Lindsay Greene Heads Brooklyn Navy Yard: The Hub for Innovative Tech and Art

Fern Gillespie

Beginning in 1801, the Brooklyn Navy Yard became established as America’s premier naval shipbuilding facility where it launched powerful warships for over 165 years. Today, the Brooklyn Navy Yard, owned by the City of New York, has transformed into a renowned dynamic, innovative industrial park located on the East River waterfront.

Under the direction of Lindsay Greene, president and CEO of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp, the 300-acre complex is home to over 13,000 employees working across over 550 unique businesses and sitting on 6.3 million square feet of industrial space. As the organization’s head, Greene balances a myriad of responsibilities including economic development, education programs, innovative workforce initiatives, real estate accessibility and business advancement support.

“In some ways we joke internally that the Brooklyn Navy Yard is like four nonprofits in one. I like to think of it as a manufacturing innovation ecosystem that really is about doing that in an inclusive way,” she told Our Time Press. “There are companies that are here working on all sorts of stuff that address either healthcare challenges or climate challenges and they’re doing it with this interesting new technology. So, it feels like people are making the future here.

We’re doing that in such a way where we’re kind of bring along the rest of the community.”
The Brooklyn Navy Yard is acclaimed as a hub for technology, design, manufacturing and innovation. Occupants range from artists spaces to institutions.

It’s also home to Pratt Institute’s Research Yard, a 20,000 square foot research and fabrication facility. The Pratt dedicated space is for creative research for students, professors, and industry practitioners to discover new approaches to address complex challenges.

The Brooklyn STEAM Center offers career and technical education to New York City public school high school students in culinary arts, hospitality management, construction technology, film and media, cybersecurity, and design and engineering.

The employment center helps people get jobs at Brooklyn Navy Yard. In addition, the workforce training program focuses on upskilling manufacturing employees to become computer numerical control (CNC) machine operators for careers in this digital age.

“What it looks like to have a manufacturing job now is different from what it was like from 15 to 20 years ago,” she said. “It’s called a computer numerically control (CNC). It’s using either laser cutter or router. What you would have done by hand before, you can put the basic design into a computer system and the computer will do a lot of the bigger finer cuts.”

The Brooklyn Navy Yard also reaches out to local Brooklyn community grassroots organizations to create job pipelines for underserved communities. Also, for involvement celebrations like festivals and special events. “We’ve expanded our relationships with different community organizations for workforce activities. We do that regularly and try to open the campus and have open house events for rebuilding our relationships,” she said.

“We also reinstituted and revamped our educational programs so that middle school students can come, and they get exposed to everything that’s happening here at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. They’re learning what the careers of the future are –so they get that exposure.” In addition, Brooklyn Navy Yard has a major internship program with CUNY institutions.

This January, Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand joined Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, to announce that Brooklyn Navy Yard will receive more than $28 million in FEMA funding. It will be used to replace boilers and fuel tanks damaged by Hurricane Sandy and fortify new and existing infrastructure against future storms. Greene told Our Time Press that contractors will include WMBEs. “DEI is a core part of our DNA,” she said. “It’s in our charter with the City and its also what the Navy did when they were here.”

Prior to joining Brooklyn Navy Yard, Greene specialized in economic development. Her positions in the New York City government included Chief Strategy Officer of the New York City Economic Development Corporation and Chief Strategy Officer for Economic Development & Housing in the New York City Mayor’s Office.

Her career includes management positions at food startups and six years working at Goldman Sachs. She holds a BA in economics from Harvard and an MBA from Yale School of Management. Greene is part of the rise of Black officials who are heading major Brooklyn institutions in arts, business, healthcare, philanthropy and social services. Greene, the first Black woman and openly LGBTQ person to hold the top position at Brooklyn Navy Yard lives in Brooklyn with her wife and two daughters.

At the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the public is invited to check out socializing opportunities. There is The Market @77, a vibrant food hall located on the ground floor of Building 77. It’s a culinary destination that offers a diverse array of eateries, freshly baked bagels with lox to piping hot pizza and delicious tacos. There are art galleries at Brooklyn Navy Yard. In Building 92, there is an exhibit that tells the story of the Brooklyn Navy Yard from its origin in 1801.
For more information on the Brooklyn Navy Yard, visit www.brooklynnavyyard.org