September 27, 2020
Alexis Torres ’09CPS, ’11GCPS has many responsibilities as Chief of Staff at the Hugh L. Carey Battery Park City Authority (BPCA), a New York State public benefit corporation that maintains, programs, and manages 92 acres of land and 36 acres of pristine public parkland in downtown Manhattan—but she handles them with aplomb by never forgetting the lessons she learned while a student at St. John’s.
“After more than a decade of work in state and local government, I am grateful to St. John’s for preparing me to take on the real world and dedicate my career to public service,” she said.
Ms. Torres earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Relations and a Master of Science degree in International Communication from the College of Professional Studies (now called The Lesley H. and William L. Collins College of Professional Studies). She is thankful for the education she received from the professors in the Division of Mass Communication, including Basilio G. Monteiro, Ph.D., and John DiMarco, Jr., Ph.D.
“Alexis stood out not only as a smart and hardworking student, but as a gracious person with a contagious smile,” said Dr. Monteiro. “She always cared for others; she was known among her classmates as someone they could always rely on for anything. She is a problem-solver without drawing attention to herself.”
During her college years, Ms. Torres also had the opportunity to apply the skills she learned in the classroom by interning at the Queens County District Attorney’s public information office, where she compiled press clippings for the late Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown, and at Rubenstein Strategic Communications, where she helped organize media for the Tribeca Film Festival.
At St. John’s, Ms. Torres was a member of the Public Relations Club and a host of a show on WRED-TV, the campus television station. She also was a student worker for St. John’s Office of Conference Services and at the TV studio.
“My first job was at St. John’s and I am forever grateful,” she said. “I attribute my work ethic and leadership skills to all of the mentors who guided me during my time there.”
As Chief of Staff at BPCA, Ms. Torres helps manage the day-to-day operations and oversees implementation of a variety of special projects and events. This includes the planning of public events for the authority’s annual Earth Day and Climate Week celebrations, which—given its role as an environmental sustainability leader—are important dates on the BPCA calendar.
Most recently, she has been managing and coordinating, along with New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s office, the construction of new memorials to Mother Cabrini and to the victims and survivors of Hurricane Maria that devastated Dominica, St. Croix, and Puerto Rico in September of 2017. Both memorials will be located in Battery Park City.
Ms. Torres began her career at the City of New York’s Business Integrity Commission (BIC) during the administration of New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. There she worked to help eliminate organized crime and other forms of corruption from the public wholesale markets, trade waste, and shipboard gambling industries. While at BIC, she received a mayoral award for excellence in customer service and became a certified Spanish translator and interpreter for the City of New York Language Access Plan.
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