Jean Desravines
Chief Administrative Officer

As Chief Administrative Officer of Friends of the High Line, Jean Desravines partners closely with the Executive Director to shape and execute the organization’s long-term strategy, strengthen organizational performance, and advance Friends of the High Line’s mission as one of the world’s leading public spaces and cultural destinations. A trusted advisor to the Executive Director, he also provides strategic counsel on organizational planning, culture, governance, and executive decision-making.

As the organization’s chief internal executive, his leadership spans both organizational operations and mission delivery. He oversees the departments of finance, people & culture, legal, information technology, data & evaluation, retail & merchandising, education, public programming, community engagement, special projects, and the High Line Network—the peer network, funded, founded and led by Friends of the High Line, of infrastructure reuse sites. In this aspect of his role, he works closely with senior leaders to strengthen programmatic vision and organizational priorities, and helps shape annual work plans and long-term direction while driving exceptional execution, innovation, and organizational effectiveness.

Desravines has led many of Friends of the High Line’s critical strategic initiatives, including partnering with McKinsey & Company to develop the organization’s first earned revenue strategy, which led to the launch of its retail & merchandising program. He also leads the organization’s five-year strategic planning process, aligning priorities, resources, and enterprise goals while helping define the High Line’s future direction. He leads enterprise-wide strategic planning and organizational alignment, ensuring operational excellence, cross-divisional collaboration, and that Friends of the High Line’s strategic vision is translated into measurable impact.

Before joining Friends of the High Line, Desravines served as Chief People and Equity Officer at Educational Alliance, where he partnered with executive leadership and the Board to help guide the organization through the financial and operational challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic while strengthening its culture and positioning it for long-term growth. During his tenure, the organization’s operating budget grew from $40 million to more than $52 million—the highest in its 140-year history. He also led enterprise-wide organizational transformation initiatives spanning organizational design, compensation, talent strategy, leadership development, and equity. Major accomplishments included securing support for a funding strategy that enabled a minimum wage increase, and implementing a comprehensive compensation framework that more equitably recognized staff contributions and strengthened organizational sustainability.

Previously, as Managing Director of Human Resources at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Desravines led organization-wide talent and organizational culture strategies that strengthened employee engagement, leadership development, recruitment, promotion, and retention, while embedding equity into the organization’s people practices. His leadership contributed to a 38% increase in diverse hiring, a 31% increase in internal promotions, and a 26% improvement in retention among historically underrepresented employees.

Earlier in his career, Desravines held leadership positions at The Children’s Aid Society and Amalgamated Bank. Across the nonprofit and private sectors, he has built a reputation for aligning strategy, culture, and operations to strengthen organizational performance, lead complex change, and deliver sustainable mission-driven results. His expertise includes enterprise strategy, executive leadership, organizational transformation, strategic planning, culture and talent, governance, revenue diversification, and leading organizations through periods of growth and change.

Desravines earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Human Resources and Marketing from Adelphi University and a Master of Business Administration (MBA), magna cum laude, from Louisiana State University.