New York City

Honorary Advisory Board Member: Bernard Schwartz

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Bernard L. Schwartz is a visionary industrialist and a giant in the aerospace industry, as well as a private investor, a progressive public policy advocate, and a philanthropist. A renowned international dealmaker with a reputation for honesty and fairness, he is currently chairman and CEO of BLS Investments, LLC, a private investment firm he founded in 2006. 

Prior to establishing BLS Investments, Schwartz served for 34 years as chairman of the board and CEO of Loral Corporation and its successor, Loral Space & Communications, a satellite communications company formed in 1996. He is well known in the business world for his forthright style, his integrity, and his consistent advocacy for his workers, emphasising people over profits at his highly successful companies. Loral Corporation, a Fortune 200 defense electronics firm, employed as many as 38,000 employees at its 25 locations. At its height, Loral attained annual revenues of nearly $7.5 billion and had a market value of $13 billion.

In addition, from 1989 to 2005, Schwartz was chairman of the board of K&F Industries, a worldwide leader in the manufacture of wheels, brakes and brake control systems for the aviation industry. He also served as chairman and CEO of Globalstar Telecommunications Limited until 2001, a low-Earth orbit global mobile satellite telecommunications network launched under his leadership in 1991.

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Deeply troubled by the growing economic disparity in America, Schwartz also manages the investments of the Bernard and Irene Schwartz Foundation, which supports think tanks and economic policy advocacy organizations that focus on developing policies that promote U.S. economic growth and job creation initiatives. It also supports universities, medical research centers and New York City-based cultural organizations. Schwartz is a life-long Democrat and an active supporter of the Democratic Party.

Schwartz is often called upon to express his views or provide counsel on matters ranging from U.S. economic growth and competitiveness to job creation, investment in infrastructure, innovation, technology, and research and development. He has established programs at numerous organizations that examine current U.S. economic policy and competitiveness, and consistently challenge current orthodoxy to develop policy proposals that will further U.S. economic and technological success and create jobs. These organizations include: Third Way, The New School, Council on Foreign Relations, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Century Foundation, Roosevelt Institute, and the Center for American Progress. He is publisher of Democracy: a Journal of Ideas, a quarterly publication that spurs debate on economic and foreign policy issues.

A lifelong New Yorker, Mr. Schwartz also actively supports New York University Langone Medical Center, New-York Historical Society, Thirteen/WNET Educational Broadcasting Corporation, Baruch College and the New York Film Society. Schwartz serves as a trustee or board member of several of these organizations, most recently joining the Honorary Advisory Board of The Common Good.

Schwartz graduated from City College of New York with a Bachelor of Science degree and holds an honorary Doctorate of Science degree from the college. His book, JUST SAY YES: What I've Learned About Life, Luck, and the Pursuit of Opportunity, was published in 2014.

Mayor Bill de Blasio

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Bill de Blasio

American politician

Since assuming office as Mayor of New York City in 2014, Bill de Blasio has developed and executed transformative initiatives including Pre-K for All; Paid Sick Leave; neighborhood policing; IDNYC; and Housing New York, the largest, most ambitious affordable housing plan in the nation. 

He began his career in public service in 1989 as part of David N. Dinkins’ successful and historic mayoral campaign and worked in the Dinkins Administration. Over the next decade, de Blasio served as regional director at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; as a school board member for Brooklyn School District 15; and as head of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s historic campaign in 2000 for the U.S. Senate. In 2002, de Blasio joined the New York City Council, representing Brooklyn’s 39th district. During his two terms, de Blasio fought to improve public education, expand affordable housing, protect tenants’ rights, and reform social services for families and children.

De Blasio is currently running in the 2020 presidential elections.

Twitter: @NYCMayor

Felix Rohatyn

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Felix Rohatyn

Banker, diplomat

Felix George Rohatyn is an American investment banker known for his role in preventing the bankruptcy of New York City in the 1970’s and for serving as United States Ambassador to France. He was also a long term advisor to the U.S. Democratic Party.

Rohatyn became widely known in the 1970’s for successfully restructuring New York City’s debt and resolving the city’s fiscal crisis. While running MAC for the city of New York, Rohatyn continued his deal making at Lazard, and he completed such deals as Sony’s acquisition of Columbia. Rohatyn was United States Ambassador to France 1997-2000 during the second Clinton Administration and is a Commander in the French Legion of Honor.

In 1990, he received The Hundred Year Association of New York’s Gold Medal Award “in recognition of outstanding contributions to the City of New York.” Rohatyn is also the recipient of The International Center in New York’s Award of Excellence. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Trustee for the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Cyrus R. Vance Jr.

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Cyrus R. Vance Jr.

District Attorney of New York County

Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., became District Attorney of New York County on January 1, 2010. Mr. Vance is a recognized leader in criminal justice reform and proposed a compelling vision for moving the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office forward, with a focus on crime prevention.

Since taking office, Mr. Vance has reorganized and consolidated the resources of the District Attorney’s Office by creating the Cybercrime and Identity Theft Bureau, the Major Economic Crimes Bureau, the Special Victims Bureau, the Public Integrity Unit, the Violent Criminal Enterprises Unit, and the Hate Crimes Unit.  Additionally, the groundbreaking Crime Strategies Unit for the first time gives Manhattan Assistant District Attorneys, in partnership with the New York Police Department, a geographical understanding of the multifaceted crime issues in all of the communities they serve.

Mr. Vance began his legal career in the Manhattan DA’s Office during  Manhattans rampant crime era the 1980s.  As an Assistant District Attorney, Mr. Vance handled cases involving murder, organized crime, public corruption, and white-collar crime.  After leaving the DA’s Office, Mr. Vance and his wife Peggy McDonnell moved to Seattle, where Mr. Vance co-founded McNaul Ebel Nawrot Helgren & Vance,PLLC, which became one of the pre-eminent litigation firms in the Northwest.  During his time in Seattle, Mr. Vance taught trial advocacy as an adjunct professor at Seattle University School of Law.

In 2004, Mr. Vance returned to New York and became a partner at Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason, Anello & Bohrer, P.C. Mr. Vance is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.  He served by appointment of the Governor of New York as a member of the New York State Appellate Division, First Department, Judicial Screening Panel, and was a member of the New York State Commission on Sentencing Reform.  Mr. Vance previously served as a member of the Criminal Justice Council of the New York City Bar Association, the Federal Bar Council, and the New York Council of Defense Lawyers.  He was a member of the Boards of Directors of the Fund for Modern Courts, the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, and the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation. In July 2011, Mr. Vance was voted president-elect of the District Attorneys Association of the State of New York. Today, he serves as co-chair of the New York State Permanent Commission on Sentencing.

Twitter: @ManhattanDA

Read More:

The New York Country District Attorney’s Office: Meet Cy Vance

Bill Thompson

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Bill Thompson

Politician

As Comptroller of New York City from 2002 through 2009, Bill Thompson was responsible for managing the finances of the nation’s largest municipality and supervised a staff of 700 professionals. Thompson was given the opportunity to run for a third term in 2009, but he chose to run for mayor instead. As the Democratic nominee, Bill came within just a few percentage points of beating Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

As the head of the Board of Education for five terms, he oversaw a school system with 1.1 million students and 130,000 employees. Thompson is also Chair of Governor Cuomo’s Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprise Team. In 2012, he stepped down as Chairman of the Hugh L. Carey Battery Park City Authority to focus on his campaign for mayor.

In addition to his eight years of public service, Thompson has private sector experience. He currently serves as the Chief Administrative Officer and Senior Managing Director at Siebert, Brandford, Shank & Co., the nation’s largest minority public finance firm, where he underwrites loans for schools, roads, bridges and infrastructure projects.

Thompson spoke at The Common Good in 2013: NYC Mayoral Candidate Series: Bill Thompson.

Mayor Ed Koch ✝

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Mayor Ed Koch ✝

American lawyer, politician

Ed Koch is the former Mayor of New York City. During his three terms as Mayor from 1978-1989, he was responsible for placing the City on a GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Practices) balanced budget basis. He created a housing program which, over a ten-year period, provided more than 150,000 units of affordable housing financed by City funds in the amount of $5.1 billion.

Koch was drafted into the Army where he served with the 104th Infantry Division. He served in the European Theater of Operations, received two battle stars, the Combat Infantry badge, and he was honorably discharged with the rank of Sergeant in 1946. Prior to being Mayor, Koch served for nine years as a Congressman and two years as a member of the New York City Council. He has also written many books on his life and experience.

Koch died of heart failure on February 1, 2013, at 89.

He was hosted by The Common Good in 2010: Ed Koch on the Reform of New York's Government.