Christopher Bruno ’12 Will Lead a Community Driven Approach to Catalyze Local Entrepreneurship and Economic Development in Tribeca by Leveraging the Community Based Legal Resources and Technical Assistance of the NYLS Plumeri Center for Small Business Empowerment
New York Law School (NYLS) has appointed Christopher Bruno as its inaugural Chief of Economic Development Programs and Strategies. A longtime economic development leader in Fairfax City, Virginia, as well as New York City, Chris will build deeper engagement with the Tribeca community, and the broader business community throughout New York, by identifying and supporting initiatives that drive innovation, stimulate local economic development, and strengthen strategic partnerships. Tribeca, home to New York Law School, remains one of New York City’s most desirable neighborhoods, yet it continues to struggle with retail vacancies, safety concerns, visible sanitation issues, and a lack of sustained post-pandemic investment and strategy. Chris’s role will be to work across the community to help reimagine the neighborhood’s economic future. His focus will be on uniting community organizations and institutional partners to create a long-term self-sustaining business development plan and support strategy for the neighborhood. Beyond Tribeca, Chris will leverage the unique advantages of New York Law School to create key economic development partnerships across the city.
Since 2021, Bruno has served as a Senior Fellow at NYLS, most notably working with the administration, faculty, and students through the Plumeri Center for Small Business Empowerment. He helped support the Tribeca business community, including by leading the Law School’s Neighborhood Pandemic Recovery Task Force. In his new role, Chris will build on this work as a member of the Law School’s senior leadership team. He will serve as primary liaison between NYLS and the Tribeca community—including individual small businesses, local business alliances, corporate entities, nonprofit organizations, and local government officials. Embedded in the community, Bruno will lead economic development initiatives that support the development of an ecosystem where small businesses and entrepreneurs thrive, promote their community integration, and deepen NYLS’s neighborhood presence.
Bruno will work closely with the Plumeri Center’s Director, Associate Professor Jae Hyung Ryu, to identify and cultivate partnerships that provide opportunities for students to support local organizations including businesses and nonprofits, and will work collaboratively with government agencies and other academic institutions.
This past June, the Plumeri Center, working in partnership with the Tribeca community organization Friends of Bogardus Plaza, helped secure a substantial grant from New York City to support merchant organizing efforts and commercial revitalization in Tribeca. Chris’s work is directly aimed at fulfilling the goals envisioned by that grant and elevating the Tribeca business community.
“I’m honored to join New York Law School full time and work with the incredible team that brings the school’s mission to life every day,” said Chris Bruno, “As ‘New York’s law school,’ and a long-standing institutional anchor in Tribeca, one of most vibrant neighborhoods in the greatest city in the world, NYLS has a responsibility to engage deeply with its neighbors and help shape the future of the neighborhood. Through community-focused programs housed at the Plumeri Center, the School is doing important, strategic work to support small businesses and foster thoughtful economic development. I am grateful to Dean Crowell for this opportunity to build on that work and strengthen the partnerships that will move Tribeca and New York forward.”
“New York Law School is excited to expand our role supporting economic vitality and community building in Tribeca, and New York City,” said Anthony Crowell, Dean and President, “Established nearly 135 years ago, we have prided ourselves on calling Lower Manhattan our home. With a state-of-the-art academic facility, as well as the Plumeri Center for Small Business Empowerment which offers community-focused legal clinics led by expert faculty and motivated students, along with events bringing thousands of visitors to our campus each year, we are deeply invested in the success of Tribeca. As the inaugural Chief of Economic Development Programs and Strategies, Chris brings extraordinary experience from his prior roles, as well as his unique connections to NYLS and Tribeca as an alumnus and Senior Fellow to support a thriving community for all in Tribeca.”
“I’m thrilled that Chris is joining us as we build on the strengths of NYLS and the Plumeri Center,” said Jae Hyung Ryu, Associate Professor of Law and Director of the Plumeri Center. “His experience in community and economic development will be key to ensuring that the Center’s work has a tangible impact on our neighbors in Tribeca. Together, we’ll strengthen neighborhood ties while advancing citywide initiatives, leveraging the assets of the Center to benefit both our immediate community and the broader small business ecosystem. I’m excited for the impact this collaboration will have.”
About Chris Bruno
After graduating from New York Law School in 2012, Chris began his economic development career in public service at the New York City Department of Small Business Services (SBS), where he served as Assistant General Counsel and Assistant Director of Commercial Revitalization. In these roles, Chris supported numerous programs related to the Business Improvement District (BID) network in New York and aided in the agency’s recovery efforts following Superstorm Sandy. In 2014, he created SBS’s Neighborhood Legal Fellows Program and mentored NYLS students in serving the legal and compliance needs, pro bono, at several of the city’s neighborhood development organizations. More recently, since 2021, Chris has served, part-time, as a Senior Fellow at NYLS.
Outside of New York, for nearly a decade, Chris served as CEO and Director of Fairfax City Economic Development (FCED) in Fairfax, Virginia. During his tenure, he grew the team, launched a wide range of successful programs that has positioned Fairfax City as a leader in economic development at the regional, national and international levels and supported the investment of numerous programs, projects, and initiatives that grew the city’s business community and expanded opportunities for investment.
Under Chris’s leadership, Fairfax City developed programs that decreased commercial and retail vacancy rates to historic lows, expanded the city’s tax base, and attracted several lasting impactful businesses. Chris oversaw the expansion of the size and scope of Fairfax City Economic Development to include numerous business investment initiatives, tourism, marketing, public relations, and place-based programs. Regionally, Chris is also a founding member of the Northern Virginia Economic Development Alliance, a partnership of ten-member jurisdictions designed to elevate Northern Virgina’s business investment appeal. He has also developed partnerships with institutions of higher education regionally and internationally and greatly expanded Fairfax City’s economic presence globally in Asia and Europe. Chris has been recognized as a leader in the economic development community by his peers and previously received the DCI 40 under 40 award for his leadership and vision. Before attending NYLS, he received a BA and MA from Fordham University.
About New York Law School and The Plumeri Center for Small Business Empowerment
Founded in 1891, New York Law School (NYLS) is an independent law school located in Tribeca, the heart of New York City’s legal, government, financial, and emerging tech centers. Known as “New York’s law school,” NYLS embraces the city as its classroom by complementing a rigorous legal education with an innovative and diverse set of “uniquely New York” experiential learning opportunities. Since opening its doors, NYLS has produced graduates who have gone on to hold high elected and appointed office in the city, lead large and small firms, and gain broad recognition as captains of business and industry. Its renowned faculty of prolific scholars has built the school’s strength in key areas of the law, including business and financial services, intellectual property and privacy, and government and public interest law. NYLS has more than 18,000 graduates and currently enrolls around 1,100 students in its full-time and part-time J.D. programs.
The Plumeri Center for Small Business Empowerment was established from a highly generous foundational gift from global business leader and philanthropist Joseph J. Plumeri (H ’15), The Plumeri Center provides substantial and meaningful legal and business assistance to strengthen New York’s small business and innovator/entrepreneur community through the power and breadth of the Law School’s clinics, faculty, students, alumni, and civic profile.