Business executive and civic leader Robert Gioia has been named by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp. board of directors. With the appointment becoming official, it is now expected that the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp. directors will name Gioia the agency's chairman when they meet in early September. Empire State Development Corp. Regional President Sam Hoyt has been serving as the agency's interim chairman since businessman Jordan Levy resigned the post in March.

A trio of local leaders including the dean of the University at Buffalo Law School, have been named to fill three of the four vacancies on the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp. board of directors. Named to the board were: Makau Mutua, UB Law School dean; Gary Ginsberg, Time Warner Cable Inc. president of corporate marketing and communications and one-time aide to President Clinton; and, Sam Hoyt, the former New York Assemblyman who last year was named Empire State Development Corp. regional president. The trio replaced former Buffalo Sabres managing partner Larry Quinn, who resigned last year, Dennis Mullen, the immediate past Empire State Development president and CEO; and, Julie Barrett-O'Neil, who was until recently executive director of the Buffalo Riverkeepers. Barrett-O'Neil resigned from the harbor development board last week to pursue a new career option. Hoyt was also named interim chairman, replacing Jordan Levy, who resigned his post two weeks citing a potential conflict between one of his companies seeking a state grant from ESD for another downtown Buffalo project. A new replacement for Levy is expected in the next few weeks.

Levy left as chairman of Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp. to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. Levy inherited and backed a heavily subsidized deal with Bass Pro in July 2007 when he was appointed chairman of Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp. The deal became increasingly unpopular with the public.