Brooklyn Navy Yard names employment center for Wiltshire

Civic Leader Served Navy Yard for 35 Years

July 8, 2016 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Albert C. Wiltshire. Eagle file photo by Georgine Benvenuto

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The Brooklyn Navy Yard has honored Albert C. Wiltshire, a veteran of decades of public service, by naming its onsite employment center after him.

Now known as the Albert C. Wiltshire Employment Center, the center continues Wiltshire’s legacy of connecting community members with local employment opportunities.

A longtime advocate for economic development and community engagement, Wiltshire served the Navy Yard for 35 years in a range of capacities including president, director and vice chairman. Over the years, his influence has been crucial to advancing the Navy Yard’s mission and solidifying its reputation as a community resource.

The center has been operating for more than 15 years and it has placed over 2,000 people in jobs since 1999.

“A true public servant and community leader, Al embodies the spirit and mission of the Yard’s Employment Center to connect community members with high-quality employment opportunities,” said Brooklyn Navy Yard President and CEO David Ehrenberg. “We thank Al for over three decades of public service.”

“As president, director, and vice chairman of the Brooklyn Navy Yard’s board of directors, Al Wiltshire tirelessly pursued his vision for the transformation of this historic shipbuilding hub into a modern, thriving engine of our economy that would create opportunity for local entrepreneurs, generate good jobs and expand the renowned Brooklyn brand,” said Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.

“Albert Wiltshire spent his career serving as an outspoken advocate for economic development and community engagement,” said U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn-Queens). “This is an honor that’s truly well deserved.”

“To have a building named in my honor is more than I can comprehend,” said Wiltshire. “I am humbled and grateful for the honor and the love shown to me — during my time at the Yard as well as this evening. My service to the Yard was a labor of love and never about recognition.”

Wiltshire served as president and CEO of the Brooklyn Navy Yard from 1981 to 1994. Under his direction, the Navy Yard expanded its tenant base from 29 to 200 leases and increased minority- and women-owned businesses to represent 60 percent of tenant occupancy. He served on the Navy Yard’s board of directors, from which he retired this past April, since 2002, and has held the role of vice chairman since April 2004.

In addition to his work with the Navy Yard, Wiltshire served as vice president of government affairs for KeySpan Corporation (now part of National Grid USA) and chief of staff for former U.S. Rep. Edolphus Towns. He is the president of the Brooklyn Music School, a trustee of Wyckoff Heights Medical Center and a warden of the Church of St. Luke and St. Matthew.

He is also the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the New York State Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators.