Commissioners & Staff

Ethel Sheffer


Ethel Sheffer

Ethel Sheffer serves on the Public Design Commission as the Mayor's Representative. She is an urban planner, civic and community leader, and educator. Ethel heads Insight Associates, a small consulting group providing research services and advice in community planning and development; land use; and collaborations among government, nonprofits, and the private sector. In the 1990s, she headed the Columbus Circle Tri-Board Task Force of Community Boards 4, 5, and 7 and the Riverside South Task Force. Ethel also served as President of the New York Metro Chapter of the American Planning Association from 2002 to 2008. She is a Board Member of the Citizens Housing and Planning Council and a member of the Municipal Art Society's Planning Committee, and she teaches in Columbia University’s Graduate Planning Program.