Who

Equal parts aristocrat and technocrat, Burden is both an heiress and the head of New York City's planning commission.

Backstory

Burden has the most impressive social pedigree of any wonk currently in the employ of the City of New York: Babe Paley, her mother, was a legendary socialite; Stanley Mortimer, her father, was heir to the Standard Oil fortune; and Bill Paley, her stepfather, was the founder of CBS. After flirting with a career in zoology—she seriously considered moving to Africa to study animals—she joined the architecture studio Gruzen & Partners before earning a graduate degree from Columbia in urban planning. During the early 1980s, she headed up the city's efforts to build public spaces in Battery Park City; she later spent a decade as a member of the city's planning commission before Mayor Bloomberg appointed her director of the department in 2002.

Of note

New York City has more planning development in the work than at any time since the Robert Moses era forty years ago—and Burden's office has a hand in every project, from the massive Atlantic Yards and Moynihan Station projects to the High Line to the most obscure Staten Island rezoning bid. It's a big job and while her work has earned praise from her planning colleagues, many big-name real estate developers aren't quite as complimentary: Burden has raised hackles by involving herself in minor structural issues—like what angles buildings should sit at—and demanding that developers rely on famous (and overpriced) architects. For much of her tenure she worked closely with Dan Doctoroff; since his resignation, she's been working in close concert with his replacement as deputy mayor for economic development, Robert Lieber.

Keeping score

Recent financial disclosures peg Burden's net worth at $45 million. In 2007, she made $181,719 salary from the city.

Family ties

Topper Mortimer, husband of socialite Tinsley Mortimer, is a first cousin of Burden's.

Personal

Burden is a serial dater of rich, rich men. Her first husband, Carter Burden, a Vanderbilt heir, was a city councilman and one-time Village Voice owner. After their divorce, she married Steve Ross, then the head of Warner Communications, the company that would later become Time Warner. Most recently, Burden's been in a 13-year, on-and-off-again relationship with the boozing, lady-lovin' TV man Charlie Rose. She has two adult children from her first marriage, Carter Jr. and Belle. She lives on the same 79th Street block as Mayor Bloomberg and also has a home in Beaverkill Valley.