David G. Offensend Named Senior Vice President and Chief Financial and Administrative Officer of The New York Public Library

New York, NY, June 9, 2004 -- Library Chairman Samuel C. Butler and Library President Paul LeClerc today announced the appointment of David G. Offensend to the position of Senior Vice President and Chief Financial and Administrative Officer of The New York Public Library (NYPL). Mr. Offensend, who is co-founder of the investment firm Evercore Partners, will assume his responsibilities on August 2, 2004. His appointment follows a nationwide search.

Mr. Offensend will have a very broad mandate, encompassing all the various financial aspects of the Library's life, as well as central administrative units that support NYPL's Branch and Research Libraries. The latter include human resources, information technology, maintenance, security, capital projects, and real estate. Mr. Offensend will also be responsible for directing certain of NYPL's earned-income activities. The Library's operating budget for the fiscal year that begins on July 1, 2004 will be $216 million.

"I am delighted that we were successful in recruiting David Offensend to the Library," said Dr. LeClerc. "Cultural institutions today can benefit enormously from the kind of insights and experiences that an individual such as David has acquired in the world of business. David has been hugely successful throughout his entire career and I know that he will be every bit as successful here at the Library. He will be an integral part of our new senior management group and will contribute substantially to helping plan the future evolution of The New York Public Library."

"I'm really excited to embrace a whole new family of co-workers who are so dedicated to this important global institution," said David Offensend. "It's a real honor. I simply hope I can help the people who make the Library great be even more effective delivering on its noble mission."

David Offensend co-founded Evercore Partners Inc. in 1995 and co-heads its investment business. Evercore makes private equity investments in established businesses as well as early stage venture capital investments. In addition, the firm provides merger and acquisition advice to leading companies like Dow Jones, EDS, and General Mills; and restructuring advice to financially distressed companies and their creditors.

Prior to founding Evercore, Mr. Offensend spent five years in the investment organization of Robert M. Bass, a Texas investor. Mr. Offensend was responsible for the leveraged acquisitions portfolio of Acadia Partners, L.P., a New York-based, $1.8 billion investment partnership. Before he joined the Bass organization in 1990, Mr. Offensend was employed by Lehman Brothers for 13 years. During this time he was responsible for founding and building the firm's merchant banking operations, and ultimately served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the $1.3 billion Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking Partnership.

Mr. Offensend earned a Bachelor's Degree, magna cum laude, in public and international affairs from Princeton University in 1975; and an M.B.A., with high distinction, from Harvard Business School in 1977, where he was a Baker Scholar. Mr. Offensend serves on the boards of the Brooklyn Children's Museum (where he was President from 1991 to 1994), the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation, and the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation. He is a past President of the Brooklyn Heights Association.

# # #

Contact: Nancy Donner or Tina Hoerenz, 212-221-7676.