As Executive Vice President of Leasing at Silverstein Properties, he is the man behind the commercial strategy of some of Manhattan’s most significant office towers.
Few surnames in New York real estate carry as much weight as Silverstein. The name is synonymous with one of the most consequential building projects in American history, the rebuilding of the World Trade Center and with a family-controlled firm that has spent nearly seven decades shaping the Manhattan skyline. Within that legacy, Roger A. Silverstein occupies a role that is both inherited and earned: as Executive Vice President of Leasing at Silverstein Properties, he is the person responsible for keeping some of the most valuable commercial square footage in the world occupied, productive, and strategically positioned.
Profile Summary
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Roger A. Silverstein |
| Current Position | Executive Vice President of Leasing |
| Company | Silverstein Properties |
| Known For | Senior executive managing leasing strategy for major Manhattan commercial properties |
| Family Connection | Son of Larry Silverstein |
| Leadership Transition | Part of 2023 leadership restructuring with Lisa Silverstein as CEO and Larry Silverstein as Chairman |
| Key Properties Overseen | 7 World Trade Center, 1177 Avenue of the Americas, 120 Broadway, 120 Wall Street, 529 Fifth Avenue |
| Education | Bachelor of Science in Urban Economics |
| University | New York University |
| Professional Memberships | Real Estate Board of New York, Realty Foundation of New York, UJA-Federation of New York executive committee |
| Philanthropic Roles | Mount Sinai Food Allergy Initiative, National Jewish Medical Center, Achilles International |
| Residence Background | Lifelong New Yorker |
| Personal Life | Married, father of three children |
| Other Notable Detail | Accomplished triathlete |
| Publicly Unconfirmed | Exact birth date, net worth, wife’s name, full private biography |
The Family and the Firm Behind the Name
Silverstein Properties was founded in 1957 by Larry Silverstein, and it has grown into one of the largest and most respected private real estate development companies in the United States. Over its history, the firm has developed, owned, and managed more than 40 million square feet of commercial, residential, hotel, retail, and mixed-use properties, a scale that few private real estate operations anywhere in the world can match.
The firm’s most famous chapter began in 2001, when Larry Silverstein signed a 99-year lease on the World Trade Center complex just weeks before the September 11 attacks. The subsequent decision to rebuild against enormous odds and opposition became one of the defining urban development stories of the 21st century. That context shapes everything about the company’s identity and explains why the Silverstein name carries the weight it does.
Roger Silverstein grew up inside that story. The values, ambitions, and sense of civic responsibility embedded in Silverstein Properties are not abstract to him; they are part of the family culture in which he was raised, and they inform the professional identity he has built within the firm.
Education and Early Formation
Roger Silverstein earned a Bachelor of Science in Urban Economics from New York University, a degree that reflects both the intellectual framework he would bring to real estate and the practical orientation of his professional preparation. Urban economics sits at the intersection of planning, finance, policy, and market analysis; it is exactly the right lens for someone who would spend his career managing complex commercial real estate in one of the world’s most dynamic urban markets.
NYU’s real estate and urban programs carry serious academic and professional credentials, and the choice to study there rather than pursuing a more general business education elsewhere signals a focused, deliberate preparation for the specific industry he would enter.
His Role at Silverstein Properties
Roger Silverstein serves as Executive Vice President of Leasing, a title that describes one of the most operationally critical functions in any large commercial real estate firm. Leasing is where the revenue is generated where the quality of a building’s tenant roster is determined, where long-term relationships with major corporations are built, and where the strategic positioning of a property in the market gets translated into actual occupancy and income.
At a firm like Silverstein Properties, with a portfolio that includes some of the most closely watched office buildings in the world, that responsibility is considerable.
The Buildings He Oversees
The properties within Roger’s leasing purview represent a cross-section of some of Manhattan’s most recognizable commercial addresses. 7 World Trade Center, a glass tower that opened in 2006 and became a benchmark for modern sustainable office design, sits at the northern edge of the World Trade Center site. 1177 Avenue of the Americas is a major Midtown tower with a significant tenant base. 120 Broadway and 120 Wall Street anchor the Financial District, while 529 Fifth Avenue provides a Midtown Fifth Avenue presence.
Each of these properties operates in a different submarket of Manhattan commercial real estate, which means the leasing strategy for each requires distinct knowledge of local demand, competitive supply, and the types of tenants most likely to commit to long-term occupancy in each location. Managing that complexity across the full portfolio simultaneously is the daily reality of his role.
World Trade Center Involvement
His direct involvement in the World Trade Center campus development is documented by more than his job title. Company records reference Roger Silverstein alongside colleague Bill Dacunto at the ribbon-cutting for 3 World Trade Center, the 80-story tower that opened in 2018 and represents one of the last major components of the rebuilt campus. Being present at that milestone was not ceremonial; it reflected the years of leasing work that made the building’s commercial viability possible in the first place.
Leadership Structure and the 2023 Transition
In late 2023, Silverstein Properties formalized a leadership transition that had been building for some time. Lisa Silverstein was named Chief Executive Officer, taking on the operational leadership of the firm. Roger Silverstein moved into his current role as Executive Vice President. Larry Silverstein, now well into his nineties, remained as Chairman still present, still influential, but with the day-to-day responsibilities of the business clearly transitioned to the next generation.
This kind of generational succession is one of the most sensitive and consequential processes a family-controlled business can undertake. The stakes are high both for the business itself and for the family relationships that surround it. The fact that the transition has proceeded without the kind of public tension or disruption that can accompany these moments speaks to the deliberateness with which it was managed.
Roger’s role in the new structure places him at the commercial heart of the firm. Leasing revenue is what funds everything else: the development pipeline, the debt service, the ability to invest in new projects. His position is not a supporting role; it is a central one.
Professional Memberships and Community Involvement
Beyond his responsibilities at the firm, Roger Silverstein has built a substantial profile of professional and philanthropic engagement that reflects the broader civic commitments the Silverstein family has maintained throughout the company’s history.
He is a member of the Real Estate Board of New York and serves as a director of the Realty Foundation of New York, two of the most important institutional bodies in the city’s real estate industry. His involvement in these organizations connects him to the broader policy and professional conversations that shape how New York’s commercial market develops and functions.
His philanthropic commitments span healthcare and athletics. He serves on the executive committee of the Real Estate Executive Division of the UJA-Federation of New York and is a member of the Council of National Trustees of National Jewish Medical Center. He is also an executive member of the Food Allergy Initiative at Mount Sinai Hospital. Perhaps most distinctively, he is a board member of Achilles International, also known as the Achilles Track Club, which supports athletes with disabilities, a role that connects to his own identity as an accomplished triathlete.
The Triathlete Side
That detail the triathlon involvement adds a human dimension to a professional profile that might otherwise read as purely institutional. Completing a triathlon requires months of dedicated training across three demanding disciplines: swimming, cycling, and running. It demands physical and mental discipline, consistent effort over time, and the ability to manage discomfort and uncertainty. Those are not incidentally also useful qualities in commercial real estate.
Personal Life
Roger Silverstein is married and has three children. He is a lifelong New Yorker, a background that gives him an intuitive understanding of the city whose commercial markets he navigates professionally every day. Beyond those confirmed details, he maintains the kind of personal privacy that characterizes many senior executives at family-controlled private companies, where the business profile is public but the personal biography is kept deliberately contained.
Conclusion
Roger Silverstein’s career is built at the intersection of family legacy and independent professional contribution. The Silverstein name opened doors, but the work he has done behind those doors managing the leasing strategy for billions of dollars of Manhattan commercial real estate, playing a central role in the World Trade Center’s commercial rebirth, and building the kind of institutional and civic relationships that sustain a firm across generations reflects genuine capability and sustained effort.
As the next generation of leadership takes fuller control of one of New York’s most consequential real estate firms, his role becomes increasingly central to determining what Silverstein Properties looks like in the decades ahead. That is both a significant responsibility and, by any measure, a significant achievement.
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