New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has appointed Lina Khan, the former head of the Federal Trade Commission, as chair of the city's Economic Development Board. The announcement, made at a Wednesday press conference, also named Tony Shorris as the next leader of the Economic Development Corporation (EDC), the nonprofit that works as the city's official economic development agency and its biggest landlord, with over 60 million square feet of property under its control (The Guardian).

Khan called the appointment a "deep honor." She previously led the FTC during the Biden administration, where she was the youngest person to hold the job and the first of South Asian descent. The FTC is the federal agency that enforces rules against monopolies and unfair business practices. Khan made her name by pushing for tougher enforcement of those rules and arguing that big companies with too much market power harm the economy. After earning her law degree from Yale in 2017, she joined Columbia Law School, where she currently teaches. She got involved in city policy during Mamdani's transition into the mayor's office, co-leading the handoff team alongside Maria Torres-Springer (Crain's New York Business).

Shorris brings a very different background. He first joined New York City government back in 1979 and now works as a partner at McKinsey & Co., a major consulting firm. He was also part of Mamdani's transition team, alongside Dean Fuleihan (Crain's New York Business). Shorris said his first meeting with Mamdani happened in the fall of 2025 (The Guardian).

Mamdani was sworn in as mayor on January 1, 2026. Before that, he represented the 36th New York State Assembly District, which covers Astoria, Ditmars-Steinway, and Astoria Heights (NYC.gov). He created the city's first deputy mayor for economic justice instead of the usual deputy mayor for economic development. That choice frames the EDB and EDC appointments as part of a broader shift in how the city thinks about economic policy (The Guardian).

The EDC is a big operation. Its construction division manages about 100 active projects worth around $6 billion. The EDC board has approved major projects like Hudson Yards, the High Line, the Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island, and the city's ferry system. Khan played an early role in reviewing candidates for the EDC president job before Shorris was picked (The Guardian).

Putting Khan and Shorris in these roles places two very different perspectives at the top of the city's economic development system. Khan's career has focused on cracking down on companies that dominate markets and pushing for fairer competition. Shorris brings decades of city government experience plus a private-sector consulting viewpoint.

The way these roles fit together matters. The EDB sets the big-picture strategy; the EDC actually does the work. It's a bit like a school board setting policy while the superintendent runs the day-to-day operations. By placing Khan as board chair and Shorris as the operational leader, the mayor has separated the thinking from the doing, while putting both jobs in the hands of people who helped with his transition.

The broader context here is that the mayor's decision to create a deputy mayor for economic justice instead of economic development suggests he wants to judge city economic policy by who benefits, not just by how much the economy grows. The appointments hint that ideas about fairness and competition could be applied to local development decisions, which have usually been measured by growth and job creation.

What's not yet clear is the specific agenda the EDB will follow under Khan. The EDC's current pipeline of about $6 billion in construction projects was set up by earlier administrations. Changing course on those projects, or applying new standards to future ones, would require coordination between the EDB, the EDC, and the new deputy mayor for economic justice. The institutions Khan and Shorris now lead have shaped the physical and economic landscape of the city for decades. The next chapter of that work will be guided by a different set of priorities.