Queens native named as first deputy mayor
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Lorraine Grillo, who currently serves as the city’s COVID recovery czar, will become first deputy mayor when Mayor-elect Eric Adams takes office in January. Photo by Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office
By Jacob Kaye
Queens continued to gain representation within the incoming Eric Adams Administration with the appointment of Lorraine Grillo as first deputy mayor Monday.
Adams announced the appointment of Grillo to one of the highest ranking positions in New York City government, along with the appointment of four deputy mayors, all of whom are women.
Making the announcement from Brooklyn Borough Hall, where Adams still serves as Brookly borough president, the mayor-elect named Anne Williams-Isom as the deputy mayor for health and human services, Maria Torres-Springer as the deputy mayor for economic and workforce development, Sheena Wright as deputy mayor for strategic initiatives and Meera Joshi as deputy mayor for operations.
“You are just seeing the coming together of an amazing team,” Adams said Monday. “This is going to be my core leadership and they are going to ensure that we move our city in the right direction.”
An Astoria native, Grillo was recently named as Mayor Bill de Blasio’s COVID-19 recovery czar, responsible for overseeing the city’s comeback from the financial effects of the virus. Prior to that role, Grillo served as the commissioner of the NYC Department of Design and Construction and the CEO of the New York City School Construction Authority, where she has worked since 1994.
Williams-Islom, who is also from Queens, is the former CEO of the Harlem’s Children's Zone and the former deputy commissioner at the Administration for Children’s Services. She currently is the chair of Child Welfare Studies at Fordham University.
Torres-Springer worked for over a decade in the city’s government, including as commissioner of Small Business Services. She currently is the vice president for U.S. programs at the Ford Foundation.
Wright, a Bronx native, is the president and CEO of United Way of New York City, the first woman to hold the title. She previously served on advisory boards for Mayor Bill de Blasio and former Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Joshi currently serves as the deputy administrator for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Prior to that role, she served as the deputy commissioner of legal affairs at the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commision. She also served as the inspector general of the city’s Department of Correction and as the deputy director of the Civilian Complaint Review Board.
The appointments follow the naming of Keechant Sewell as the city’s next police commissioner, Louis Molina as commissioner of the DOC and David Banks as the next schools chancellor.
