions,
• Placement of unsecured and secured public and private debt,
• Structuring of institutional joint ventures,
• Implementation of spin-offs, forward and reverse stock splits, share repurchase programs and plans of liquidation, and
• Audit and “financial expert” matters.

Corporate Governance (1987 to present)
Extensive experience as a director/trustee, serving on audit, finance, investment and executive committees, for publicly reporting corporations and mutual funds as well as non-profit organizations, including:

• Citizens Budget Commission (2002 to 2008)
• Cohen & Steers: six corporate real estate mutual funds (1987 to 2001)
• Equity Residential: S&P 500 REIT (1996 to 2002)
• Global Heritage Fund (2004 to 2011)
• Lower East Side Tenement Museum (2001 to 2007)
• National Trust for Historic Preservation (1987 to 1996)
• New York State Council on the Arts (2007 to 2013)
• New York University (2008 to present)
• NYU Tandon School of Engineering (1997 to present)
• Princeton University (1994 to 2006)
• The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey (2011 to 2019)
• Trust for Governors Island (2010 to 2013)

Investment Banking (1978 to 1986)

• Bear Stearns & Co, Inc. (Limited Partner)
• Warburg Paribas Becker, Inc. (Managing Director)

Philanthropy
The Lynford Family Charitable Trust (established in 1984) and the Lynford Family Fund (established in 1988 at The New York Community Trust,) have provided financial support to educational, artistic, historic preservation, special needs and public policy organizations. Additionally, these trusts have endowed fellowships at major institutions, including:

• Caramoor International Center for Music and the Arts: Annual “Rising Star” master classes for aspiring young musicians.
• NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering: The Institute for Mathematics and Advanced Supercomputing (IMAS) and its annual Lynford Lecture.
• Weill Cornell Medical College at Cornell University: The annual Lynford International Traveling Fellowships.
• Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University: The annual Professor Marion Levy, Jr. Doctoral Fellowship.

Education
Fordham University, School of Law
Degree: Juris Doctor - Awarded June 1975
Admitted to the New York State Bar in 1975

Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School
Degree: Master in Public Affairs - Awarded June 1971
Woodrow Wilson School Fellowship

State University of New York at Buffalo
Degree: BA in History with Honors - Awarded June 1969
New York State Regents Scholarship