Suozzi aide Mike Florio to succeed Mitch Pally as CEO of builders' group
Mike Florio, left, has been named CEO of the Long Island Builders Institute, succeeding Mitch Pally, who is retiring. Credit: Anthony Gallego/Heather Walsh
The Long Island Builders Institute has tapped Rep. Thomas Suozzi’s chief of staff to be its new CEO, effective Jan. 1, officials said.
Mike Florio, 43, will succeed Mitch Pally, who is retiring after a dozen years of leading LIBI. The group represents more than 600 home builders and remodelers in Nassau and Suffolk counties.
Florio said LIBI "is working for the betterment of Long Island...As someone who has grown up here and faced many decisions over the years about whether or not to stay, I'm committed to helping make Long Island successful in the future. To have a voice in that is very appealing to me," the East Northport resident said on Tuesday.
Pally praised Florio’s hiring, saying, “his career mirrors my own legislative staff experience prior to entering the business world and that cross discipline is crucial in pursuing LIBI’s agenda of addressing the housing crisis on Long Island.”
Before joining LIBI, Pally spent 21 years at the Long Island Association business group and was an attorney for the State Senate’s transportation committee and Legislative Commission on Critical Transportation Choices, both in Albany.
Florio has worked for Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) for nine years, both when he was Nassau County executive and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Suozzi unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for governor in June instead of seeking another House term.
Suozzi said on Tuesday, "Mike is unflappable no matter what the circumstances are. He's a very steady, effective person who gets things done."
LIBI board president Steven Krieger, a partner in the real estate development company Engel Burman in Jericho, said he and others spent months reviewing resumes and interviewing CEO candidates. LIBI has a staff of six and yearly revenue of $1.5 million.
Krieger said Florio’s “extraordinary public-private career experience, coupled with his unique appreciation of Long Island’s complicated dynamics, led us to offer him this appointment.”
Besides working for Suozzi, Florio spent two years as operations vice president at SavEnergy Inc., a Garden City-based manufacturer and distributor of LED lighting. He also was a regional director of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2016 and a government affairs representative at Seaboard Corp., an agricultural and transportation company based in Kansas that supplies Butterball turkeys.
LIBI and the Association for a Better Long Island, a group of commercial real estate developers, have long collaborated in lobbying the federal, state and local governments.
ABLI executive director Kyle Strober said Florio “is exceptionally qualified to advocate for our region and protect and preserve our economy, not just for our generation but for future generations.”
James T. Madore writes about Long Island business news including the economy, development, and the relationship between government and business. He previously served as Albany bureau chief.
