Russell Albanese

CEO, The Albanese Organization, Inc.

The Albanese Organization is one of the leading green developers in our area and the credit surely has to go in no small part to Russell Albanese, the forward-thinking chairman of the Garden City-based real estate development, planning and design company. The Long Island Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council honored him for his notable accomplishments in making energy-saving — as well as planet-saving — buildings a priority. He is credited with building the nation’s first LEED Gold and Platinum multi-family high-rise buildings two decades ago. According to The Wall Street Journal, the Albanese Organization manages 5 million square feet of space in its portfolio, and of that, 60 percent is residential, 24 percent is office-related, and the rest is hotel, and other uses. Most notably, Albanese recently broke ground on a third apartment building in the transformative Wyandanch Village, a $500 million, 40-acre mixed-use neighborhood in one of the most deserving communities on Long Island. The project has served as a model for other developments in the region. This environmentally aware developer also serves on the boards of the Nature Conservancy, the Wyandanch Plaza Association, and the Family Service League. Drawing from his nearly four decades as a pioneering, eco-conscious developer, Albanese has the power to change entire neighborhoods for the better since his standards require only the greenest building materials in the process.