Mamdani taps Shorris and Lina Khan to lead NYC economic agency

NEW YORK (MNTV) — Mayor Zohran Mamdani has named Anthony E. Shorris and Lina Khan to lead New York City’s Economic Development Corporation, signaling an attempt to fuse conventional growth strategy with his administration’s focus on affordability and economic justice.

Shorris, a former deputy mayor and McKinsey partner, will serve as president; Khan, the former Federal Trade Commission chair known for aggressive antitrust enforcement, will chair the board.

The pairing is the message. Shorris brings decades across city government and the Port Authority and the ability to work among government, business, and labor. Khan brings a regulatory posture — at the FTC she pursued major cases against Meta, Google, and Amazon — and is expected to push the agency toward competition, consumer costs, and corporate accountability.

The EDC drives the city’s development projects, job creation, and business investment, and Mamdani wants its programs judged not only on growth but on their impact on equity and working-class communities.

Business leaders welcomed Shorris but were wary of Khan, worried her regulatory instincts could strain relationships with the large firms that partner with the city on development.

That tension is the experiment. Mamdani argues growth and justice can advance together — that the city can attract investment while spreading the benefits wider.

Critics, including community groups that have long faulted the EDC for favoring big developers, question whether one agency can chase ambitious projects and scrutinize the businesses behind them at once.

Whether it works will show in whether the investment arrives and reaches beyond the usual beneficiaries.