Mamdani transition team receives more than 50K job applications

Former First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer, who served from October 8, 2024, to March 14, 2025, before resigning from Mayor Eric Adams’s administration amid alleged corruption scandals, is returning to City Hall under Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.

She now becomes the rare public servant appointed by three different mayors, once again stepping into the role of trusted adviser.

Torres-Springer is one of four women tapped to lead Mamdani’s transition team, joining former Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan, nonprofit executive Grace Bonilla, and budget specialist Melanie Hartzog. The all-woman group is currently reviewing more than 50,000 applications for jobs in the incoming administration, she said in an interview with CBS’s Marcia Kramer.

Torres-Springer, a Filipino American, said Mamdani’s victory has given her a “renewed sense of hope” about New York’s future. She was born in California to father, Manuel, who is from Pampanga and mother, Elsa, who comes from Batangas. She is one of six siblings.

“I’m truly honored to join this transition team and help deliver Mayor-elect Mamdani’s vision for a city where every New Yorker can both find a home and a future,” she said in a joint statement with Mamdani.

In the CBS interview, she added, “I think what we have in the mayor-elect is someone who is inviting that type of energy, inviting new ideas and is focused on the very hard work of translating all of that to the types of programs that deliver for New Yorkers who may have been disillusioned by the state of politics in our city.”

A seasoned City Hall veteran, Torres-Springer has held prominent roles across three mayoral administrations. Under Bill de Blasio, she led the Department of Small Business Services before becoming president and CEO of the Economic Development Corporation in 2015 and later commissioner of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

She joined the Adams administration in 2022 as deputy mayor for economic and workforce development and, in 2024, rose to First Deputy Mayor. She resigned after reports suggesting Adams had developed a “relationship” with the Trump administration tied to immigration issues.

Torres-Springer’s expertise spans affordable housing; economic recovery, particularly during the COVID-19 crisis; job creation; and support for small businesses.  These are also central pillars of Mamdani’s reform agenda.

The Ford Foundation, where she served as vice president for U.S. programs from 2019 to 2021, provided additional background.

“Torres-Springer received her bachelor’s degree in ethics, politics, and economics from Yale University and her master’s in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School. She has served on numerous boards and commissions, including the New York Public Library, WTC Performing Arts Center, New York City Public Housing Authority, and the New York City Economic Development Corporation. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Association for a Better New York’s Spirit of ABNY Award, City & State/Responsible 100’s Lifetime Achievement Award, New Yorkers for Parks’ City Leadership Award, LiveOn NY’s Human Spirit Award, Asian Americans for Equality’s Pioneer Spirit Award, Citizens Housing Planning Council’s Impact Award, New York Housing Conference’s Leadership Award, and women’s leadership awards from The Metropolitan Museum of New York, Crain’s, Bisnow, and Women’s Builders Council.”