Nothing in her long experience, however, has quite prepared her for the size, scope and importance of her current assignment: helping to create a memorial for victims of the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center. “Everybody wants this to be something truly remarkable,” says Contini, 55, who has lived and worked in the vicinity for about two decades. Before becoming Merrill’s head of global sponsorship and client-events marketing in 1999, Contini spent 13 years as chief planner for the World Financial Center’s numerous cultural events. She was recruited to lead the memorial process for the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. by its president, Lou Tomson, a onetime aide to New York Governor George Pataki and recent head of the New York State Thruway Authority. The LMDC has a broad mandate to help revitalize the whole downtown area devastated by the attack. “What’s clear is that the memorial component should not be an afterthought,” Contini says. “We will make sure the site plans and the memorial plans are coordinated.” An international competition to select the memorial design is expected by spring. “I know this is an enormous responsibility, and I’m honored to play a part.”
