Mamdani’s EDC, still leaderless, still stressing out the NYC business community

Five months in, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration still hasn’t appointed someone to lead the city’s Economic Development Corporation, having passed over multiple candidates for the position. 

A number of prominent city leaders have been interviewed for the position over the transition and in the early months of the Mamdani administration. According to four sources familiar, they include Lindsay Greene, president and CEO of the Brooklyn Navy Yard; James Katz, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s deputy secretary for economic development and workforce; and Julie Stein, executive director of the Union Square Partnership.

“It’s the type of thing where the longer you don’t hire for it, the narrative gets harder out in the world,” said one person with knowledge of internal deliberations. Business leaders have also expressed concern about the fact that several senior leaders at EDC have departed the agency since Mamdani’s term began – a shift that two sources familiar with the agency said goes well beyond typical turnover between administrations. 

“It’s just a shame because there’s some great people there doing great work, but there’s a lot to do to craft an agenda, have a plan, execute on the plan, have the right leadership, do the budget work, make sure projects don’t stall – all of it,” the person with knowledge of internal deliberations said.

The search is ongoing but members of the city’s business community and others eager to see a more defined economic development vision from Mamdani are concerned it’s not happening with enough urgency. Two people with knowledge of the deliberations said the search appeared to be starting at square one earlier this month. Steve Fulop, president and CEO of the business advocacy group Partnership for New York City, said he got the sense from the person spearheading the search this week that new leadership isn’t imminent. 

Fulop and members of the Partnership had a general meeting on Wednesday with Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su, who oversees EDC and is leading the hiring process. “Of course, the question came up about EDC leadership. She expressed that there’s been interim leadership there for four months and she’s very closely involved with what's happening there,” Fulop said. “As it stands right now, it didn’t seem yesterday like a sense of urgency or any great deal of insight that some sort of announcement is imminent.”

Jeanny Pak, the agency’s chief financial officer, has been serving as interim president and CEO since Andrew Kimball departed from the position in January.

“Well, we are back here again – and I am still here,” Pak said with a laugh at a City Council executive budget hearing for the agency on Friday, confirming she is also still serving as CFO. When asked at the hearing about the lack of a permanent president, Pak said that she didn’t know the reason for the delay or if there was a timeline for appointing someone permanent. “The president is the mayor's decision, and so we look forward to his decision,” she said. In the meantime, she said the agency has been able to move forward at its normal pace with its existing work as well as with work on new priorities from Mamdani. “We really have not stopped,” she said.

Asked about the hiring process timeline, City Hall did not provide any specifics. “Economic justice demands that we focus on economic growth and on who benefits from that growth. EDC is critical to that focus and has been since day one of this administration,” Su said in a statement provided by City Hall. “I have worked closely with EDC and Interim President Pak over the last 5 months on a daily basis to move forward critical economic development, infrastructure and affordable housing projects across all five boroughs, while launching bold new projects – from modular public restrooms to city-run grocery stores.”

“Many folks in the business community, and who are concerned about economic development, would love to see a long-term president in that position. EDC is an incredibly important agency for managing the city’s assets and in developing a long-term economic strategy, particularly given economic uncertainty in our future,” Council Member Virginia Maloney, who chairs the Committee on Economic Development, told City & State in advance of Friday’s hearing. “In the interim, I’ve been working really closely with Jeanny Pak who … has been doing a great job with the leadership at EDC to push forward initiatives.” Maloney said that work includes housing at Willets Point moving forward, and preparations for the FIFA World Cup.

The city’s economic development arm, EDC is a powerful city agency and nonprofit that since 1991 has had a guiding hand in projects like the High Line, Yankee Stadium, the city’s ferry system and the Brooklyn Marine Terminal. As a partner with the private sector, the agency has been criticized as being too friendly with powerful business interests.

Observers have attributed the delay in finding new leadership in part to the fact that Su only officially started as deputy mayor on March 1 after she moved from California to the city.  Prior to that point, she’d been working as an unpaid volunteer and senior adviser to the fledgling Mamdani administration. But the bigger, underlying reason, they say, has to do with conflicting visions for the agency. 

“I think they need to decide what message they’re trying to send, because they’ve interviewed a lot of people who would be good for the conventional version of EDC and they haven’t picked any of them,” another source with knowledge of the deliberations said. 

Members of the city’s business community, and others who want to see Mamdani focus more on job creation, have raised concerns for months that the mayor either isn’t prioritizing the agency or doesn’t have a concrete vision for economic development. The New York Times reported on a memo circulated by Su in February that outlined a vision for the agency focused more on economic justice. Interviewees were reportedly asked about how they would hold companies that receive public benefits accountable and measure economic equality, according to the Times. At the time, former Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan was conducting interviews with some candidates. These sorts of questions have continued under Su. 

Some are eager to see the Mamdani administration give EDC direction and new leadership, and argue that the mayor shouldn’t view it as the shady corporate-handout agency it’s sometimes cast as. (Among other things, EDC garnered hostility from New York’s political left when it worked in the de Blasio administration to bring an Amazon headquarters to Queens – a city-state deal replete with hefty tax incentives that ultimately failed.)

They also argue that it could be helpful in advancing some of the policies Mamdani has identified as priorities. The agency is already working on rolling out Mamdani’s plan for city-owned grocery stores. 

Randy Peers, president and CEO of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, noted that it's not all doom and gloom for the business community. “The team in place, meaning the professional staff, are really, really good at what they do,” he said. “I don’t want that to be lost in this sort of higher level discussion about who leads EDC.”