Walter M. Arsenault
Executive Director

Walter M. Arsenault was appointed Executive Director of the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor on September 10, 2008. He is the grandson of a long shore man and the son of a U.S. Customs Inspector and Supervisor who spent his career on the piers of New Jersey. Mr. Arsenault is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University and Rutgers University School of Law. He served as an Assistant Prosecutor in Bergen County, New Jersey from 1978 to 1984 where he was Chief of the Trial and Grand Jury Sections. Mr. Arsenault joined the New York County District Attorney's Office in 1984 where he served until 2003. Mr. Arsenault was the Chief of that office's Homicide Investigation Unit for most of his career there. He specialized in the investigation and prosecution of violent drug gangs. Mr. Arsenault also served as a Senior Trial Counsel in Trial Bureau 70 and a Senior Investigative Counsel in the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor. In 2003, Mr. Arsenault was appointed First Deputy Commissioner of the New York City Department of Investigation. He oversaw that office's daily operations as well as leading high profile political corruption and organized crime investigations. He retired from city service in March of 2008.

 

Michele C. Meyer-Shipp
General Counsel

Effective May 6, 2009, Michele Meyer-Shipp became the General Counsel of the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor. In this capacity, she is the head legal advisor for the Commission. She advises the Commission on a wide variety of legal matters, and assists the Commission in fulfilling its statutory mission.

Previously, Michele spent four years at Merrill Lynch as a Vice President. For three of those years, she provided legal advice and counsel to the Firm on a wide range of employment-related topics. She also provided legal advice on issues relating to federal and state anti-discrimination laws, the FMLA, ADA, ADEA, FLSA, and WARN Act. Ms. Meyer-Shipp partnered with human resources staff on development, implementation, and interpretation of the company’s employment and compliance policies, procedures and programs. Finally, she participated in mediations and conducted training on a regular basis. During her last year at the Firm, she served as Diversity Manager in the Global Wealth Management business. In this role, she supported over 150 branch offices and more than 4,500 financial advisors on the East Coast. Her overall responsibilities involved the development and implementation of recruitment and retention policies and procedures.

Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, Ms. Meyer-Shipp served as Director of the State of New Jersey’s Division of Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action (“EEO/AA”). She was appointed to this position by Governor McGreevey in April 2004. In this capacity, she was responsible for developing, implementing and administering equal employment policies and procedures, and affirmative action programs for more than 80,000 state employees. This included monitoring each state agency to ensure compliance with the various laws, rules and regulations pertaining to EEO/AA. She was also responsible for overseeing and managing the Equal Employment Opportunity Officers who worked in the various state agencies.

Prior to her appointment as Director, Ms. Meyer-Shipp served as the Equal Employment Opportunity Officer for the New Jersey Department of Labor. Before joining the ranks of public service, Ms. Meyer-Shipp was associated with the law firm of Collier, Jacob & Mills, P.C. where she spent five years representing management in employment and labor matters. She also served, and continues to serve, as a frequent lecturer on issues such as compliance with the FMLA, ADA, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination. Before joining Collier, Jacob & Mills, she was associated with the law firm of Lowenstein, Sandler, P.C. in Roseland, N.J., and served as an Adjunct Professor at Seton Hall University School of Law.
Ms. Meyer-Shipp graduated from Seton Hall University School of Law in 1995. Thereafter, she served as Law Clerk to the Honorable James H. Coleman, Jr. of the New Jersey Supreme Court.

Cecilia Bastos
Commission Secretary

Cecilia Bastos joined the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor in 2003 as an Assistant Counsel. In 2006, she was promoted to the position of Confidential Assistant to the Executive Director and Counsel. In 2007 and 2008, she served as Acting Executive Director of the Waterfront Commission pending the appointment of a new Executive Director. In 2009, she was appointed Deputy Director of Law.

She earned a Master of Public Administration from Long Island University C.W. Post and a Juris Doctor from Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg School of Law. She is admitted to practice law in New York and New Jersey including the federal courts of the Eastern, Southern and New Jersey Districts.