Mr. Zamor is undergoing an urban re-development and revitalization plan for High Point, North Carolina. High Point is a very strategic city to the furniture industry in the middle of North Carolina. Twice annually, most of the furniture vendors and manufacturers from around the world descend upon High Point to show their latest furniture and accessories collections. However, this point in itself has contributed to the lack of economic vibrancy of the downtown. The reason being that it has become, over many decades, a single industry town!

History tells us that when you create single industry town, it is unsustainable as the town typically folds and quickly falls into despair as soon as there is a shift in technology, trends, or social behavior, reminiscent of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with the Steel Industry, or Detroit, Michigan with the automobile industry, and Hudson, New York with the cement industry, and so on.

The City of High Point, its Mayor and its economic development team is unveiling an effort to “Re-Ignite” High Point and pivot from its principally and historically furniture industry business to a more diverse city with a variety of new businesses that cover the entire spectrum of industry from technology to hospitality. From stadiums that will hosts sporting events to museums and parks that will provide a quality of life to new, young millennium students and urban dwellers. Mr. Zamor illustrates how he and his team, via the construction of a boutique hotel in the city center will become the spark that re-ignites High Point.

“Build it and they will come,” explains Mr. Zamor, whilst speaking to the economic development team in High Point, North Carolina. The building that will “Ignite” the historic re-birth of the city, is a former showroom space, that ‘Nest Hospitality”, a company owned by Mr. Zamor, will be transforming into a luxury boutique Hotel. “The advent of this hotel in the heart of the downtown will begin the renaissance of this city.” Says Mr. Zamor. He has plans to cover an existing and currently active railroad track and transform it into a park, akin to Bryant Park in New York City. ‘I envision that this park will hosts vendors in kiosks, and feature large group yoga classes in the summer and ice skating in the winters”.

Certainly, these sort of activities will attract the surrounding population to the downtown area and will include shopping, restaurants, and cultural activities along with housing and office spaces.

Mr. Zamor also has plans to pitch High Point as a center of sustainable design and modern architecture. There a couple of buildings in downtown highpoint already with that sensibility. “We would team up with High Point University and have their architecture and design programs collaborate with developers to inspire and teach students sustainable development and urban planning.”

Downtown High Point, will be designed as a mixed-use urban community, within an environmentally friendly framework, and will offer plenty of green, public spaces to encourage community-building and social-cultural cohesion. It will become a great place to live and work in North Carolina, with great access to public transportation, culture, restaurants, and shopping all close together.

Mr. Zamor notes that “…when planning an urban setting that promotes cultural interest and economic vibrancy, one must include all the pillars of civilization, as we know it, including museums, shopping, offices, industry, schools, housing, government services, entertainment, parks and recreational spaces, and so on.”

Mr. Zamor is currently the President of the Board of Education in Mount Vernon, New York, just outside of New York City. The Mount Vernon City School District has an annual budget of $250,000,000 million dollars. In Mid-2015, Mr. Zamor joined the Board of Trustees as an agent of change. The city’s school district has for decades been troubled by decreasing morale, neglected infrastructure, poor academic results, and budget and fiscal challenges, while school districts in neighboring towns have been thriving.

Mr. Zamor felt that a change in leadership in the Administration and the Board was critical in order for a transformation to take place.

The district was in dire need of a “Big- Turn Around.” Hence, by implementing the following steps for a successful transformation, Lesly laid out a road map for change.

The district needed a visionary and progressive Board to create a successful educational program and to renovate the school district’s crumbling infrastructure which would add value to the community and properties. As stewards of tax payer dollars, staying conservative, accountable and working within its means, Mr. Zamor sought to “restore and restructure” decades of failure and neglect of the 16 schools that comprise the district starting with the largest one on the south side of town, where many residents are economically challenged and whose children experience low morale and self-esteem due to existing social economic conditions. “The restoration of Graham School, both physically and academically will become a beacon of success and pride for the residents in this part of the city.” Said Zamor.

Together, with his team, Mr. Zamor outlined the goals that would bring about the “Big Turn Around”, and to that point, here’s what they accomplished:

1. Achieve the goal of a zero increase budget and stop the increasing tax burden on homeowners:

This team campaigned on stopping frivolous tax increases and they delivered. Now they needed to continue the progress towards ending ridiculous tax increases with another ZERO increase budget for the upcoming school year. Mr. Zamor said “We can continue to achieve this by creating a strong, vibrant and successful district. This will help to retain our current residents, and attract new residents to our great city, thereby broadening our tax base”. There are so many homes in Mt. Vernon either near or in foreclosure, for sale or completely vacant and abandoned, yet they have few buyers. “We all know that good schools are the number one reason new families move into a town. It’s no wonder why we have so many homes for sale, and with the lack of new families moving here, the city and school tax burden continues to be absorbed by those who remain in Mt. Vernon, and we must change that..”, said Mr. Zamor.

2. Hire a new and accomplished Superintendent of schools to build a new cabinet of progressive administrators that would carry forth the vision of an educational renaissance in Mt. Vernon.

The Superintendent search team created by the Board sought a respected and visionary new leader for the district’s new academic vision. This team recognized that ability in Dr.Kenneth Hamilton. Mr.Zamor and his team believed in Dr. Hamilton and won the majority over to his camp. The symbol of his hard work and dedication has been very visible from the succesful passing of a $108 Million dollar school bond that would begin to restore pride in the district that can be felt from all parts of the city.

3. The creation of an Academic High School of Excellence in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics(S.T.E.A.M) and the return of a strong Vocational High School

All parents want the best education for their children. With many Mt. Vernon schools failing or underperforming, many families do not have the option to send their children to private or parochial schools. And those that do, struggle with daily expenses, unintended home repairs and very little savings while continuing to pay high property taxes. Under the new plan, AB DAVIS Middle school will become the new S.T.E.A.M high school and parents will have the opportunity to educate their highly achieving children right here in Mt. Vernon. There will be a criteria of entry with a combination of grades, test scores and teacher recommendation to ensure that students who attend this school can succeed with the vigorous curriculum that will be offered. This will help to reverse the “Brain Drain” in the city, where many of the brighest children had left the district to attend private schools. This new “smart school” initiative would attrach new families to Mt. Vernon while helping to keep the current ones form leaving!

Also, while recognizing that many students will want to take a career path straight out of high school, Mr.Zamor supported the return of a strong career, technical and vocational program at Mt.Vernon High School and a performing arts program at Thornton High School. At MVHS, students will see the return of multiple disciplines ranging from Film and Television, Culinary Arts, Auto Mechanics, all the ways to cosmetology. While at Thornton HS, they will fully engaged in the performing arts and music from grades siz to twelve. All three high schools will have academic rigor and sports. Students at the Mandela alternative high school will have the benefit of smaller class room sizes and more project based learning opportunities that will help them merge the standard learning curriculum with real world challenges…thus engaging students in the educational process through their life experiences. This “tailored” approach to teaching recognizes that not all children learn with the same teaching methods. Students here will also have the opportunity to engage in the career and vocational paths as well as athletics, arts and music offered at the other high schools.

4. Strengthen early childhood education and enrichment to give our children a strong reading and math foundation.
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Under the leadership of the Superintendent and Mr.Zamor, the district is now moving towards full day Universal Pre-k for all children in the community. Studies show that by giving children a head start with Pre-k education, these children are more likely to advance, stay in school and achieve more than children that do not.

In addition, full day Pre-K, will give parents who need it, extra time to go to and from work to help make ends meet. Too often, with many existing Pre-K programs that start late and end early, parents rarely have the time to accomplish anything meaningful during the day. This will greatly give them the time they need to be most productive for their families.

5- Repairing and maintaining school grounds which encourages learning by creating a quality educational environment
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We all recognize the importance of a first impression. For too long, many people have a negative impression of Mt. Vernon Schools strictly from the physical appearance of its school buildings and grounds. For those in the community that do not have children in the district, most of what they experience is the blight that these ill maintained facilities create in their neighborhoods. If you want to instill value and pride, then you must first do so by creating a clean and nurturing environment in all three pillars of the community…the Schools, the City and the places of Worship.

It is the districts responsibility to generate the maximum beautification and functional utility per dollar spent throughout its facilities. Items such as good curb appeal, attractive classrooms, auditoriums, gymnasiums, libraries, well-landscaped and litter free grounds, and the use of pleasant colors inside and outside the building will create the sound learning environment for education that will in turn increase marketability of homes and market value for all property owners, not to mention pride in our children, neighborhood and city.

6- Focus on parent engagement and participation in the educational experience. Higher rated schools have strong parent participation in the homes, and in the schools.

Even greater than before, with the new $108 million dollar Bond the $45 million dollar State awarded Energy Performance Contract (EPC), the BOARD of TRUSTEES will need to be vigilant about safeguarding tax dollars from erroneous contracts and the improper use of funds from these sources… with unprecedented oversight, the district will achieve greater savings and maximize its use of funds. However, the institution and implementation of contracted services and their deliverables must be closely coordinated and monitored for maximum efficiencies while staying mindful of the design and visual impact from these projects to produce the most desirable outcomes.

With the return of the Facilities Department, Mr. Zamor has pushed for and installed a Senior Architect for the District. This improves the Board’s capacity for professional oversight with subject expertise in these matters. The errors of past Boards and Administrations, is that they just did not have the expertise to properly supervise the implementation of professional services throughout the district. They had to solely rely on the word of the vendors or contractors providing the services, which quite often was inferior and went incomplete. Too often in the past, outsiders would come to Mt. Vernon and expect that the district would pay them for work that may be a little better than what they had. Somehow the word is out, that there is no oversight in Mount Vernon and that the community does not know any better. Well, the winds have shifted, and we have true leaders on this Board that know better to hire the experts that we need to preserve our schools, save tax payers money, and get the best services with the money that we spend.

Mt. Vernon Schools, moving forward, will only accept excellence in everything that we do!!

With a degree in Economics and Political Science from New York University, Mr. Zamor started a career in the Investment Banking business with Lehman Brothers in 1987. While at Lehman, Mr. Zamor specialized in stocks, bonds and other debt obligation instruments. He comments that “…the experience in selling myself and what I do best, to people that I had never met before, was immeasurable. At Lehman, I had learned to assert my self-confidence and gained the ability to articulate my objectives.” Mr. Zamor, believes that these skills prepared him for leadership positions in many businesses and organizations. He says that “a person’s skill set based on one’s self confidence and knowledge is probably the most important attributes for business success.”

Mr. Zamor quickly became Vice President of sales in a few Wall Street firms during his days in the financial sector. The many years of experience in the financial markets and finance instruments, allowed him to succeed in his later years as a business entrepreneur.

Lesly has worked with corporations, investment groups and individuals to help structure deals and financing of development projects. “One of my personal as well as business goals is to bring financing to people and places that have the need for development but don’t have the access to financing or the know-how. Through strategic alliances and development partners, we can help bring social equity to parts of the country and the world through conscionable planning and development.” Lesly approaches every project with a high level of social consciousness and sustainability. “We must not become the farmer that renders the soil infertile and useless, but rather the farmer the uses techniques and methods to preserve a fertile land for the next generation of inhabitants.”

After years in the brokerage business, he left to embark upon an entrepreneurial career as a floral and event designer. He brought his financial acumen to his business when he founded Bloom Flowers ( http://www.bloomflowers.com ) New York, in May 1993, and within a few years, expanded it to become a Flower, Event, and Design Super Studio. He then focused on his passion for Interior design with Seed Design Solutions in 2003. In a little over a decade, he established Bloom, as one of the country’s premier floral and event design studios and as a multifaceted design business catering to the crème de la crème of Manhattan’s fashion, advertising, and entertainment elite. Mr. Zamor has been written up internationally in publications such as Vogue, Elle Decor, The New York Times, In Style Magazine, New York Magazine, Crain’s New York Business, American Express Departures, House Beautiful, as well as appearances on Martha Stewart, NBC Today Show, and many others. One of his most memorable moments was designing the wedding of Vanessa Williams after miss Williams was disappointed with how the flower design for her wedding was developing. She then called Mr. Zamor and asked him to please design her event. When he asked her when the wedding was scheduled, she replied,” in 3 days!” Vanessa to this day has remembered her wedding flower design as one of the most memorable moments of her life!