Mayor-elect Mamdani staffs transition team with government veterans, as he lays groundwork for administration

The day after his historic win in the 2025 NYC Mayor’s Race, Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani unveiled a team of four women who will help lead the transition into his administration, a crew that the Democrat says will include government veterans and nonprofit leaders.

Mamdani announced his transition team co-chairs in front of the Unisphere in Queens’ Flushing Meadows Corona Park on Nov. 5. He named political strategist Elana Leopold as the transition executive director.

The group includes Maria Torres-Springer, outgoing Mayor Eric Adams’ former first deputy mayor; Lina Khan, former chair of the Federal Trade Commission during the Biden administration; Grace Bonilla, president and CEO of the nonprofit the United Way of New York City; and Melanie Hartzog, who has served as a deputy mayor during the de Blasio administration and city budget director in past administrations.

“We will form an administration that is in equal parts capable and compassionate, driven by integrity and willing to work just as hard as the millions of New Yorkers who call this city home,” Mamdani said. “And central to that effort is a transition team that is defined by the excellence New Yorkers will soon come to expect from government.”

Together with his transition team, Mamdani said Wednesday that he will begin announcing top administration picks over the coming days, including positions such as deputy mayors and agency heads.

Those choices will be closely watched decisions as the 34-year-old Democratic socialist, who has no prior executive experience after serving just five years in his Queens Assembly seat, seeks to demonstrate that he can build a competent government.

Mamdani added that he and his transition team will consult a broad swath of government and policy experts, as well as everyday New Yorkers, when considering how to build his team.

“We will speak to the organizers on the front lines of the fight to improve our city government, veterans with proven track records, policy experts from around the country and the world, and working people who know better than anyone what their neighborhoods need,” he said.

Mamdani has already said that he would like to retain Mayor Adams’ fourth NYPD commissioner, Jessica Tisch — a decision applauded by city business leaders. However, Tisch has yet to publicly say whether she will stay on for the new administration.

Torres-Springer is perhaps the most recognizable member of the transition team. She was key to pushing through Mayor Adams’ “City of Yes” plan to boost housing development.

Torres-Springer served in three different roles during the de Blasio Administration: commissioner of the city’s Department of Small Business Services, president of the city’s Economic Development Corporation, and Commissioner of Housing Preservation and Development. She joined the Adams administration in 2022 as deputy mayor for Housing, Economic Development and Workforce, but resigned from the post amid the political fallout over President Trump’s Justice Department move to drop his federal corruption case involving Adams early this year.

On Wednesday, Torres-Springer said she is “eager” to bring her experience from working for three mayoral administrations to Mamdani’s transition. She said she can advise him on “what worked and what didn’t” for past mayors to help him enact his agenda, which includes bold proposals like freezing rent increases for stabilized tenants and implementing universal child care.

Khan, who worked in former President Biden’s administration, said the efficient way Mamdani ran his campaign shows that he will be able to effectively govern.

“I think what we saw through the campaign was an operation that showed extraordinary discipline, rigor, talent,” she said. “I know that Zohran has the vision and courage to make sure that we can actually deliver.”