Michael Adlerstein - Executive Director

On July 2, 2007, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Mr. Michael Adlerstein of the United States as the Assistant Secretary-General and Executive Director of the Capital Master Plan (CMP). The CMP is a $2 billion project to renovate the United Nations Headquarters facilities in New York.

Most recently, Mr. Adlerstein was the Vice President and Architect of The New York Botanical Garden, America's oldest and most respected center for horticulture, botanical research and education. In the 1980's Mr. Adlerstein was the Project Director for the restoration of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, the most ambitious historic restoration project ever undertaken by the US Department of the Interior. He led the Master Planning team and managed the team of architects, engineers, landscape architects and other consultants through the planning and design process, and later managed the complexities of construction on Ellis Island. He later became the Chief Historical Architect of the National Park Service. As such, he was recognized as the national expert in the field of Historic Preservation, advising the National Park Service Director and the US Secretary of the Interior on all historic preservation issues.

During his National Park Service career, Mr. Adlerstein managed the planning, design and construction program for the Northeast Region, including complex partnership projects at Gettysburg, Valley Forge, Acadia, and Jamestown. Throughout the Northeast Region he directed the design and construction process for major rehabilitation, stabilization and restoration of public facilities, visitor centers, historic buildings, utility systems, exhibits and other infrastructure.

Mr. Adlerstein is a New York native. He received his architectural degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and was a Loeb Fellow at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. He served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Colombia, and has worked as a State Department consultant on preservation issues on numerous projects, including the preservation of the Taj Mahal. He has been recognized for his contributions to the field of architecture with numerous awards and in 1994 was made a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.