Mayor Eric Adams on Friday named Ana Almanzar, a nonprofit health executive, as the new deputy mayor of strategic initiatives.
Almanzar joins four fellow women deputy mayors in the administration. She is the first deputy mayor of Latino heritage appointed by Adams.
She will handle several of Adams’ key programs, including youth employment and food policy. Her portfolio also includes working with officials from CUNY.
“For more than a decade, Ana Almanzar has built bridges between nonprofits and government,” Adams said in a statement.
The appointment comes during a challenging moment for the mayor, who is struggling to address the migrant crisis and the city’s ongoing affordable housing shortage. On Wednesday, Jessica Katz, the city’s chief housing officer, announced that she plans to step down by early July.
She is part of a wave of recently announced departures in Adams' administration that includes the city’s Chief Efficiency Officer Melanie La Rocca, Adams' chief counsel Brendan McGuire and Communications Director Maxwell Young.
To announce the appointment, Adams assembled a news conference at City Hall that was packed with administration and elected officials, including Rep. Adriano Espaillat — the first Dominican American member of Congress — as well as Almanzar’s family members.
Almanzar is currently the director of community relations at Mother Cabrini Health Foundation, a charitable organization that works on healthcare initiatives for low-income communities. She previously worked for six years as an official in the Cuomo administration, where she specialized in nonprofit matters.
She steps into a role previously held by First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, one of Adams' closest advisers. Almanzar will report to Wright.
Standing at the podium alongside her mother, Almanzar spoke about the role of government in the lives of immigrant New Yorkers like herself. After arriving in Brooklyn from the Dominican Republic, she learned English by enrolling in an adult learning class at CUNY.
“This role is personal to me,” she said. “I want you to know that you have an immigrant Latina who came to this city with a dream.”
She has already mastered the mayor’s slogan. “I want to express my excitement because I cannot wait to get stuff done,” she said.
Correction: This story has been updated to clarify that women make up five out of six deputy mayors in the Adams administration.
