Hope Cohen started as chief administration and financial officer at the Battery Conservancy on Oct. 29, the day Superstorm Sandy made landfall. Rather than deal with mundane first-day details of managing the nonprofit charged with operating and maintaining the 25-acre park in lower Manhattan, Ms. Cohen launched immediately into disaster recovery. Since the storm, Ms. Cohen, a former director at the Regional Plan Association, has been focused on finding new office space and helping to keep the park's capital plan on track.