Celeste Frye, AICP

Principal & CEO

As CEO, Celeste provides overall leadership and executive level thinking to Public Works’ engagements.

Celeste co-founded Public Works Partners out of a passion to help mission-driven organizations increase their positive impact on local communities. She’s spent over 20 years helping to cultivate healthy communities and organizations. Specializing in developing programs grounded in data analysis, management practices, and financial sustainability, she helps organizations identify ways to improve performance and measure impact and success. An urban planner by training, Celeste has led engagements developing community-driven goals through facilitating processes and bringing different stakeholders together. She has long-time expertise in labor market research and local hiring initiatives, leading efforts to generate good jobs for communities across New York and beyond. As a standout woman business owner, Celeste is also a public speaker in her areas of expertise of workforce development, urban planning, and entrepreneurship.

Experience

At NYC Department of Small Business Services, she led the agency’s budget and human resources teams and launched large-scale business-based hiring and training initiatives
Previously a Senior Analyst at NYC Office of Management and Budget
MS in Urban Planning from Cornell University
BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Graduate of Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Small Businesses
Alumna of Coro Leadership New York
Guest lecturer with Cornell College of Art, Architecture, and Planning

Outside of Public Works Partners

Member of the Regional Plan Association’s Connecticut Committee
Active school PTO president and Girl Scout leader
Longtime member/leader of the alumni advisory board of the Coro New York Leadership Center
Served as a US Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco and speaks Berber
Loves to hike and explore new cities

Celeste Frye, AICP

Principal & CEO

As CEO, Celeste provides overall leadership and executive-level thinking to Public Works’ engagements.

Celeste co-founded Public Works Partners out of a passion to help mission-driven organizations increase their positive impact on local communities. She’s spent over 20 years helping to cultivate healthy communities and organizations. Specializing in developing programs grounded in data analysis, management practices, and financial sustainability, she helps organizations identify ways to improve performance and measure impact and success. An urban planner by training, Celeste has led engagements developing community-driven goals through facilitating processes and bringing different stakeholders together. She has long-time expertise in labor market research and local hiring initiatives, leading efforts to generate good jobs for communities across New York and beyond. As a standout woman business owner, Celeste is also a public speaker in her areas of expertise of workforce development, urban planning, and entrepreneurship.

Experience

At NYC Department of Small Business Services, she led the agency’s budget and human resources teams and launched large-scale business-based hiring and training initiatives
Previously a Senior Analyst at NYC Office of Management and Budget
MS in Urban Planning from Cornell University
BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Graduate of Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Small Businesses
Alumna of Coro Leadership New York
Guest lecturer with Cornell College of Art, Architecture, and Planning

Outside of Public Works Partners

Member of the Regional Plan Association’s Connecticut Committee
Active school PTO president and Girl Scout leader
Longtime member/leader of the alumni advisory board of the Coro New York Leadership Center
Served as a US Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco and speaks Berber
Loves to hike and explore new cities