Alexander Marte, 39

Alexander Marte’s nearly five years in the U.S. Marines beginning in 2008 — including tours in Afghanistan, around the Mediterranean, and in Haiti after a major earthquake in that country — put him in good stead.

“It really created a sense of purpose,” Marte said. “Also, training — seeing the overall changes that people undergo — that experience in the Marine Corps was quite vivid. Folks need someone who can really relate to what they’re experiencing and feeling in order for them to feel comfortable and to feel that they have a partner on a team and someone who will protect them. I bring that same mentality to the business world.” 

In that world, the Bronx native and John Jay College alumnus with a master’s in economic development and housing from New York University has risen to become a top point person at Gilbane Development. The company is an arm of one of the nation’s leading construction firms. Marte started at Gilbane in late 2021, and was promoted to his current role in March 2026. 

That work has brought him into managerial contact with projects such as Brooklyn’s Linden Grove, which is the tallest modularly produced affordable housing project with LEED, Passive House and National Green Building Standard imprimaturs in the U.S. (It’s a first for New York City, too.) The work also involved the 518-unit Barnaby & 7th mixed-income complex in Washington, D.C., a multi-phase project bridging a historic site with modern development. 

Marte’s efforts run the gamut: ground-up construction, rehabilitations, site plans, financing, community engagement and actual development. He also often works closely with government agencies and marries their goals to Gilbane’s. 

Most of the work is aimed at creating mixed-income and affordable housing. Within that, Marte said he tries to place different types of housing within the same project — for instance, multifamily units with supportive housing. 

“My goal is to create a diversity of residential units,” Marte said.