New Yorkers of a certain age may remember when it was de rigueur to carry a $20 bill in your pocket, in case you got mugged. Crime was rife, the streets and parks were a mess, and all over the city, shops were drawing down their shutters for a final time. Remember?

We all rejoice at New York City’s transformation; few of us have given much thought to how it happened. Kathy Wylde, on the other hand, has spent most of her adult life not only watching this renaissance, but working at the heart of it.

Today, as president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City, Ms. Wylde carries a to-do list in her head that would give a lesser person a migraine. For decades, she has worked with the corporate titans of New York to create and implement programs aimed at stimulating the local economy.

“New York City is very important to U.S. and world business. Our job is to make it as strong and as resilient as possible.” This is her charge, in her view; most would find it daunting.

Under Ms. Wylde’s guidance, the partnership works to promote the training of school principals, to analyze transit issues, to secure federal aid for security programs, to help fund economic programs, and, behind the scenes, to ensure that tax and fiscal programs don’t reignite corporate flight. High on the program, too, is an ongoing effort to rebuild Lower Manhattan.

The partnership is currently marshalling the resources to build a science park in New York. It is hoped that it will attract commercial science companies to the area, lessening the city’s dependence on the financial sector.

In May, Ms. Wylde is leading a delegation of New York business leaders to China to create a bridge to that country’s emerging private sector.

How did a girl from Wisconsin armed only with a political science degree from St. Olaf’s College take on the job of turning around New York? Enthusiastically, without a doubt.

Ms. Wylde first visited and fell in love with New York after her freshman year in college. She exulted in the city’s diversity and excitement, and made sure her first job brought her back.

Consequently, after graduation, she became director of community relations for Lutheran Medical Center, a failing hospital in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The surrounding neighborhood had deteriorated, and support for this needed but neglected institution had dried up. The hospital was set to close.

Ms. Wylde was undaunted by the decay, and energetically set about lining up financing for the hospital, which ultimately became a catalyst for the rejuvenation of the area.

The story has a happy ending. American Machine and Foundry (subsequently AMF) was moving out of town, and gave the hospital a vacant 480,000-square-foot foundry. The new building was revamped and the hospital won “the opportunity to provide modern health care for a very deprived neighborhood.” Last year, Ms. Wylde became head of the hospital’s board in recognition of her considerable contributions.

The hospital today is a thriving testament to the power of urban renewal, and the determination of a small group of people. It didn’t happen overnight. In fact, Ms. Wylde stayed on for 11 years – too long, in her view, but she got the job done.

During those years, Ms. Wylde witnessed the crucial role played by affordable housing in the life of a neighborhood. Part of her campaign involved enticing lending institutions to help refresh the housing stock.

About this time, New York descended into a full-fledged crisis. In the 1970s, New York lost half of its Fortune 500 company headquarters. One of the major problems was a dearth of affordable housing for middle-class workers.

Recognizing the scale of the problem, banker and philanthropist David Rockefeller announced a major new initiative to get private-sector developers to build new housing on city land. The city had come to own more than half of the property in some burned-out neighborhoods such as the Bronx as residents fled. Tax collections were drastically lower, and many sectors of the city were in free fall.

Ms. Wylde became founding president and CEO of the new program, the Housing Partnership Development Corporation, which was undertaken under the auspices of the NYCP.

Ms. Wylde helped line up the complicated financing for the program, secured the requisite building permits, overcame bureaucratic resistance at every turn, and helped sell the program to potential homeowners. She convinced large local companies to let her speak to their employees, touting the opportunity to own their own new homes.

Over time, Mr. Rockefeller’s influence and visible progress began to restore confidence in some of the worst neighborhoods. The program took hold. Some areas of the city saw new home construction for the first time in 50 years. The 1987 construction of Towers on the Park, a condominium at 110th Street and Central Park West, was the first new building in the area since David Rockefeller’s father had built the Dunbar Apartments 50 years earlier.

The program became a resounding success, and Ms. Wylde was given much of the credit. The response was such that the homes had to be awarded via lottery. In all, over 20 years, more than 25,000 houses and apartments were built across the city. According to Ms. Wylde, “New York became a model for cities across the country wanting to reclaim neighborhoods.”

In 1996, Henry Kravis founded the New York City Investment Fund and hired Ms. Wylde to be its president. This program, too, was under the umbrella of the Partnership for New York City, which was chaired at the time by developer Jerry Speyer.

Together, Messrs. Kravis and Speyer raised $50 million to provide seed capital for new retail centers in the reviving neighborhoods. The funding provided a much-needed boost to local commercial activity.

In 2000 Ms. Wylde was rewarded for her efforts by being installed as the first woman to head the NYCP. Business was strong, many of the city’s worst problems were in check, and the city government was in capable, pro-business hands. Just as she was starting to relax, two planes flew into the World Trade Center.

Suddenly, the mission of NYCP changed. A new crop of business leaders had to commit to New York and provide leadership in the aftermath of the attacks. The city’s CEOs were urged to participate in the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan, and to show confidence in the future of the city.

Today, the partnership, under Ms. Wylde’s guidance, has trimmed down on its activities, and is focused on being “a resource to the city.” Its purpose is to harness the “expertise, knowledge of markets, and input of the private sector, and help determine what will be the impact of public policy on the private sector,” according to Ms. Wylde. The agenda is broad, and evolving.

Ms. Wylde is unwavering in her optimism about New York, her love of the city, and her commitment to its betterment. Now if she could just tackle the potholes.