Mark Lesko, Hofstra University

Hempstead, NY Mark Lesko, executive dean of the Wilbur F. Breslin Center for Real Estate Studies and VP for economic development at Hofstra University, has been named to the executive board of the Long Island Real Estate Group (LIREG).

Lesko joined Hofstra in 2015 as executive dean of the Center for Entrepreneurship, which provides support and education for startup companies, with resources from the university’s businesses, law, medical and other schools. In 2016, his responsibilities were broadened to include oversight of the School of Continuing Education programs, the Scott Skodnek Business Development Center and the Breslin Center for Real Estate Studies.

He remains executive dean of Hofstra’s Center of Entrepreneurship.

Lesko has broad experience in the public and private sector. He is the former executive director of Accelerate Long Island, a regional collaboration among Long Island’s research institutions, and served for three years as Brookhaven Town Supervisor. He was also a federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C., Brooklyn and Long Island, and worked as a corporate litigator in Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.

A graduate of Yale University, where he was a quarterback on the football team, Lesko received his law degree from Georgetown University Law School. He is a resident of East Setauket.

LIREG, formed in 2004 to encourage networking among Long Island real estate developers, owners and allied trades and to raise funds for charitable real estate-related projects on Long Island, has almost r00 members. Since its founding, LIREG has contributed more than $1 million to numerous real estate-related projects undertaken by charities on Long Island.