Sayar Lonial

Sayar Lonial is the Associate Dean for Communications and Public Affairs at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, in Downtown Brooklyn. In that capacity he oversees all internal and external communications, community outreach, government relations and maintains a wide variety of public-private partnerships to further the school’s multifaceted mission: to be a world-class engineering school, focused on creating technology aimed at solving the world’s most pressing problems; encouraging tech entrepreneurship and the growing Innovation Economy; and educating a new generation of engineers committed to academic excellence, visionary research, and diversity.

Lonial’s other current titles include Chair of the DUMBO BID Board of Directors, Secretary for the MetroTech BID and Executive Board member to the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce. In addition to his duties at NYU, Lonial served as Chair of Brooklyn’s Community Board 6 from 2016 to 2020.  Previously, Lonial served as the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation’s Director of Planning & Development, ensuring community input into the redevelopment of Lower Manhattan after the September 11, 2001 attacks and overseeing such initiatives as the rehabilitation and creation of more than 30 new parks and open spaces in Lower Manhattan and the creation and preservation of some 3,000 affordable units in Tribeca, Chinatown, and the Lower East Side. In addition to State and Federal government experience, Sayar also served as Deputy Chief of Staff in Council District 1, Manhattan. Prior to his work at the Council, he served on the Master Planning team for Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Lonial hails from Louisville, Kentucky, and has lived in Brooklyn since 1998.