Zohran Mamdani has tapped Lina Khan — a longtime ally and co-chair of his mayoral transition — to lead the board of directors for New York City’s Economic Development Corporation.
The mayor announced Khan’s role in the City Hall Rotunda on Wednesday morning. McKinsey partner Anthony Shorris will join her as president and CEO of the EDC. Mamdani called the pair “a dream team” — a move he hopes is good news for both business growth and his affordability agenda.
“Today’s appointees not only share a vision for the future of this office, but a commitment too, to executing on it,” the mayor said. He feels that both Khan and Shorris are aligned in thinking that the measure of a city’s economic strength is “whether it is able to lift up those who are currently priced out.”
Khan added that the “EDC has key tools to drive projects that grow our economy, create good jobs, promote entrepreneurship, and make life more affordable for New Yorkers.”
Khan could bring Mamdani’s affordability goals to EDC
The organization, a quasi-public nonprofit that manages city-owned property, works alongside the local government to support business interests and economic growth. It largely operates as its own entity, despite leadership traditionally being handpicked by the mayor. EDC can develop real estate, manage assets, award business incentives, and oversee major construction projects on behalf of the city.
Besides playing a strategic role in the Mamdani campaign, Khan served as director of the Federal Trade Commission under President Joe Biden and has a reputation as an antitrust crusader and defender of consumer rights. She has accompanied the mayor and his cabinet to press events in recent months and served in a “voluntary advisor” role, her spokesperson Douglas Farrar told Business Insider, but this will be her first official job within the administration.
The EDC leadership position has been a source of tension in City Hall since Mamdani began his term. Some civic leaders have said it is unusual that Mamdani took months to appoint a new head of the EDC. Critics said the delay indicated that business and tech investment aren’t a priority for the mayor, who has been vocal about his affordability platform for lower- and middle-income New Yorkers and has been tough on corporations.
The appointment of Khan alongside Shorris — who has had a decadeslong career in public service and the private sector — is an effort to marry these development and cost-of-living goals, Mamdani said. Shorris, for example, had a role in establishing the minimum wage and universal 3-K programs in NYC, and previously led the New York-New Jersey Port Authority.
“As City Hall takes on the affordability crisis gripping our city,” he said. “As we work to reimagine economic models that give so much to so few — and deny so many others the basics of a dignified life — we believe that economic development and economic justice must go hand in hand.”
