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In a move that seemed designed to satisfy both business leaders and his democratic socialist supporters, Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday appointed two people whose perspectives might seem at odds to head the Economic Development Corporation in New York City.
Anthony E. Shorris, a veteran of city government and a partner at the global consulting firm McKinsey & Company, will serve as president. Lina Khan, the former chair of the Federal Trade Commission and an advocate for strong government regulation, will serve as the board chairwoman.
The announcement by Mr. Mamdani, a democratic socialist, comes as his administration has sought to shift the focus of the corporation, known as the E.D.C. It is a municipally run nonprofit designed to drive economic growth by creating jobs and encouraging economic development.
Mr. Mamdani, whose campaign promises to improve life for working-class New Yorkers will most likely require a robust economy, has said he wants the organization to also focus on economic justice. The business community has expressed concerns about that shift and questioned whether the mayor was being inattentive to the city’s economy.
Those concerns heightened after The New York Times disclosed a memo, circulated by Julie Su, the deputy mayor for economic justice, that demanded that every E.D.C. program be re-evaluated to ensure the organization was not focused solely on economic growth, but also on justice.
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Lina KhanCredit...Vincent Alban/The New York Times
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Anthony ShorrisCredit...Richard Perry/The New York Times
Mr. Mamdani, speaking at a news conference at City Hall, said that he believed “that economic development and economic justice must go hand in hand.”
“This is no radical concept,” he added.
Mr. Shorris’s appointment was applauded by some city business, union and political leaders.
In a statement, Carlo Scissura, the president and chief executive of the New York Building Congress, said Mr. Shorris would “truly bring together housing and economic development and growth.” Richard R. Buery Jr., the chief executive of Robin Hood, an anti-poverty organization, said Mr. Shorris had the “cross-sector credibility” to spur job growth while focusing on “equity and economic justice” for city residents.
The city’s news release announcing the appointments did not include anyone other than the mayor and Mr. Shorris praising Ms. Khan, one of the most influential advisers helping to shape the Mamdani administration’s goals.
She is regarded as an antitrust crusader. During her time as chairwoman of the F.T.C., she sought to block acquisitions by Meta and Google. She filed suit against Amazon, accusing it of protecting a monopoly over online retailers.
During Mr. Mamdani’s transition to becoming mayor, Ms. Khan led a team that scoured city laws to find executive and regulatory actions that he could unilaterally take during his first days in office to protect workers and lower costs.
“It’s obvious the mayor is trying to strike a balance between his commitment on jobs and economic growth and economic justice,” Kathy Wylde, the former president of the influential business advocacy group the Partnership for New York City, said in an interview. “The appointment of Shorris and Khan does that.”
On Wednesday, Ms Khan praised the agency’s role in building the economy and driving growth. She emphasized that those goals were not out of line with economic justice.
“ E.D.C. has key tools to drive projects that grow our economy, create good jobs, promote entrepreneurship and make life more affordable for New Yorkers,” she said.
Steven Fulop, the current head of the Partnership for New York City, praised Mr. Shorris as an experienced government veteran but said Ms. Khan’s appointment sends a “mixed message to the business community.”
Ms. Khan’s reputation has been “built on an adversarial approach to large enterprises at the federal level,” Mr. Fulop said in a statement. The ultimate direction of the agency remained “unclear,” he said.
The agency is considered one of the city’s most powerful instruments for economic growth.
Previous mayors have utilized its agility to manage major projects that have shaped the city, such as public financing for the expansive Hudson Yards development, the creation of a research university on Roosevelt Island and a citywide ferry system.
But the co-chairman of the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, Gustavo Gordillo, recently criticized the E.D.C. as “a concierge service for a small number of wealthy New Yorkers.”
He said the chapter supported Ms. Khan in her new role and hoped that Mr. Shorris would “embrace” the messages that voters have been sending: “Voters want government officials to use every tool they have to tackle ambitious, transformative projects that increase affordability,” he said.
Daniel Wortel-London, an assistant professor of history at Bard College, said that he expected the agency to continue to produce high-profile projects favored by groups like the Real Estate Board of New York, but he noted that Ms. Khan would face pressure from grass-roots groups to live up to the mayor’s promise to use the agency to promote economic justice.
“It’s one thing to be anti-something, as in anti-trusts,” said Mr. Wortel-London. “It’s more difficult in some ways to think of what your positive vision for the city’s economy is.”
After Wednesday morning’s announcement, former E.D.C. staff members began to exchange flurries of messages — many expressing excitement at Mr. Shorris’s appointment, but also voicing some uncertainty about what Ms. Khan’s role might mean.
Mr. Shorris, who has served as the first deputy mayor to Bill de Blasio, responsible for over 300,000 employees, and as the executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said he was given a mandate to “advance the goals of economic justice and affordability through economic development.”
During his time as first deputy mayor, Mr. Shorris was criticized for being part of “a lack of accountability within city government” for lifting the deed restriction for the sale of Rivington House, a former nursing home in Manhattan, for $16.5 million. The owner then flipped the property for $116 million.
At McKinsey & Company, Mr. Shorris admitted Wednesday to being involved with a $9.9 million contract with the Department of Social Services that Mr. Mamdani and his administration said they canceled to save money and eliminate government waste.
“ I think that it does save money when you take the top talent from McKinsey instead of having to employ them for a contract,” the mayor said.
Emma Goldberg contributed reporting
Jeffery C. Mays is a Times reporter covering politics with a focus on New York City Hall.
A version of this article appears in print on , Section A, Page 19 of the New York edition with the headline: Mamdani’s New Economic Development Leaders Blend Business With Justice. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
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