NEW YORK.- After working on the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan since the inception of the LMDC in early 2002, Kevin Rampe will resign as President effective late-May. Rampe – who is credited with helping to build the agency and lead it through the largest memorial competition in history - will continue to serve as a Director and Executive Committee member of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation. As a member of the Foundation, Rampe will help lead an international fundraising campaign to build the memorial to all those who were lost in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Governor George E. Pataki said, "Since the LMDC was created, Kevin Rampe has been instrumental in our efforts to rebuild Lower Manhattan. Kevin helped build and lead the agency which put together a visionary master plan for the redevelopment and created a moving design for the memorial. The revitalization of Lower Manhattan is well underway thanks to Kevin's many efforts. I thank him for his hard work and commitment to the rebuilding and wish him well in his new position."

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, "Together, we have made significant progress on the World Trade Center site and Kevin deserves much credit for his steadfast leadership. Most importantly, he spearheaded the LMDC's most important accomplishment, the launch of an international competition leading to the selection of 'Reflecting Absence', the memorial to those we lost. Kevin has been an integral part of the team from the very beginning and his contributions have added immeasurably to the continued success of our efforts to rebuild Lower Manhattan into a vibrant, new community, and we wish him every success going forward."

LMDC Chairman John C. Whitehead said, "The LMDC has made tremendous progress under Kevin's leadership. We owe him a debt of gratitude for his tireless and masterful work. Kevin launched and ran the international World Trade Center memorial competition, leading to the selection of 'Reflecting Absence.' He refined the master World Trade Center site plan and oversaw the required environmental review. He developed a plan for a thriving cultural core on the site, and created compelling off-site proposals to redevelop Lower Manhattan."

"Kevin has been our unshakable conductor – keeping all of the various moving parts and interested parties headed in the same direction at all times. He helped to get this organization off the ground as one of its original employees, and he has seen it through from its founding to today. Thanks to Kevin's exemplary leadership, we are well on our way not only in rebuilding Lower Manhattan, but also in ensuring that it emerges stronger than ever before. Kevin has ensured that the LMDC will fulfill its mandate – and that our work will be a tribute to human dignity and a living message of hope to the world," Chairman Whitehead added.

LMDC President Kevin M. Rampe said, "It has been both an honor and a privilege to work on the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan and the recovery of our nation. Under the tremendous leadership of Governor Pataki, Mayor Bloomberg, and Chairman Whitehead, we have put into place all the necessary elements to drive the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site through to completion. We have established a private Foundation to realize the memorial and cultural efforts on the site and created and implemented the Construction Command Center to ensure that the community is cared for while the construction is undertaken. I want to thank Governor Pataki, Mayor Bloomberg, and Chairman Whitehead for this historic opportunity and express my commitment to continuing to serve the revitalization efforts on the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation's Board of Directors."

Mr. Rampe joined the LMDC in March 2002, first serving as Executive Vice President and General Counsel and, since March of 2003, as President. During his tenure as President, the agency launched the international World Trade Center Memorial Competition leading to the selected memorial design 'Reflecting Absence,' worked with Studio Daniel Libeskind to refine the master site plan, preserving the selected plan's vision while producing a buildable site plan.

Rampe also directed the development of a plan for the World Trade Center Site's cultural core as well as off-site studies to redevelop Lower Manhattan. He negotiated numerous landmark agreements with City, State, and Federal agencies and private parties including historic Memorandums of Understanding. He also directed the Environmental Impact Statement for the World Trade Center Memorial and Redevelopment Plan that includes the construction of a the Memorial and memorial-related improvements, as well as commercial, retail, museum and cultural facilities, new open space areas, new street configurations, and infrastructure improvements at the World Trade Center Site and adjacent parcels.

Prior to joining the LMDC, Rampe served as First Deputy Superintendent and Chief Operating Officer of the New York State Insurance Department. Prior to joining the Insurance Department in 1999, Rampe was First Assistant Counsel to the Governor, where he served as Governor Pataki's senior legal adviser on insurance, banking, civil justice, worker's compensation and labor matters. He drafted and successfully negotiated legislation to lower insurance rates, protect consumers and punish businesses that violate New York State's wage and labor laws.

Prior to joining the Pataki Administration in 1996, Rampe was a litigator at the New York law firm, Shearman and Sterling. Rampe received his B.A., cum laude, from Union College and his J.D, magna cum laude, from Albany Law School of Union University. Kevin was recently awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws from Union College where he was the 2004 Commencement Speaker.