Mark Levine names top staff for NYC Comptroller’s office

Incoming New York City Comptroller Mark Levine is bringing several of his longtime staffers with him as he builds out his office in preparation to take over as the city’s chief financial officer. 

Aya Keefe will serve as his first deputy comptroller. She was one of two deputy borough presidents under Levine in the Manhattan borough president’s office – and was his chief of staff when he was a council member representing Washington Heights. She’s also been a senior management analyst for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under the Obama administration.

Levine also tapped his campaign manager Matt Rubin to serve as chief of staff, a position that should feel somewhat familiar. Prior to a stint in the private sector with security identity company CLEAR, Rubin worked under-then Comptroller Scott Stringer as deputy chief of staff between 2018 and 2021, according to his Linkedin. Chris Carroll meanwhile, Levine’s chief of staff in the Manhattan borough president’s office, will be executive deputy comptroller in the new office. 

The 17-person list of Levine’s top appointees was shared exclusively with City & State. The comptroller’s office has a staff of around 800 people.

More than half of the list is staying on from outgoing Comptroller Brad Lander’s office – not a big surprise, given that Lander served just one term after seeking to run for mayor instead, and he and Levine are fairly politically aligned. The holdovers include Francesco Brindisi who will remain an executive deputy comptroller, Charlette Hamamgian as deputy comptroller for contracts and procurement, Maura Hayes-Chaffe as deputy comptroller for audits, Jay Olson as deputy comptroller for public finance, Krista Olson as deputy comptroller for budget, Justina K. Rivera, as general counsel and deputy comptroller for legal affairs, and Jacqueline Thompson as deputy comptroller for accountancy. Sandra Abeles, the current executive deputy for management and operations, will serve as chief administrative officer in Levine’s office, and Claudia Henriquez, who was Lander’s director of workers rights, will be Levine’s assistant comptroller for labor law.

Two more of Levine’s aides from the BP office at One Centre Street are coming with him to the comptroller’s office in the same building. Amy Slattery will be the comptroller’s trustee and assistant comptroller for pensions, while Kyshia Smith will be director of executive operations. 

The comptroller-elect is bringing in just a few new people into top leadership positions. Alana Pilar Cantillo, an aide in outgoing Mayor Eric Adams’ Office of Management and Budget, will be deputy comptroller for public affairs, while Jordan Stockdale will be deputy comptroller for policy after serving as chief of staff to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. And Monte Tarbox, a longtime institutional investor with the National Electrical Benefit Fund now in semi-retirement, has been named interim chief investment officer while Levine continues the search. 

“I have pledged to tackle our affordability crisis head-on, protect our economy and retirees, push back against harmful actions from the federal government and ensure that local government delivers for New Yorkers,” Levine said in a statement. “I am humbled by the extraordinarily talented, diverse, and experienced group of leaders who are joining me in this work, and I could not be more proud of the team we have assembled.”

Under Levine’s leadership, the office will soon confront a range of challenges, including economic uncertainty, a hostile Trump administration and simultaneously working with and  holding the next mayoral administration accountable. Levine has named bolstering affordability, protecting the city from attacks from Washington and government reform as top priorities. Appointing the right people to help him do so will be key. 

Levine will be sworn in alongside Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams at City Hall on Jan. 1.