News Press

Letter to Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio from NYC Business Leaders

September 18, 2020

Today, 177 New York business leaders sent the following letter to Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio offering to collaborate on a strategic plan for New York’s economic recovery from COVID-19 that can serve as a blueprint for urban centers across the country. This letter reaffirms the commitment to New York City that was laid out in a September 10 letter to Mayor de Blasio from most of the same top executives.

 

The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo
Governor of New York State
NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224

The Honorable Bill de Blasio
Mayor of New York City
City Hall
New York, NY 10007

Dear Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio,

We write to thank you for your leadership in managing New York’s response to the COVID-19 health crisis and to offer our assistance as the state and city begin to deal with the economic consequences of the pandemic. The losses attributable to the COVID-19 are still being incurred, but it is important to act now to develop a plan for recovery and resilience.

By all measures, New York City was at the peak of its economic powers on March 1, 2020, when the first coronavirus case was diagnosed. A report issued in July by the Partnership for New York City calculates that, in less than five months, the metropolitan region lost a million jobs and that up to a third of the city’s small businesses may permanently close. The region’s affordable housing deficit is projected to increase by at least 150,000 units. Economic losses, like health impacts, will be most profoundly felt by low wage workers and in communities of color. The report argues that the city will need to offer a new value proposition to residents and businesses that focuses on affordability, opportunity and innovation.

The essential assets of great cities — their density of diverse talent, high degree of social interaction, and access to the world — make them most vulnerable to public health challenges. The federal government has an obligation and vested interest in assisting cities that have been hardest hit by the pandemic, but so far there is no national agenda specifically targeted to urban relief or recovery.

As the first place in America to be struck hard by the coronavirus and the first to successfully manage its containment, New York should step up to chart the course for recovery of urban centers everywhere. We urge you to convene a multi-sector leadership initiative which can call upon the broadest possible range of resources and expertise to develop plans, policies and implementation strategies for how cities will overcome the challenges created by the pandemic and re-emerge stronger, fairer and more resilient than ever.

We are fully prepared to support this effort and believe it is critical to ensuring a vibrant future for New York and the nation.

Sincerely,

Mercedes Abramo, President & CEO, North America, Cartier

Lee S. Ainslie, III, Managing Partner, Maverick Capital

Ellen Alemany, Chairman & CEO, CIT Group Inc.

Jeffrey Aronson, Managing Principal, Centerbridge Partners

Ajay Banga, Chief Executive Officer, Mastercard

Linda Baran, President & CEO, Staten Island Chamber of Commerce

Jeffrey H. Barker, New York State President, Bank of America

Neil Barr, Managing Partner, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP

Candace K. Beinecke, Senior Partner, Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP

Charles R. Bendit, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Taconic Investment Partners LLC

William H. Berkman, Co-Chairman & CEO, Digital Landscape Group, Inc.

Torry Berntsen, Chief Executive Officer, Americas & Head of Corporate and Institutional Banking, Standard Chartered Bank

David J. Beveridge, Senior Partner, Shearman & Sterling, LLP

Frank J. Bisignano, Chief Executive Officer, Fiserv

Michael W. Blair, Presiding Partner, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP

Jeff T. Blau, Chief Executive Officer, The Related Companies, L.P.

Kathy Bloomgarden, Chief Executive Officer, Ruder Finn, Inc.

Adam M. Blumenthal, Managing Partner, Blue Wolf Capital Partners

Neil Blumenthal, Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Warby Parker

John Borthwick, Founder & CEO, Betaworks

Albert Bourla, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Pfizer Inc.

Martin S. Burger, Chief Executive Officer, Silverstein Properties, Inc.

Anthony Casalena, Founder & CEO, Squarespace, Inc.

Gregory C. Case, Chief Executive Officer, Aon plc

Richard M. Cashin, Managing Partner, One Equity Partners

John Catsimatidis, Chairman & CEO, Red Apple Group, Inc.

Ric Clark, Chairman, Brookfield Property Partners

Rodgin Cohen, Senior Chairman, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP

Richard Coles, Managing Principal, Vanbarton Group LLC

Marc Cooper, Chief Executive Officer, PJ Solomon, L.P.

Michael L. Corbat, Chief Executive Officer, Citigroup

Stacey Cunningham, President, NYSE

Anthony J. de Nicola, President, Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe

Todd C. DeGarmo, Chief Executive Officer, STUDIOS Architecture

AnnaMaria DeSalva, Global Chairman & CEO, Hill+Knowlton Strategies

Annemarie DiCola, Chief Executive Officer, Trepp, LLC

Toby Dodd, President, New York Tri-State, Cushman & Wakefield, Inc.

William R. Dougherty, Chairman, Executive Committee, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP

Douglas Durst, Chairman, Durst Organization Inc.

Blair W. Effron, Co-Founder, Centerview Partners

Joel S. Ehrenkranz, Partner and Co-Founder, Ehrenkranz Partners L.P.

Douglas F. Eisenberg, Founder and CEO, A&E Real Estate, LLC

Catherine Engelbert, Commissioner, WNBA

Hafize Gaye Erkan, President & Board Member, First Republic Bank

Alexander Farman-Farmaian, Vice Chairman, Portfolio Manager, Edgewood Management LLC

Ziel Feldman, Chairman & Founder, HFZ Capital Group

Joseph R. Ficalora, President & CEO, New York Community Bancorp, Inc.

John Fish, Chairman & CEO, Suffolk

Winston C. Fisher, Partner, Fisher Brothers

Alan H. Fishman, Chairman, Ladder Capital Finance

William E. Ford, Chief Executive Officer, General Atlantic LLC

Adena Friedman, President & CEO, Nasdaq

Eric J. Friedman, Executive Partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Mark T. Gallogly, Co-Founder & Managing Principal, Centerbridge Partners

Kenneth M. Garschina, Principal, Mason Capital Management, LLC

Jeff Gennette, Chairman & CEO, Macy’s, Inc.

Dave Gilboa, Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Warby Parker

MaryAnne Gilmartin, Founder & CEO, MAG Partners LP

Daniel Glaser, President & CEO, Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc.

Timothy Gokey, Chief Executive Officer, Broadridge

James P. Gorman, Chairman & CEO, Morgan Stanley

Barry M. Gosin, Chief Executive Officer, Newmark Knight Frank

Jonathan N. Grayer, Chairman & CEO, Weld North LLC

Thomas Grech, President & CEO, Queens Chamber of Commerce

Logan Green, Co-Founder & CEO, Lyft

David J. Greenwald, Chairman, Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP

Kelly Grier, U.S. Chairman & Americas Managing Partner, Ernst & Young LLP

Stewart KP Gross, Managing Director, Lightyear Capital

Robin Hayes, Chief Executive Officer, JetBlue Airways Corporation

Sean Hecker, Partner, Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP

James H. Herbert, II, Founder, Chairman and CEO, First Republic Bank

Donna Imperato, Chief Executive Officer, BCW

Frederick J. Iseman, Chairman & CEO, CI Capital Partners LLC

Kenneth M. Jacobs, Chairman & CEO, Lazard Ltd

John Josephson, Chairman & CEO, Sesac

Roberta Kaplan, Founding Partner, Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP

Brad S. Karp, Chair, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP

Charles R. Kaye, Chief Executive Officer, Warburg Pincus LLC

Michel A. Khalaf, President & CEO, MetLife, Inc.

Paul Knopp, U.S. Chair and CEO, KPMG LLP

Henry R. Kravis, Co-Chairman & Co-CEO, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.

Philip Krim, Founder & CEO, Casper

William P. Lauder, Executive Chairman, The Estée Lauder Companies, Inc.

Rochelle B. Lazarus, Chairman Emeritus, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide

Joey Levin, Chief Executive Officer, IAC

Allan Levine, Chairman & CEO, Global Atlantic Financial Company

Jeffrey E. Levine, Chairman, Douglaston Development

Robert A. Levine, Chief Executive Officer, RAL Companies & Affiliates, LLC

Martin Lipton, Senior Partner, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz

Alex Liu, Managing Partner and Chairman, Kearney

Robert P. LoCascio, Founder & CEO, LivePerson, Inc.

Mehdi Mahmud, CEO, First Eagle Investment Management

Anthony Malkin, Chairman, President & CEO, Empire State Realty Trust

Anthony E. Mann, President & CEO, E-J Electric Installation Co.

Joel S. Marcus, Executive Chairman & Founder, Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.

Theodore Mathas, Chairman & CEO, New York Life Insurance Company

Sandeep Mathrani, Chief Executive Officer, WeWork

Peter W. May, President & Founding Partner, Trian Partners

John McAvoy, Chairman, President & CEO, Con Edison, Inc.

Charles R. McCall, Chief Executive Officer, Astoria Energy II LLC &, Astoria Energy LLC

Raymond W. McDaniel, Jr., President & CEO, Moody’s Corporation

Avner Mendelson, President & CEO, Bank Leumi USA

Heidi Messer, Co-Founder & Chairperson, Collective[i]

Keith Mestrich, President & CEO, Amalgamated Bank

Jayne Millard, Chairman & Co-CEO, Turtle & Hughes, Inc.

Edward J. Minskoff, Chairman & CEO, Edward J. Minskoff Equities, Inc.

Ken Moelis, Chairman and CEO, Moelis & Company

Greg Mondre, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Silver Lake

Daniel Moore, President & CEO, Rockefeller Group International, Inc.

Tyler Morse, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Partner, MCR Development LLC

Deanna M. Mulligan, Chief Executive Officer, The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America

Tom Naratil, President Americas, Co-President Global Wealth Management, UBS Group AG

Jon Oringer, Executive Chairman, Shutterstock, Inc.

Sarah Jessica Parker, Founder & Owner, SJP Collection

John Paulson, President, Paulson & Co., Inc.

Stan Pavlovksky, CEO, Shutterstock, Inc.

Mark Pearson, President & CEO, Equitable

Randolph Peers, President & CEO, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce

Debbie Perelman, President & CEO, Revlon, Inc.

Douglas L. Peterson, President & CEO, S&P Global

Michael A. Peterson, Chairman & CEO, Peter G. Peterson Foundation

Charles E. Phillips, Jr., Chairman, Infor

Deirdre Quinn, Co-Founder & CEO, Lafayette 148 New York

Steven L. Rattner, Chairman & CEO, Willett Advisors LLC

Scott H. Rechler, Chairman & CEO, RXR Realty LLC

Michael Roberts, President & CEO, HSBC Bank USA

James D. Robinson, III, Co-Founder & General Partner, RRE Ventures

Evan Roth, Co-Chief Executive Officer, BBR Partners, LLC

Michael I. Roth, Chairman & CEO, Interpublic Group

Steven Roth, Chairman & CEO, Vornado Realty Trust

Steven Rubenstein, President, Rubenstein Communications, Inc.

Mitchell E. Rudin, Chairman and CEO, Savills Inc.

William C. Rudin, Co-Chairman & CEO, Rudin Management Company, Inc.

Kevin P. Ryan, Founder & CEO, AlleyCorp

Timothy Ryan, U.S. Chairman & Senior Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP

Scott Salmirs, President & CEO, ABM Industries Inc.

Kathleen Savio, Chief Executive Officer, North America, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd

Michael Schmidtberger, Partner & Chair of the Executive Committee, Sidley Austin LLP

Alan D. Schnitzer, Chairman & CEO, The Travelers Companies, Inc.

Alan D. Schwartz, Executive Chairman, Guggenheim Partners, LLC

Stephen A. Schwarzman, Chairman, CEO & Co-Founder, Blackstone

Frank J. Sciame, Chairman & CEO, Sciame Construction, LLC

Kathleen Shanahan, Co-CEO, Turtle & Hughes, Inc.

Suzanne Shank, CEO, Siebert Williams Shank & Co., LLC

Tarek Sherif, Chairman & CEO, Medidata Solutions, Inc.

Adam Silver, Commissioner, National Basketball Association

Joshua Silverman, Chief Executive Officer, Etsy, Inc.

Michael C. Slocum, President, Commercial Banking, Capital One Bank

David M. Solomon, Chairman & CEO, Goldman Sachs

Jeffrey Solomon, Chairman & CEO, Cowen

Lisa Sorin, President, The Bronx Chamber of Commerce

Rob Speyer, President & CEO, Tishman Speyer

Robert K. Steel, Chairman, Perella Weinberg Partners

Charles Stewart, Chief Executive Officer, Sotheby’s

Sanjay Swani, Partner, Tailwind Capital

Steven R. Swartz, President & CEO, Hearst

Paul J. Taubman, Chairman & CEO, PJT Partners Inc.

Teiji Teramoto, Chairman & CEO, Mizuho Americas

Owen D. Thomas, Chief Executive Officer, Boston Properties

Robert J. Thomson, Chief Executive, News Corp

Mary Ann Tighe, Chief Executive Officer, NY Tri-State Region, CBRE, Inc.

James S. Tisch, President & CEO, Loews Corporation

Gary M. Tischler, Founder & Managing Partner, Vanbarton Group LLC

Daniel R. Tishman, Vice Chairman, AECOM & Principal, Tishman Realty

Jean-Marie Tritant, President, U.S., Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield

Joseph Ucuzoglu, Chief Executive Officer, Deloitte

Bridget van Kralingen, Senior Vice President, Global Markets, IBM Corporation

Robert Vecchio, Chief Executive Officer, LPI, Inc.

George H. Walker, Chairman & CEO, Neuberger Berman Group LLC

Jessica Walker, President & CEO, Manhattan Chamber of Commerce

Debra Walton, Chief Revenue Officer, Refinitiv

Charles Weinstein, Chief Executive Officer, EisnerAmper LLP

David Winter, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Standard Industries Inc.

Laila J. Worrell, Chief Executive Officer, Altran Americas + frog

Kathryn S. Wylde, President & CEO, Partnership for New York City

Strauss Zelnick, Partner, ZMC

John Zimmer, Co-Founder & President, Lyft