Mamdani Ousts All Advisers From NYC Mayor's $16.4M Fund

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani dismissed the entire advisory board of the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City, severing a decades-old channel between corporate leaders and City Hall.

Mamdani dismissed the entire advisory board of the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City, a city-affiliated nonprofit that has raised hundreds of millions of dollars since 1995, ending a decades-old channel between corporate leaders and City Hall. It is the first time in at least three mayoral administrations that all members were removed.

"Twenty or 30 years ago, real estate in New York City could single-handedly stop something or make something happen," said James Whelan, president of the Real Estate Board of New York and one of the dismissed board members. "One has to consider whether he is looking for opportunities to pick fights to stir up the base."

The fund held $16.4 million in cash as of its 2025 tax filing and has raised $107 million for families of rescue workers killed or injured in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, plus $54.5 million for COVID-19 emergency relief covering meals and personal protective equipment. Dismissed members include Richard Born of BD Hotels, Jeffrey Gural of GFP Real Estate, Alex Katz, a senior managing director at Blackstone Inc., Edward Skyler, Citigroup Inc.'s head of enterprise services and public affairs, and Whelan.

The shake-up is the latest in a series of moves by Mamdani, an avowed Democratic Socialist, to distance himself from the city's traditional power brokers. He filmed a video outside billionaire Ken Griffin's apartment to unveil a tax on second homes, brought antitrust crusader Lina Khan to chair the city's Economic Development Corp., and froze rents on a million rent-stabilized units. Some firms have told the administration they are weighing more business-friendly locations outside New York.

Mamdani said he is creating a new advisory board that will include appointees with the same background as previous members, "as well as those who oftentimes have not been at the heart of the conversations of how philanthropy can build upon the work of public goods and public dollars." Senior adviser Dora Pekec said the new board is "an important next step in reimagining how philanthropy can augment, but not replace, public dollars and public goods."

The fund's role has long blurred the line between the mayor's office and the wealthy. Public works such as the High Line park and Brooklyn Bridge Park merged public and private spheres, while the Economic Development Corp., a mayor-controlled nonprofit, drew up plans to bring in industries such as biotech and legal marijuana. That line was fuzziest under Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor who steered philanthropic dollars to transform the city.

Access Shrinks as Firms Weigh Exits

The dismissals have jolted the city's business elite, in part because sitting on the board gave members a path into the mayor's orbit. The board hosted occasional meetings with people from the mayor's office, or the mayor himself, to discuss City Hall's priorities, according to board members.

"It was a conversation," said Richard Born, the hotel real-estate magnate who received a dismissal letter. "I was happy to contribute if someone thinks my opinions are worthwhile."

The tone has become more combative, said Steven Fulop, president and chief executive of the Partnership for New York City. Some firms have told the administration they are looking at more business-friendly locations outside New York. Fulop noted Apollo's plans to build a second headquarters in Austin and that JPMorgan has more jobs in Texas than in New York.

"It's not good for his narrative and for New York City's narrative to have jobs fleeing the city because they feel unwelcome because of his policies," Fulop said.

Big Money Stays Put

Even some of the mayor's biggest targets are not abandoning the city. Griffin, who threatened to halt work on a new Park Avenue tower, is moving forward with the $6 billion construction project. Bill Ackman, the hedge fund billionaire and one of Mamdani's fiercest critics, spent $260 million this summer on buildings to house a brain research center on Manhattan's west side.

The mayor has also won occasional praise from business leaders. The appointment of Tony Shorris, a respected civil servant and former McKinsey partner, to helm the Economic Development Corp. alongside Khan was well received. The administration also overhauled some prohibitive regulations on small businesses and is forming a business advisory council to consult on economic development strategy.

"Mayor Mamdani recognizes the vital role that the business community plays in our city," a mayoral spokesman said. "The continued confidence of the business community is critical to growing our economy and building a city that works for working New Yorkers."

Yet the reshaping of the Mayor's Fund points to the most decisive shift in power favoring the governing class in about 50 years, and it strikes some as the administration saying: Thanks, we've got it from here.

"On one hand, you look at him and say I don't know what the fund is going to do or how he's going to get money into it," said Ron Moelis, founder of affordable housing developer L+M Development Partners, who was also dismissed. "On the other side, this fits his messaging, which is that he doesn't want to be unduly influenced by wealth."

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.