News Press

Over 100 Business Leaders Push for Mayoral Control

March 07, 2019

PRESS INQUIRIES

Katy Feinberg, Rubenstein
[email protected]
212.843.8047

Today, the Partnership for New York City issued a letter signed by over 100 business leaders urging Governor Cuomo and the state legislature to extend mayoral control over the city’s public schools. Since 2002, when the mayor was given responsibility for governance of the schools, there have been significant improvements in educational outcomes for the city’s students. Albany has refused to make the system permanent, despite the fact that it is clearly superior to alternatives that caused schools to deteriorate.

Dear Governor Cuomo, Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, and Assembly Speaker Heastie,

New York City’s business community strongly supports multi-year extension of mayoral control of the New York City public school system. A quality education is the key to unlocking economic opportunity for the city’s residents. Mayoral accountability for management of the system is essential to achieving that objective.

The governance system that was put in place by state legislative action in 2002 has resulted in demonstrable improvements in educational outcomes in the city. Graduation rates are up and disparities due to income and race are being reduced. Dropout rates are at historic lows. More students than ever are taking and passing Advanced Placement exams and English test scores are up in every district.

These improvements would not have been possible without the clarity of a system in which the mayor has the clear authority over leadership, labor contracts, management and budget. We urge you to pass a multi-year extension of the current law and not risk reversion to a dysfunctional governance system.

Sincerely,

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

Ellen Alemany, Chairman & CEO, CIT Group Inc.

Robert Bakish, President & CEO, Viacom Inc.

Ajay Banga, President & CEO, Mastercard

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

William H. Berkman, Managing Partner, Associated Partners, LP

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

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

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

Albert Bourla, Chief Executive Officer, Pfizer Inc.

John Bruckner, President, NY, National Grid

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

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

Rodgin Cohen, Senior Chairman, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP

Creighton Condon, Senior Partner, Shearman & Sterling

Daniela Constantino, Partner, Mason Capital Management, LLC

Michael L. Corbat, Chief Executive Officer, Citigroup Inc.

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

Barry Diller, Chairman & Senior Executive, IAC and Chairman & Senior Executive, Expedia, Inc.

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

Lynne Doughtie, U.S. Chairman & CEO, KPMG LLP

Douglas Durst, Chairman, Durst Organization Inc.

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

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

Laurence D. Fink, Chairman & CEO, BlackRock, Inc.

John Fish, Chairman & CEO, Suffolk

Winston C. Fisher, Partner, Fisher Brothers

Alan H. Fishman, Chairman, Ladder Capital Finance LLC

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

Paul Fribourg, Chairman & CEO, Continental Grain Company

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

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

Eric Gertler, Executive Chairman, U.S. News & World Report

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

MaryAnne Gilmartin, Chief Executive Officer, L&L MAG

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

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

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

Logan Green, Co-Founder & CEO, Lyft

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

Robin Hayes, Chief Executive Officer, JetBlue Airways Corporation

Brian T. Horey, President, Aurelian Management

Joseph Ianniello, President, CBS Corporation

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

Kenneth M. Jacobs, Chairman & CEO, Lazard Ltd

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

Jeremy M. Kroll, Co-Founder & CEO, K2 Intelligence

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

Joseph M. Leccese, Chairman of the Firm, Proskauer

Joey Levin, Chief Executive Officer, IAC

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

Howard W. Lutnick, Chairman & CEO, Cantor Fitzgerald L.P.

Vikram Malhotra, Chairman of the Americas, McKinsey & Company, Inc.

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

Donald B. Marron, Chairman, Lightyear Capital

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

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

Edward J. Minskoff, President, Edward J. Minskoff Equities, Inc.

Ken Moelis, Chairman and CEO, Moelis & Company

Greg Mondre, Managing Partner & Managing Director, Silver Lake

Deanna M. Mulligan, President & CEO, The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America

Kentaro Okuda, President & CEO, Nomura Holding America Inc.

Jon Oringer, Founder & CEO, Shutterstock, Inc.

Mark Pearson, Chairman & CEO, AXA Equitable Life

Charles E. Phillips, Jr., Chief Executive Officer, Infor

Scott Powell, Chief Executive Officer, Santander US

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

Steven L. Rattner, Chairman, Willett Advisors LLC

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

Thomas J. Reid, Managing Partner, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP

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

Michael I. Roth, Chairman & CEO, Interpublic Group

Steven Rubenstein, President, Rubenstein Communications, Inc.

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

Kevin P. Ryan, Chairman & Founder, Zola, Workframe, Nomad Health, MongoDB, Inc.

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

Faiza Saeed, Presiding Partner, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP

Scott Salmirs, President & CEO, ABM Industries Inc.

Charles Scharf, Chairman & CEO, BNY Mellon

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

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

Jonathan Silvan, Chief Executive Officer, Global Strategy Group, LLC

Larry A. Silverstein, Chairman, Silverstein Properties, Inc.

David M. Solomon, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Goldman Sachs & Co.

Rob Speyer, President & CEO, Tishman Speyer

Stephen Squeri, Chairman & CEO, American Express Company

Arthur P. Steinmetz, Chairman & CEO, OppenheimerFunds, Inc.

Steven R. Swartz, President & CEO, Hearst

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

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

Paul Todd, Chief Executive Officer, GLG

Bridget van Kralingen, Senior Vice President, Global Industries, Platforms & Blockchain, IBM Corporation

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

David R. Weinreb, Chief Executive Officer, The Howard Hughes Corporation

Charles Weinstein, Chief Executive Officer, EisnerAmper LLP

Robert Wolf, Chief Executive Officer, 32 Advisors, LLC

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

Brett Yormark, Chief Executive Officer, BSE Global

Strauss Zelnick, Partner, ZMC

John Zimmer, Co-Founder & President, Lyft