Seth Pinsky is CEO of the 92nd St. Y. At 92Y, Pinsky is developing an action plan for 92Y heading into its 150th anniversary, which will include a comprehensive upgrade of its Manhattan home. Previously, Pinsky was an EVP at RXR Realty, where he led RXR’s efforts to invest in “emerging opportunities” in the New York region. Earlier, Pinsky oversaw the development of Mayor Bloomberg’s $20 billion plan to protect New York from climate change impacts and, from 2008 to 2013, was President of the New York City Economic Development Corporation. Pinsky started his career as an associate at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton and analyst at James D. Wolfensohn Inc. He graduated from Columbia College and Harvard Law.

Tom Allon, a native of the upper West Side of Manhattan, is the president and publisher of City & State, a company he founded a decade ago.

Tom has over three decades of experience in New York’s media world, both on the publishing and editorial side of the business. He started his career in 1986 as the editor-in-chief of a weekly newspaper, The West Side Spirit, which won a number of awards for investigative reporting during his tenure. He then became the publisher and vice president of a public media company, News Communications, which owned 23 publications in the metropolitan area and Washington, D.C. He was involved in the creation of the daily Capitol Hill newspaper, The Hill, which became the inspiration for City & State. He also spent a decade building a private media company, Manhattan Media, which owned AVENUE magazine, Dan’s Papers, New York Family, five weekly newspapers in Manhattan and City & State.

In 2013, after a brief foray into politics, he privatized City & State with partner Steve Farbman and has now led the company’s expansion around the state and into Pennsylvania. Tom has also been an educator, first as an English and journalism teacher at his alma mater, Stuyvesant High School, in the mid-1980s and then more recently as an adjunct professor of journalism at Hunter College.

Tom, a graduate of Cornell University and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, lives in Brooklyn Heights and is the proud father of three millennial children.

Ben Adler is senior editor at City & State NY. He assigns and edits news, feature and opinion articles. Prior to joining City & State, Ben covered national and international politics and policy with specialties in the environment, cities, transportation, civil rights and housing. He was a reporter for Politico, The Nation, and Grist and an editor at Newsweek and Reuters. He also has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, The New Republic, The American Prospect, Columbia Journalism Review, Architectural Record, City Limits and Next City. He holds a bachelor’s degree in American government and public policy from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. A native Brooklynite, Ben is excited to focus full-time on covering New York.

As a senior reporter, Jeff writes stories and develops other content for the magazine, with a particular focus on New York City. He often represents City & State in public, emceeing events, speaking on panels and appearing on TV and radio. Jeff previously worked at NY1 and at Bronx-based public radio station WFUV, where he won awards for collegiate newscasting from The Associated Press and Public Radio News Directors Inc. Jeff graduated in 2015 from Fordham University, where he studied political science, theology and Italian food. Born and raised in Phoenix, Jeff now lives in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn.

Emmy® Award-winning journalist Ayana Harry joined the WPIX News team in 2014. She reports weekdays at 5 pm and 6 pm.

While at WPIX, Ayana was the first television journalist to cover Eric Garner’s police-involved death. In 2015 Ayana traveled to Haiti to report on recovery efforts, five years after the country’s devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake. In 2017, Ayana was one of the first reporters on the ground as a terror attack unfolded along Manhattan’s West Side Highway.

Ayana joined WPIX after working for three years at WTIC-TV, the Fox station in Hartford, Connecticut. While at WTIC, Ayana covered the Sandy Hook School shooting, providing live reports from Newtown as events unfolded. She was nominated twice for an Emmy® Award for her work on special projects for the station.

Before joining WTIC, Ayana was a digital reporter and field producer for ABC News in New York where she covered major stories including; the Bernie Madoff case, Captain Sullenberger’s Miracle on the Hudson and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, Ayana holds a Bachelor of Arts in Politics from Princeton University and is a graduate from the Chapin School in Manhattan.

Maya is a nationally recognized racial justice and equity advocate. She is a leader in city government and in spurring democratic change. As Counsel to the Mayor, she delivered for New York City on civil and immigrant rights, women and minority owned business contracts, universal broadband access and more. After leaving City Hall, she held police accountable as Chair of the Civilian Complaint Review Board, and worked to improve public education as a Co-Chair of the School Diversity Task Force. At the New School, where she served as a University Professor, she founded the Digital Equity Laboratory on universal and inclusive broadband. Maya is a veteran of both the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and the ACLU, was a former Legal Analyst for NBC News and MSNBC — where she argued against Trump’s attacks on our civil liberties and democratic norms — and was the founder and president of the Center for Social Inclusion. Maya was also Senior Advisor on Race and Poverty at the Open Society Foundations, the largest funder of human rights work the world over. Maya Wiley is committed to a New York City where every New Yorker can afford to live with dignity, that’s why she is running for Mayor. Maya will fight for New Yorkers of all races, all religions, all classes, all types; so that no matter who we are or how we see ourselves, we can find a home here. Her vision is a New York that rises from the ashes of twin pandemics — coronavirus and systemic racism that denies investment to people of color. New York must rise together; rising above hate, rising from joblessness to dignity, rising from homelessness to hope, rising from an affordability crisis to communities that sustain all of us. This is within our reach, but it requires bold leadership that fearlessly confronts the realities New Yorkers face. Leadership that marshals all of the government’s resources to make history, not deals; and that transcends the business-as-usual governmental tinkering to make truly transformational progress. New Yorkers cannot afford the politics of least resistance and deserve leadership that will beat a path to shared prosperity — to become one city, rising together, out of the ashes and into a future we build and live together.

Kathryn was appointed in 2014 as the Commissioner NYC Department of Sanitation, the world's largest municipal waste management agency. As Commissioner, Kathryn was responsible for keeping New York City healthy, safe, and clean by collecting, recycling, and disposing of waste, cleaning streets and public spaces, and clearing snow and ice. In 2018, Kathryn was appointed Senior Advisor for Citywide Lead Prevention. In that role, she spearheaded LeadFreeNYC, NYC’s comprehensive plan to eradicate childhood lead exposure. In early 2019, Garcia was appointed CEO and Interim Chair of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), where she worked to reverse decades of disinvestment in public housing and operationalize the City’s agreement with the federal government. During the City’s COVID-19 response, Kathryn served as “Food Czar,” and was responsible for building a program of unprecedented scale — 130 million meals — to feed hungry and vulnerable New Yorkers and ensuring a safe, reliable and affordable food supply. Kathryn Garcia is a skilled and experienced government executive who will govern the same way she has approached every challenge in her career — data-driven and focused. She will surround herself with competent and passionate public servants who share her goal of building a sustainable future for NYC. Kathryn is a mother of two, a lifelong New Yorker who lives in Park Slope Brooklyn, the neighborhood where she grew up.

Dianne Morales is running for Mayor of New York City. Dianne believes that we must uplift those who are most vulnerable and have historically been left behind. There is transformative potential in this crisis to create a new social compact that recognizes our interdependence & the power of collective action to create new possibilities for a just recovery. Our City thrives when every woman is able to live safely, every family has a pathway to economic opportunity and every child has access to quality education.

Dianne has lived experiences as: a Bed-Stuy native, nonprofit CEO, single mom of two, first-generation college grad, educator & advocate, and Afro-Latina.

Dianne was born in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, to two working-class Puerto Rican parents, who believed that the American Dream was not just a promise that success was possible for everyone – but a promise to lift others as they climb.

From a very early age, Dianne watched her parents serve as a support system for neighbors and family who the city’s safety net failed. As a single mom of two, Dianne is personally familiar with the difficulties of navigating both the education and healthcare systems of NYC when trying to do what is best for her children. This has fueled Dianne’s life-long commitment to fix the broken systems that block millions from the American Dream.

When Hurricane Maria devastated her family’s home island, Dianne provided aid to some of the areas that had been hardest hit. As a result of her experiences, she helped establish the Fundación de Mujeres en Puerto Rico to continue supporting women’s leadership and representation in providing services and developing solutions that serve and protect women’s interests in the island’s rebuilding.

Dianne is committed to providing access for all New Yorkers to: good Jobs with livable and equitable wages, affordable and quality housing, excellent and equal education, and quality healthcare.

Dianne has an undergraduate degree from Stony Brook University and graduate degrees from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Columbia University.

Dianne’s over 25 years of experience in the nonprofit sector has given her a deep understanding of our city’s dysfunctional education, justice, and health care systems. During this time she has served as one of the founding board members of Jump Start, Executive Director of the Door and CEO of Phipps Neighborhoods. She has personally been involved with: creating a national early childhood model that increased literacy and strengthened the teacher pipeline, establishing cross-sector partnerships that provided un/underemployed South Bronx residents with career pathways into healthcare, engaging homeless LGBTQ youth in education programming and providing housing for those aging out of foster care, supporting homeless families in securing stable housing and economic stability.

Her leadership and advocacy in education, employment, and social justice have improved the lives of New Yorkers in our City’s most under-resourced neighborhoods and created permanent pathways out of poverty for every type of New Yorker from single moms to the formerly incarcerated and the homeless.

Dianne is a new kind of leader who will build the city we deserve. A leader with the courage to fight for every family. One with real connection to the struggles of everyday New Yorkers – and the expertise and creativity to design the solutions our communities truly need.

Shaun Donovan has dedicated his life to public service, tackled the biggest challenges facing New York City and the nation, and fought for people and communities too often left behind.

In his hometown, he is working with residents and community organizations to deliver restaurant meals to families affected by COVID, to revitalize public housing, and to make sure every New Yorker is counted in the 2020 Census. He is also working with local leaders and foundations to rebuild Puerto Rico and help families hit by the devastating storms. He serves as a Trustee of the Urban Institute and on the Advisory Board of Opportunity Insights.

Shaun served in President Obama’s Cabinet for his full eight years in office. From January 2009 to July 2014, Shaun was the 15th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, where he led the fight against the nation’s unprecedented foreclosure crisis.

Under his leadership, HUD helped families rent or buy affordable homes, revitalized distressed communities, fought discrimination and dramatically reduced homelessness. After Hurricane Sandy hit his hometown, President Obama asked him to lead the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, leaving a stronger, more resilient region than before the storm hit.

In July 2014, he was sworn in as the 40th Director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. At OMB, Shaun increased investment in key domes c and national security priorities that grew the economy, protected our country and increased opportunity. And he oversaw regulations that reduced inequality, expanded health care, improved education and fought climate change.

Prior to joining the Obama Administration, Donovan served as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development. He also served in the Clinton administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multifamily Housing at HUD and as acting FHA Commissioner.

Deeply affected by the crisis he saw around him growing up, he volunteered in a homeless shelter during college and interned for the National Coalition for the Homeless when he graduated. After studying housing in graduate school, he returned to work for the nonprofit Community Preservation on Corporation in the Bronx and across New York City.

Donovan holds a B.A. and Masters degrees in Public Administration and Architecture from Harvard University. Shaun was born and grew up in New York City, and is married to Liza Gilbert, a Landscape Architect who has designed and restored parks in New York City and across the country. Shaun and Liza live in Brooklyn, where they raised their sons Milo and Lucas.

Raised by a single mother and his grandparents in Dayton, Ohio, Ray McGuire and his two brothers didn’t have much growing up. But they had family, faith, church, a loving home and a deep-seated belief that education was their ticket to anywhere.

With a lot of student loans and borrowed money, Ray went to Harvard, becoming the first in his family to graduate from college. He then enrolled in a four-year JD/MBA program at Harvard University. After earning degrees in law and business at the same time, Ray went to New York for a job on Wall Street. Over the last 36 years, Ray has led businesses responsible for generating $20+ billion a year in revenue supporting public and private sector clients around the world. He recruited and built teams to do multi-billion-dollar deals, and he advised the CEOs of companies on how to help their businesses grow, thrive and create jobs. For the last 13 years, Ray was the head of global corporate and investment banking at Citigroup and the longest-tenured head of investment banking in the history of Wall Street. As a Citi Foundation Board member, Ray helped the firm improve the lives of people in low- income communities. He also recently helped write a groundbreaking report on the economic impact of systemic racism. Through mentoring, Ray has held the door open for many others including those who grew up like him. Ray gives back to the city by serving on the boards of the New York Presbyterian Hospital, the New York Public Library, the Whitney Museum and the Studio Museum in Harlem. He has also served on advisory boards for the Council of Urban Professionals, Sponsors for Educational Opportunities, Management Leadership for Tomorrow and others. Ray is married to Crystal McCrary McGuire. Together they are raising three children.