About Edward Arace

Mr. Arace is the Managing Member of A & R Global Consulting and the Managing Partner of Arace & Company Consultants, LLC. Mr. Arace directs the work of both organizations, while specializing in economic development and government affairs. He oversees all real estate development projects as well as administers governmental consulting to corporate clients.

Mr. Arace has over forty years of experience in both the public and private sectors. In his 22 years in government, he served in both the Legislative and Executive branches of New York State Government. Soon after Governor Pataki took office 1995, he was appointed Regional Director, New York State Department of Economic Development for the Mid-Hudson Region In 1999; Mr. Arace was promoted to Vice President Regional Economic Development for Empire State Development Corporation’s Mid-Hudson Region. The region, which encompasses Westchester, Rockland, Dutchess, Putnam, Orange, Sullivan, and Ulster Counties, is the size of the State of Connecticut with a population of over 2 million and has the highest concentration of fortune 500 headquarters located in New York State outside of New York City. He was responsible for all New York State economic development activities in the region including; business attraction and retention, marketing, planning and development project management.

Mr. Arace allocated over $800 million in state economic development assistance to businesses, local governments and Not-for-Profits in his seven years as Regional Director/ Vice President. Under his stewardship, the region continually ranked as the fastest growing in the state and maintained the top deal-flow of all New York State’s regions. Mr. Arace possesses an in-depth knowledge of New York State’s incentive programs. From 1995 to 2002 Mr. Arace was in charge of all New York State’s Economic Development efforts in the Hudson Valley and had the opportunity to lead many of the largest most complex, corporate projects in the history of the Hudson Valley Region, including:

Fuji Photo Film USA - Corporate HQ
Atlas Air - Corporate HQ
Pep Boys - 400,000 sf. distribution center
IBM - $2.5 billion chip manufacturing plant
Staples - $40 million 765,000sf distribution center
Amscan - 900,000 sf manufacturing facility
Kohl's - 600,000 sf ft. distribution center
Home Depot - 761,000 sf distribution center
Gap - 2.5 million sf distribution center
Heineken USA - Corporate HQ
IBM - Corporate HQ
General Electric - $25 million corporate aviation facility
Mercedes-Benz - $25 million Corporate HQ

Prior to 1995, Mr. Arace was employed by the New York State Senate for fourteen years. During which time he served as Director of Legislative Programs for the Senate Vice President, Director of Senate Corporations, Authorities, and Commissions Committee, and Assistant Director of the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee. During his years with the State Senate he was involved with many projects including being the Senate’s representative on the Hudson River Greenway, Conservation Fund Advisory Board, Catskill Interpretive Center, lona Island Study, Rockefeller Institute 25th Anniversary Study of DEC, Governor's Task Force on Underground Mining, DEC/Senate/Assembly Task Force on Fish, Wildlife, Ecosystems and Endangered Species Funding. He also worked on the budget subcommittee for DEC, Energy, and Parks with responsibility for covering the following issues: Adirondack and Catskill Parks (forestry, land acquisition, management, etc.); Greenway (land use issues); hunting, fishing (freshwater), trapping, endangered species; oil, gas, mining (petroleum products, bulk storage).

He was also responsible for primary staff work on the following chapters of law, among others: Establishment of New York Biodiversity Research Institute (Chapter 554, 1993); Preservation of state Fish and Wildlife programs, shifting $9 million in program costs from the Conservation Fund to the General Fund (Chapter 50, 1994). Responsible for Senate bills dealing with Business Corporation Law and Not-For Profit Law, and appointments to commissions and authorities.

Ed resides in Warwick, New York and North Palm Beach, Florida with his wife Pamela.