Mamdani leaves NYC economic development agency without permanent leader

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s refusal to name a permanent leader for the city’s Economic Development Corporation has become a test of what kind of growth agenda he intends to run in New York.

The vacancy has lasted since Andrew Kimball stepped down in January, leaving Jeanny Pak, the agency’s chief financial officer since 2023, as interim president and CEO. That matters because NYCEDC is one of city government’s most consequential economic tools: it operates under a master contract worth more than $1.5 billion, manages city-owned land and tax breaks, oversees major development projects and runs the NYC Ferry system.

The delay has drawn sharper attention because so much is riding on the agency’s next moves. NYCEDC is central to projects such as the Brooklyn Marine Terminal redevelopment, SPARC Kips Bay and the Kingsbridge Armory, and business leaders see the leadership choice as a signal of how Mamdani defines economic policy, investment and job creation. The longer the post stays open, the more the administration’s priorities appear to tilt toward housing, labor and affordability rather than the kind of hands-on pro-growth management that has long defined City Hall’s relationship with business.

Mamdani has said he wants an EDC leader who understands “the scale of imagination, ambition and fluency required to deliver economic justice and economic growth hand-in-hand.” He has also floated city-owned grocery stores as part of his agenda, underscoring the degree to which his economic vision leans toward direct public intervention.

Inside the business community, the uncertainty has fed concern that the administration has not yet settled on who should speak for it on development. Candidates who were interviewed included Lindsay Greene of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, James Katz, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s deputy secretary for economic development and workforce, and Julie Stein, the executive director of the Union Square Partnership. Steve Fulop, president and chief executive of the Partnership for New York City, said a recent meeting with Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su gave him no sense that an appointment was imminent.

The staffing gap also comes as several senior leaders have left NYCEDC since Mamdani took office, and there are signs the search may have been reset in early May. Earlier in the transition, Mamdani enlisted former Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan to interview potential leaders, a move that reinforced perceptions that he wanted a more ideologically aligned team at the agency.

The delay stands out because Mamdani has already named dozens of other agency heads, while the city also still lacked a permanent head for the Department of City Planning by early February. Eric Adams had already named his City Planning director at this point in his own term, though he had not yet filled the EDC job. For developers, lenders and employers watching Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan, the message is the same: until Mamdani chooses a permanent economic development chief, his growth strategy remains a promise rather than a governing program.