February 19, 2021
Meet the Panelists Featured in Our NYC Mayoral Candidates Forum
Bike New York is proud to welcome New York City Mayoral Candidates including Eric Adams, Shaun Donovan, Kathryn Garcia, Ray McGuire, Scott Stringer, and Andrew Yang for a virtual town hall addressing some of the most pressing topics affecting our cyclists, pedestrians, commuters, and street users.
Join us on March 1 at 6:30PM for Mayoral Candidates Forum: Who Will Lead NYC to a Safer, More Equitable Streetscape? moderated by Jon Orcutt and presented by Spoke Series. And before the event, get to know the featured panelists with these quick bios!
ERIC ADAMS
Eric Adams was born in Brownsville and raised in South Jamaica, one of six children raised by a single mom who cleaned houses. As a young man, Eric faced homelessness, hunger, and brutality at the hands of police. But instead of giving into anger, Eric joined the NYPD and fought for reform within the department. He also put himself through school, earning undergraduate and graduate degrees.
From the NYPD, he was elected to the State Senate, where he pushed through measures to protect tenants and workers, and advance human rights.
As Brooklyn’s first Black Borough President, he has worked tirelessly to grow the local economy, reduce inequality, improve public safety, and advocate for better government.
SHAUN DONOVAN
Shaun Donovan has dedicated his life to public service, tackled the biggest challenges facing New York City and the nation, and fought for people and communities too often left behind.
In his hometown, he is working with residents and community organizations to deliver restaurant meals to families affected by COVID, to revitalize public housing, and to make sure every New Yorker is counted in the 2020 Census. He is also working with local leaders and foundations to rebuild Puerto Rico and help families hit by the devastating storms. He serves as a Trustee of the Urban Institute and on the Advisory Board of Opportunity Insights.
Shaun served in President Obama’s Cabinet for his full eight years in office. From January 2009 to July 2014, Shaun was the 15th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, where he led the fight against the nation’s unprecedented foreclosure crisis. Under his leadership, HUD helped families rent or buy affordable homes, revitalized distressed communities, fought discrimination and dramatically reduced homelessness. After Hurricane Sandy hit his hometown, President Obama asked him to lead the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, leaving a stronger, more resilient region than before the storm hit.
Prior to joining the Obama Administration, Donovan served as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development. He also served in the Clinton administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multifamily Housing at HUD and as acting FHA Commissioner.
Donovan holds a B.A. and Masters degrees in Public Administration and Architecture from Harvard University. Shaun was born and grew up in New York City, and is married to Liza Gilbert, a Landscape Architect who has designed and restored parks in New York City and across the country. Shaun and Liza live in Brooklyn, where they raised their sons Milo and Lucas.
KATHRYN GARCIA
Kathryn Garcia is the former Commissioner of the NYC Department of Sanitation, where she led the world’s largest municipal waste management, recycling, street cleaning and snow response agency.
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kathryn was tapped to build a food program of unprecedented scale—delivering 130 million meals to feed hungry and vulnerable New Yorkers. In response to the lead crisis at NYCHA, Kathryn was tapped as Interim Chair.
Previously, Kathryn served as Chief Operating Officer at the NYC Department of Environmental Protection, where she led emergency response efforts, including as Incident Commander for Superstorm Sandy.
Kathryn is a lifelong New Yorker. She was adopted and raised in Brooklyn in a multi-racial family. She is a mom of two and currently lives in Park Slope. Kathryn is running for mayor of New York City to bring the experience and leadership necessary to deliver strong services that improve the everyday lives of New Yorkers and build a more sustainable, equitable city.
RAY MCGUIRE
www.rayformayor.com • @rayformayor on Twitter and Instagram, @ray4mayor on Facebook
Raised by a single mother and his grandparents in Dayton, Ohio, Ray McGuire and his two brothers didn’t have much growing up. But they had family, faith, church, a loving home and a deep-seated belief that education was their ticket to anywhere.
With a lot of student loans and borrowed money, Ray went to Harvard, becoming the first in his family to graduate from college. He then enrolled in a four-year JD/MBA program at Harvard University. After earning degrees in law and business at the same time, Ray went to New York for a job on Wall Street.
For the last 13 years, Ray was the head of global corporate and investment banking at Citigroup and the longest-tenured head of investment banking in the history of Wall Street. As a Citi Foundation Board member, Ray helped the firm improve the lives of people in low-income communities. He also recently helped write a groundbreaking report on the economic impact of systemic racism. Through mentoring, Ray has held the door open for many others including those who grew up like him.
Ray gives back to the city by serving on the boards of the New York Presbyterian Hospital, the New York Public Library, the Whitney Museum and the Studio Museum in Harlem. He has also served on advisory boards for the Council of Urban Professionals, Sponsors for Educational Opportunities, Management Leadership for Tomorrow and others.
Ray is married to Crystal McCrary McGuire. Together they are raising three children.
SCOTT STRINGER
Scott Stringer is the New York City Comptroller, an office he was elected to in 2013. As the city’s chief financial officer, it’s his job to hold city government accountable, and Scott has—on issues large and small that really matter to the lives of New Yorkers.
He’s focused on NYC’s affordable housing crisis by identifying over 1,000 vacant, city-owned lots that could be used to boost the City’s affordable housing stock by more than 50,000 units. And he’s aggressively audited the New York City Housing Authority to force repairs and improve the quality of our public housing.
Scott helped lead the fight to raise the minimum wage to $15 in New York, unveiled an innovative proposal to help all New Yorkers save for retirement, and he’s helped small businesses identify bureaucratic barriers so they can create more jobs. He’s also shone a spotlight on the glaring need to expand opportunities for minority- and women-owned businesses in New York City. His investigations have exposed the deplorable conditions in which homeless children live, and he’s helped add tens of millions of dollars for arts and phys ed teachers in our public schools to address troubling disparities and promote well-rounded education.
Before his election as Comptroller, Scott served as Manhattan Borough President and as a member of the State Assembly, where he emerged as one of the legislature’s most important voices for reform. Throughout his career, Scott has been a champion for tenants and a leading progressive voice on issues ranging from LGBTQ rights to healthcare to protecting a woman’s right to choose. The New York Times has described him as a leader “committed to the principles of good government” who is “politically astute and ethically impeccable.”
Scott was born and raised in Washington Heights and is a lifelong New Yorker. He lives in Manhattan with his wife, Elyse, and their two young sons.
ANDREW YANG
Andrew Yang is an entrepreneur, author, philanthropist, non-profit leader, and former 2020 presidential candidate. Andrew has lived in New York City since 1996, when he moved into his first apartment in Morningside Heights at 21.
After being a corporate lawyer for five short months, joining a few start-ups, and even launching his own company, Andrew eventually became CEO of an education company that became #1 in the country. He then started a national entrepreneurship non-profit near Herald Square, Venture for America, which worked to empower thousands of young entrepreneurs to bring the dynamism from New York City to communities across the country.
Andrew was named a Presidential Ambassador of Entrepreneurship by the White House under the Obama administration and a Champion of Change for his work with Venture for America. Initially dubbed a “longer than long shot” candidate by the New York Times in 2018, Andrew became a top-tier contender for the presidency, raising nearly $40 million in grassroots funding.
Andrew is running for Mayor of New York City, his home, because he sees a crisis and believes he can help. Our city needs bold leadership with big ideas, focused on eliminating poverty, fact-based governance to solve our most pressing issues and recover from the pandemic, and excited to make NYC a place where anyone would want to live and visit.
We hope to see you online on 3/1! Still need to secure your spot? Register here.