NYC Comptroller & Public Advocate Appoint to the Independent Budget Office Advisory Board

New York, NY — New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams appointed five members to the Advisory Board of the Independent Budget Office. The appointees bring a variety and depth of professional qualifications including experience in higher education, city budget offices, state budget offices, and labor unions, as required by the City Charter. The Advisory Board consists of ten members appointed jointly by the comptroller and the public advocate for five year staggered terms. Advisory Board members recommend candidates to fill board vacancies and act as informal advisors to the IBO. 

The Comptroller and Public Advocate’s appointments include:  

• Nationally recognized expert in budget theory and the budgetary process: Melanie Hartzog  
• Former director of NYC Office of Management and Budget: Dean Fuleihan  
• Dean of a graduate school of public policy in NYC: Darrick Hamilton  
• Dean of a graduate school of business administration in NYC: Paquita Y. Davis-Friday  
• Officer or former officer of, or economic advisor of, a labor union: Henry Garrido  

Melanie Hartzog is the President and CEO of The New York Foundling, a non-profit organization operating programs for child welfare. Previously, Hartzog served as the New York City Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services and Director of the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget.  

Dean Fuleihan previously served as First Deputy Mayor and Director for the City’s Office of Management and Budget under former Mayor Bill de Blasio. Prior to that, he was Chief Fiscal and Policy Advisor for the New York State Assembly.  

Darrick Hamilton is the founding Director of The New School’s Institute on Race, Power, and Political Economy and a Henry Cohen Professor of Economics and Urban Policy. Hamilton previously acted as both a member of the economic committee for the Biden-Sanders Unity Taskforce and as an advisor to the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign.  

Paquita Y. Davis-Friday currently serves as the interim dean to the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College. Davis-Friday previously acted as Senior Associate Dean and as Executive Director of Graduate Programs at the Zicklin School.  

Henry Garrido has served as the Executive Director of District Council 37, the city’s largest municipal employees union, since 2014. Garrido also acts as a trustee on the Workforce Investment Board and as a member on the New York City Employment Retirement System Board.   

“New Yorkers rely on the Independent Budget Office to be a thoughtful resource for understanding the City’s finances, independent of the political process. This unparalleled group of civic leaders will bring a wealth of diverse experiences to guide the agency’s work to provide independent analysis and oversight of the city’s finances,” said Comptroller Brad Lander.   

“The IBO, through its analysis, provides essential information to steer the economic and fiscal future of our city. The appointees to the Advisory Board that the Comptroller and I have put forward will provide a diverse range of experiences, all centered around expertise in their fields and service in their principles. I know that through their appointments and their counsel, they will help to inform the economic decisions of our city, to steward our city’s finances, strengthen our city’s budgetary policies, and support our city’s people,” said Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams. 

“It is thrilling to have a full IBO Advisory Board consisting of some of the most accomplished professionals in municipal finance and a range of relevant fields.  With the benefit of their insightful input, I look forward to even more productive seasons of serving the public and elected officials with unbiased budget and economic analysis they can use,” said IBO Director Louisa Chafee. 

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