Mamdani’s Latest Shake-Up Sends Business Leaders Packing

New York City’s Democratic socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani has dismissed the entire advisory board of the Mayor’s Fund, removing a roster of business executives who helped raise private money for city projects.

The Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City is a nonprofit that pulls in private-sector donations to support city initiatives. Mamdani became the first mayor in at least three administrations to dissolve the board of advisers in its entirety, saying that he planned to rebuild from the ground up.

“I commend you for your dedication and the benefit you have brought to our City as you conclude your tenure on the Mayor’s Fund Board of Advisors,” Mamdani’s letter, obtained by Bloomberg News, read in part.

The list of prominent business leaders ousted from their roles, as reported by The New York Post, includes Richard Born, owner of BD Hotels; Jeffrey Gural, chairman of GFP Real Estate; Alex Katz, senior managing director at Blackstone Inc.; Edward Skyler, Citigroup Inc.’s head of enterprise services and public affairs; and James Whelan, president of the Real Estate Board of New York.

Economics professor Isabella Weber praised the move, saying it reduced the influence of business interests over city government.

“One of the beautiful things about Mamdani’s renewal of NYC government is that it shows how deeply business interests are usually baked into state capacity,” Weber wrote. “Why should private equity, banks and real estate interests advise a mayor on what to spend?”

One of the beautiful things about Mamdani’s renewal of NYC government is that it shows how deeply business interests are usually baked into state capacity.
Why should private equity, banks and real estate interests advise a mayor on what to spend? pic.twitter.com/Mnr75JlglY

— Isabella M Weber (@IsabellaMWeber) August 4, 2026

But Bloomberg Philanthropies head James Anderson countered that the advisory board’s role was to drum up charitable donations, not to decide how those donations were spent.

“This is a mischaracterization,” Anderson wrote. “The Mayor’s Fund is designed to bring philanthropic resources to public priorities. Its advisory board has historically helped mobilize those resources — not determine public spending. Remaking the board is the mayor’s prerogative.”

“Treating public-private collaboration as evidence of capture may be red meat for the base, but it’s a poor theory of urban governance,” he added.

Mamdani is expected to fill the positions for his new board later this year. Mamdani senior advisor Dora Pekec told The New York Post that the administration is “reimagining how philanthropy can augment, but not replace, public dollars and public goods, and we are eager to share more about our new board of advisors later this year.”