Mayor-Elect Adams launches Corporate Council Enlisting Business Leaders to Support City's Equitable Recovery

NEW YORK, NY (12/14/2021) (readMedia)-- Today Mayor-elect Eric Adams announced the formation of the Mayor-elect's Corporate Council, a newly-formed committee that will work to ensure a productive partnership and dialogue between the business community and New York City Hall.

Business leaders representing a diverse span of New York City's corporate sector convened this morning for a roundtable discussion about the Mayor-elect's priorities for his first 100 days in office. Today's meeting was the first for the newly-formed Corporate Council, including leaders from 60 companies across sectors including technology, life sciences, financial services, media and entertainment, travel and tourism, and real estate.

"Getting our city back on track is going to require strong public-private partnerships. I'm humbled by the response from our Corporate Council to lean in, roll up their sleeves, and help accelerate our recovery," said Mayor-elect Adams. "From partnering on priorities such as workforce development, childcare, and revitalization of our commercial districts, the business community has made it clear they are with me and all New Yorkers every step of the way."

The Council was launched by the Corporate Engagement Committee of the transition effort, led by Stephen Scherr of Goldman Sachs, Charles Phillips of Recognize, and Jenny Farrelly of Two Sigma. The effort was the result of a months-long listening tour conducted with business leaders and current and past City officials, which brought to light both the opportunity and demand for a proactive program to ensure collaboration between City Hall and the corporate community.

"It is worth noting that weeks before taking the oath of office, Mayor-elect Adams is extending his hand to engage the business community to come together on behalf of all New Yorkers," said Charles Phillips, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Recognize, and Stephen Scherr, Chief Financial Officer of Goldman Sachs, both Co-Chairs of the transition effort. "New York City must accelerate its recovery from the pandemic and we are excited about the role that the entire business community can play in supporting the Mayor-Elect's agenda for an equitable recovery."

Mayor-elect Adams has made it a priority for his transition team to identify opportunities for public-private partnerships across all of the City's key objectives. The result will be a set of core initiatives that the Corporate Council will help support such as creating a centralized city-wide digital employment platform, establishing a jobs training network, and public safety improvements. The Corporate Council will convene regularly throughout the Mayor's first 100 days with corporate members lending their support and expertise to projects led by City Hall.

In a roundtable with New York City's small business sector last week, attendees from the NYC BID Association Board, including leaders of more than 20 business improvement districts, and the heads of the City's five borough-wide chambers of commerce conveyed their view that small business cannot recover without big business.

Elizabeth Lusskin, Executive Director of the Long Island City BID and Co-Chair of the NYC BID Association explained: "There is no small business recovery without big business, and no neighborhood recovery without central business district return after nearly two years of little to no activity. From the Long Island City plant store that fills midtown offices with oxygen, to the Bay Ridge coffee shop that caters to commuters heading downtown, to the barber shops in Midtown whose chairs still sit empty today, the effects of the pandemic will linger as long as our central business districts sit quiet. We need the city's corporate sector to help to once again have our largest companies drive traffic and revenue to small businesses throughout the city."

Mayor-Elect's Corporate Council: Roster of Members

Bob Bakish, ViacomCBS

Jeff Blau, Related Companies

Neil Blumenthal, Warby Parker

Dr. Albert Bourla, Pfizer

Peter Carter, Delta Air Lines

Anthony Casalena, Squarespace

Ken Chenault, General Catalyst

Dr. Steven Corwin, New York-Presbyterian

Dr. Ken Davis, Mount Sinai Health System

Douglas Durst, The Durst Organization

Richard Edelman, Edelman

Jenny Farrelly, Two Sigma

John Foley, Peloton

Adena Friedman, Nasdaq

Barry Gosin, Newmark

Eric Grossman, Morgan Stanley

Jeffrey Gural, GFP Real Estate

Horacio Gutierrez, Spotify

Robin Hayes, JetBlue Airways

Carlos Hernandez, JPMorgan Chase

Marc Holliday, SL Green

Jennifer Hyman, Rent the Runway

Dev Ittycheria, MongoDB

Bruce Jackson, Microsoft

Chip Kaye, Warburg Pincus

Linda Kirkpatrick, Mastercard

Nickle LaMoreaux, IBM Corporation

Susan Lyne, BBG Ventures

Shan-Lyn Ma, Zola

Michelle MacKay, Cushman & Wakefield

Lynn Martin, NYSE Group

Sandeep Mathrani, WeWork

Danny Meyer, Union Square Hospitality Group

Andrew Milgram, Marblegate Asset Management

Deanna Mulligan, Purposeful

Mark Murphy, Digital Currency Group

Paul Pariser, Taconic Partners

Debra Perelman, Revlon

Charles Phillips, RECOGNIZE

Deidre Quinn, Lafayette 148

Scott Rechler, RXR Realty

Nathaniel Ru, sweetgreen

Steven Rubenstein, RUBENSTEIN

Kevin Ryan, AlleyCorp

Kate Ryder, Maven

Stephen Scherr, Goldman Sachs

Eric Schmidt, Schmidt Futures

Caryn Seidman-Baker, CLEAR

Jeff Shell, NBCUniversal

Josh Silverman, Etsy

Edward Skyler, Citi

Deborah Snyder, Accenture

David Solomon, Goldman Sachs

Susan Solomon, The New York Stem Cell Foundation Research Institute

Rob Speyer, Tishman Speyer

Stephen Squeri, American Express

Anjali Sud, Vimeo

Nina Tandon, EpiBone

Jose Tavarez, Bank of America New York City

Mary Ann Tighe, Tri-State Region, CBRE

Ellen West, Alphabet

James Whelan, Real Estate Board of New York

Ryan Williams, Cadre

Fred Wilson, Union Square Ventures

Kathryn Wylde, Partnership for New York City