State Labor Commissioner M. Patricia Smith awaits confirmation by the U.S. Senate as the new solicitor – the #3 position – at the U.S. Department of Labor. Smith, who was nominated for the position last month, has earned accolades for her aggressive enforcement of wage and overtime violations by employers for low-wage workers. She would not be a stranger to the Obama administration, as she served as a member of the president’s transition team for the labor department.
Other city folk who will be spending more time in D.C. include Dr. Neil Calman, the president and CEO of New York’s Institute for Family Health, and Scott White, assistant director of the 1199 SEIU Training and Employment Fund, who were appointed this month to a Health Information Technology Policy Panel with 13 members representing various categories. Calman is the "expert in improving the health of vulnerable populations" and White is from the "labor organization representing health care workers."
The heads of two national nonprofit groups with a prominent presence in New York City also were named to the President’s new Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Public/Private Ventures president Fred Davie, who is leaving his post for a top spot at the Arcus Foundation, and Diane Baillargeon, the president and CEO of Seedco, will sit on the council, which aims to provide resources to both secular and religious nonprofit groups.
The naming of Baillargeon to the president’s advisory council was not the only development at her organization, as Lesia Bates-Moss, who had served as a vice president and head of the counterparty risk management office at Fannie Mae for three years, joined the nonprofit in the dual roles of executive vice-president and president of Seedco Financial.
These announcements come on the heels of the marquee moves to the capital: The appointment of Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion to lead the new White House office of Urban Affairs, and of Department of Housing Preservation and Development head Shaun Donovan – who made his mark in five years as commissioner – to become Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Rafael Cestero, who had been senior vice president and chief program officer for the national nonprofit Enterprise Community Partners, was named Donovan's successor as commissioner in March. Assemblyman Ruben Diaz Jr. is angling to become Bronx beep in the special election set for April 21. Meanwhile, Kirsten Gillibrand's new seat in the U.S. Senate has caused a few changes, including Elana Broitman's departure from directing city and public affairs with UJA-Federation to working as a legislative assistant, advising the junior senator from New York on foreign affairs.
In Albany, Andrew Stengel, a leading critic of the capital's “dysfunction,” has headed north to try to make change from the inside. Until recently the national election advocacy director at NYU’s Brennan Center for Justice, Stengel has joined the State Senate’s majority conference as a senior policy advisor for government reform. He’ll help to draft a report on administration and rules reform that is expected to come out in the next few weeks. “We are looking forward to bringing in a new era of openness, accountability and transparency to state government, and Andrew is going to be a key part of that,” senate majority conference spokesman Austin Shafran told City Limits.
