Crain's New York Business

ASKED & ANSWERED Desai on her plan for a taxi medallion loan ceiling PAGE 6

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MARCH 8, 2021

SMALL BUSINESS

Rival bills aim to ease burden of city fines Council proposals are less punitive for businesses, reducing fines—even discounting delinquent fees

BY BRIAN PASCUS

ANDREWCUOMOGOVERNOR/FLICKR

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POLITICS

Cuomo’s harassment scandal could pave way for wealth tax Governor may not have the political muscle to stop Albany from putting a levy on the top 1%

he sexual harassment scandal that has engulfed Gov. Andrew Cuomo could have a ripple effect on whether Albany passes a far-reaching wealth tax.

At least three women have come forward to accuse the governor of unwanted sexual overtures. Cuomo CUOMO may has denied the allehave violated a gations, but he also law he signed in has apologized and 2019. PAGE 7 acknowledged that some of his interactions may have been “misinterpreted as unwanted flirtation.”

“I acted in a way that made people

he City Council last week floated competing plans aimed at easing the burden of fines and penalties on small businesses and offering everything from refunds to amnesty.

Complementary pieces of legislation introduced Feb. 25 by Councilman Mark Gjonaj and Councilwoman Vanessa L. Gibson look to update and overhaul the penalties associated with more than 180 violations attached to certain sanitation, health, transportation, consumer affairs, and building and noise-control issues.

“These are perhaps the single most important pieces of legislation for small businesses we’ve addressed in years,” said Rob Bookman, general counsel for the New York City Hospitality Alliance. “It’s something that’s been on the agenda for quite some time, and politically the stars have aligned.”

Gjonaj’s bill would provide temporary relief to small-business owners affected during the pandemic by waiving specific penalties and refunding the cost of other fines that have occurred since March 12, 2020.

Gibson’s bill would change the city’s violation code structure by creating a less punitive system for small-business owners. Her plan would emphasize correcting

See SCANDAL on page 26

See BILL on page 26

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BY BRIAN PASCUS VOL. 37, NO. 9

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REAL ESTATE

DOB finding few Covid violations at job sites as city restarts construction projects

BY EDDIE SMALL

inspections since the summer and found that the vast majority of sites are in compliance with its rules, Rudansky said. The agency is enforcing its protocols largely through responding to 311 complaints, and its inspectors are issuing violations when they see Covid-19 issues during unrelated field inspections, he said.

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ovid-19 violations have remained a fairly uncommon problem at construction sites as the city restarts $17 billion worth of its projects, according to data from the Department of Buildings.

The agency had issued 851 violations for noncompliance with its Covid-19 protocols as of March 1, spokesman Andrew Rudansky said.

It had issued 550 violations between July 8 and Sept. 2, indicating that the amount of violations inspectors have found at construction sites has dropped off dramatically since the summer. The Buildings Department began inspecting construction sites for Covid noncompliance violations July 8.

There are about 35,000 permitted construction sites in the city, the Buildings Department said. About 1,700 projects will resume in the

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced last Monday that the city is restarting $17 billion worth of construction projects, which will include building and renovating schools, parks and housing, along with building out sewers, revamping library branches and implementing street safety redesign projects. Nonessential construction projects were allowed to resume in the city during its first reopening phase, in early June, but city-contracted projects have largely remained paused since the onset of the pandemic.

Employers and contractors could face fines of up to $5,000 if they are found in violation of the city’s Covid-19 safety protocols, which include requiring anyone on a construction site to wear a mask and stay 6 feet apart from others. Build-

“THE HEALTH PROTOCOLS AT SITES HAVE BEEN AN OVERWHELMING SUCCESS” wake of the city’s announcement.

The department has conducted hundreds of thousands of Covid-19

BLOOMBERG

Back to business

ing sites also need to have hygiene stations and logs that keep track of daily cleaning and everyone on the site.

Industry leaders react Lou Colletti, president of the Building Trades Employers’ Association, said his group saw a bit of a spike in construction workers testing positive for Covid after Christmas, but that number has since de-

clined. He has been happy with his group’s track record on following the city’s rules, he said.

“Obviously, I think the industry always wants those numbers to be lower,” Colletti said, “but for my members, violating protocol has not been a problem.”

Gary LaBarbera, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, echoed those sentiments.

Homebuying continues to skyrocket in Manhattan and Brooklyn

BY EDDIE SMALL

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uyers are continuing to snatch up Manhattan and Brooklyn homes in extremely high numbers, according to the latest report from Douglas Elliman.

In February newly signed contracts for co-ops, condos and one- to three-family homes rose year over year in Manhattan for the third consecutive month and in Brooklyn for the eighth consecutive month. New listings in Manhattan have dropped year over year for five months in a row, as increasing sales are overpowering them, but they have kept increasing year over year in Brooklyn, as the strong sales market has encouraged more owners to list their homes, according to the report prepared by Miller Samuel.

Manhattan saw 601 co-op deals in February compared with 321 last year, an 87.2% increase, and 498 condo deals in February compared with 321 in February 2020, for a 55.1% increase. Deals for one- to three-family homes increased from five to 21 year over year, an increase of more than 300%, the report said.

Contrastingly, listings for new co-ops dropped from 829 to 700 last month, a 15.6% decline year over year, and listings for new condos dropped from 717 to 496, a 30.8% decrease. Listings did actually go up for one- to three-family homes, rising from 26 to 44, for a 69.2% increase.

The most common price range for Manhattan’s co-op deals last

month was between $500,000 and $999,000, while the most common range for condo deals was between $1 million and just under $2 million.

Kings County In Brooklyn signed contracts for co-ops increased from 73 to 169 last month compared to February 2020, a 131.5% increase; listings went up from 100 to 164, a 64% increase.

“The health, safety and sanitary protocols that have been implemented at construction sites across New York City have been an overwhelming success in keeping workers safe,” he said in a statement, “and with only 2% of work sites reporting any form of violations, it’s clear these protocols are working.” ■ Natalie Sachmechi contributed to this report.

WEBCAST CALLOUT

Signed contracts for condos also shot up from 109 to 263, a 141.3% increase year over year, and listings went from 201 to 253, for a 25.9% increase.

Signed one- to three-family home contracts went up from 39 to 167, an increase of more than 300% year over year, but listings in this category actually dropped annually from 288 to 228, a 20.8% decline.

The most common price range for co-op deals in Brooklyn last month was less than $500,000, while the most common range for condos was $500,000 to $999,000, the report said.

The sustained increase in activity is largely attributable to sellers accepting that they will likely need to take a lower price for their homes than they initially hoped for, said Steven James, president and CEO of Douglas Elliman’s New York City brokerage.

“Over the past few months, they got the message that, if they want to sell, they have to reduce their price and be far more negotiable,” he said. “They have to. And I think these numbers bear that out.” ■

MARCH 18 COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE RECOVERY FORECAST Covid-19 has had a profound effect on the commercial real estate market in New York and could have a lasting impact even after the danger of the pandemic passes. During this webcast, Crain’s and local real estate experts will examine the changes in leasing activity, including the decreased demand for office space, and the creative ways landlords are redesigning infrastructure to fit the new normal.

VIRTUAL EVENT Time: 4 to 5 p.m.

CrainsNewYork.com/ MarchNYNSummit

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Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to: Crain’s New York Business, Circulation Department, PO Box 433279, Palm Coast, FL 32143-9681. For subscriber service: call 877-824-9379; fax 313-446-6777. $3.00 a copy; $129.00 per year. (GST No. 13676-0444-RT) ©Entire contents copyright 2021 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved.

MARCH 8, 2021 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 3

TECHNOLOGY

De Blasio seeks partners to expand 5G, broadband access citywide

BY RYAN DEFFENBAUGH

percentage without home broadband climbs to half.

“Recovery for all means everyone having the same opportunity to participate—everyone having affordable broadband and more people having access to 5G,” de Blasio said. “It also means more jobs as we intensify the presence of 5G. It is part of our economic comeback.”

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ositioning internet access as a critical aspect of the city’s recovery, Mayor Bill de Blasio said his office will advance efforts for wider broadband coverage and next-generation 5G cellular service.

The city last Wednesday released a request for proposals for a $157 million investment in expanding broadband to 600,000 New Yorkers, an initiative the mayor first promised last summer and has been criticized for not acting on more quickly.

Separately, de Blasio said telecom installers will be able to bid for the right to install 5G telecom equipment on 7,500 street poles as well as other municipal infrastructure. The process will expand the reach of the new cellular service, which will offer download speeds 20 times faster than the current 4G LTE. Both efforts will help close the digital divide in the city, the mayor

The broadband request for proposals, organized through the Mayor’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer, will offer municipal resources to reach neighborhoods with limited internet access, including 200,000 public housing residents. The $157 million was set aside in the city budget passed in June, partly funded by $87 million reallocated from the city Police Department.

But the city did not take action within the timeline the mayor’s office initially promised. De Blasio said in an announcement on July 7 that the city would find partnerships for the program by the end of the summer, with a goal to reach all 600,000 residents by 2022.

John Paul Farmer, the city’s chief technology officer, said broadband would still reach those residents by the end of the year. The deadline for proposals is April 19.

“RECOVERY FOR ALL MEANS EVERYONE HAVING THE SAME OPPORTUNITY” said. Roughly 29% of households here do not have a home broadband subscription. Among households below the poverty line, the

NYCMAYORSOFFICE/FLICKR

Broadband

De Blasio came into office seven years ago pledging to hold internet providers accountable for the digital divide, but the number without reliable access has remained stubbornly high, around 1.5 million.

“This is a story of companies not doing the right thing for working people and people of color and getting away with it,” de Blasio said.

“We are trying to fix that now, but I sure as hell wish the federal and state laws were tougher on these companies and did more to ensure full access.”

In the fall the mayor announced

a legal settlement with Verizon that requires the company to expand Fios broadband service to 500,000 homes by 2023. The de Blasio administration had sued Verizon in 2017, saying the company had not lived up to the 2008 contract with the Bloomberg administration.

Verizon, in part, blamed uncooperative landlords for not allowing connections to the broadband wire it spent billions to install.

Year of 5G The mayor’s announcement on cellular connection follows a

pledge during his State of the City speech in January to make 2021 the “Year of 5G.” The 7,500 new light poles and other city infrastructure opening to installers for telecommunications equipment will more than double the number of poles that are available, to 13,500 total.

Starting this month, the city will open 1,500 poles for bidding every three months through 2022.

Three-quarters of the poles made available will be in the outer boroughs or above 96th Street in Manhattan. ■

HEALTH CARE

Red-hot virtual care market propels city health startups to record year

BY RYAN DEFFENBAUGH

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ast year venture capital firms put a record $3.6 billion into health-related local startups, a 40% annual increase led by young companies specializing in virtual medicine.

Investment reached a high mark between October and the end of the year, with just more than $1 billion spent in three months, according to a recent report from New York City Health Business Leaders, a trade group focused on health care and technology.

“There were already a lot of challenges in the health care delivery system before Covid, so the idea of embracing innovation was already happening,” said Bunny Ellerin, president of the group. “But Covid completely accelerated both the funding and adoption of technology.”

Health-tech investment has grown more than 400% since 2017, according to the report.

Investors last year proved most interested in digital health companies that either provide telemedicine or

offer tech-enabled services for insurance or pharmacy delivery, such as Oscar Health, Cityblock and Ro. The three aforementioned companies ranked highest in total investment in 2020, each raising more than $200 million. The top biotech company for funding was Neurogene, a Chelsea-based startup that raised $115 million to develop gene therapies for rare neurological diseases.

Insurer Oscar Health led the way with $365 million in investment across two deals that bookended 2020. The company made its debut

4 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | MARCH 8, 2021

on the New York Stock Exchange last Wednesday.

That type of successful exit—the investment term for when a startup reaches public markets or is acquired—can help further develop a startup ecosystem. The most famous example is the “PayPal mafia,” with the Silicon Valley online-payments company’s employees—such as Elon Musk—launching a list of startups that includes Tesla, LinkedIn, YouTube and Yelp.

There is evidence already of an Oscar mafia for local health-tech

companies, noted Nimi Katragadda, a partner at BoxGroup, an early-stage technology investment firm based in Union Square whose portfolio includes Oscar, Ro and Blink Health.

Former Oscar employees have already launched startups such as Tomorrow Health, Alma and Garner Health. Katragadda expects there will be similar trends with employees from startups such as Cityblock and Ro breaking off to launch firms.

“These companies are great breeders of talent,” Katragadda said.

“But there is the other half of our portfolio as well, which is outsiders who bring a fresh perspective for how health care should work.”

Although many of the top funding deals focused on consumer startups—those that deliver care— Katragadda said there is a rising group of startups focused on offering services for health care providers. BoxGroup has invested in Ribbon Health, a Lower Manhattan startup that maintains a directory of doctors and health plans, with information on specialization and insurance providers, which health

care providers can use for referrals.

Policy changes Health-tech startups—particularly in virtual care—were greatly helped by policy changes at the start of the pandemic, such as those to Medicare reimbursement rates and the removal of a state requirement that telehealth be performed only from approved facilities.

Investors will be watching how many of those changes become permanent, noted Jordan Nof, managing partner at Tusk Venture Partners, whose investments include Alma and Ro. Long-term policy choices will be especially important for the many digital health companies early in their growth that will soon seek second and third investment rounds after receiving initial funding to meet pandemic demand. Can digital health build off the frenzy created by Covid-19?

“Later-stage investors are going to want to see sustained growth over multiple cycles,” Nof said, “which means post-vaccine, we will see some major winners emerge.” ■

IN THE MARKETS

Blackstone CEO Schwarzman reaped at least $610 million in 2020 The bulk of his compensation came from dividends on his stake in the company

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CEO’S HAUL HIGHLIGHTS THE VAST FORTUNES COINED ON WALL STREET

sonably estimated that Schwarzman’s payout was $2.40 a share last year. Multiply that by his shares, and you get $557 million.

Blackstone doesn’t consider Schwarzman’s dividend income to be part of his pay because it’s not payment for services rendered.

“It’s 100% false to call dividends compensation,” a spokesman said, “and in no other industry are they counted as such.”

Fruits of his labor

SCHWARZMAN

First, he collects a salary of $350,000.

He also profits from investing in Blackstone’s leveraged-buyout funds. His returns haven’t been disclosed for many years, but based on prior results, Crain’s estimates that put $40 million in his pocket last year.

carried interest, delivered $86 million to Schwarzman last year, according to Blackstone data.

Fourth, and most important, he collects dividends on the 232 million shares he controls in Blackstone, which give him about a 20% stake. Strictly speaking, his shares are in Blackstone’s holding company, so he got more than the $2.26 per share paid out to common shareholders, although the firm won’t say how much more. Based on prior years’ data, it can be rea-

Carried interest Third, he collects a slice when his firm profits from the sale of a company. This pool of cash, known as

BLOOMBERG

lackstone Group Chief tions, regulatory filings show. Much Executive Stephen of that is taxed at advantageous divSchwarzman took home at idend and capital-gains rates, rathleast $610 million in 2020. er than as ordinary income. Donald That was 20 times more than JP- Trump campaigned against this Morgan’s Jamie Dimon, but only loophole in 2016 but changed his mind after he was elected the third most remunerapresident. Schwarzman tive year in the past six for was one of Trump’s ecothe private-equity billionnomic advisers. aire.

Now, the political It’s likely that winds may be shifting.

Schwarzman actually Last week Sen. Elizabeth pocketed about $70 milWarren said she would lion more than the propose applying a 2% tax amount detailed in his to individual net worth firm’s annual report is$50 million and an sued late Friday. His haul AARON ELSTEIN above additional 1% surcharge highlights the vast forto fortunes greater tunes coined on Wall Street, thanks to the soaring stock than $1 billion.

Schwarzman co-founded Blackmarket, rock-bottom interest rates, and tax policies that enable the stone in 1985 and built it into a wealthiest to keep more of their leading leveraged-buyout and asset management firm. Last year the money. company returned $43 billion in gains to private-equity fund investors, which include the New York state pension plan, while “distributable earnings” rose 16%, to Since 2014 Schwarzman has $3.3 billion.

Schwarzman has four sources of pocketed at least $4.3 billion in compensation and cash distribu- income at Blackstone.

The counterargument is Schwarzman’s payouts and investment gains stem directly from his knowledge and expertise—in other words, his labor.

In any case, add up Schwarzman’s four buckets, and you get $683 million.

A vast sum, sure, but he hauled in $799 million in 2017 and reaped $690 million in 2015.

Even so, those figures are dwarfed by junk-bond king Michael Milken’s 1987 pay of $550 million, which would be $1.27 billion today after adjusting for inflation. But the $5 billion jackpot that hedge fund manager John Paulson hit in 2007 by betting against junk mortgages still stands as the most lucrative year any single Wall Street executive has ever had. ■

BUSINESS FORUM

Next mayor must prove to all New Yorkers that they can benefit from economic development

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aniel Doctoroff describes himself as an optimistic guy—citing his quixotic mission to bring the 2012 Olympics to New York.

“But I have to be honest, Covid is straining even my optimism,” the former deputy mayor in the Bloomberg administration said to open a 40-minute discussion with Crain’s last Wednesday about the city’s health and economic recovery.

Doctoroff, now chief executive of Google-backed technology company Sidewalk Labs, said he was most concerned by the question marks hanging over each of the city’s historical drivers of growth: residents, businesses and visitors.

“It’s almost as if each of them is reevaluating the value proposition that New York offers,” Doctoroff said. “And that can have enormous consequences on our budget, potentially throwing the city into a vicious cycle, not unlike the one we faced in the 1970s.”

In response to that challenge, Doctoroff said, city officials in the

current and next administration must convince New Yorkers that they can benefit from growth and innovation—referencing the resistance to Amazon HQ2 in Long Island City and the expansion of Industry City in Sunset Park.

“Too many people in New York don’t trust that they will benefit from growth. They aren’t wrong,” Doctoroff said. “The paradox that we see in New York today is, we need to grow to create a more inclusive city, but we can’t grow unless we are more inclusive.”

Structural racism Doctoroff, who guided former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s economic development initiatives, such as Hudson Yards, Barclays Center and the High Line, acknowledged that “growth, historically, has not been fair, and in fact often that unfairness is rooted in structural racism.”

But he brushed off criticism about Hudson Yards as a haven for the city’s 1%. He noted that the development is mostly commercial and includes affordable housing in its residential component. The cost

of building over rail yards, he said, dictated what could be built on the land.

“The choice was really: Are you going to have anything over those rail yards, or are you going to have something that is built and maybe does not satisfy everyone’s requirements for equity—and I understand that—but that still generates massive amounts of taxes and tax revenue?” he said.

He pointed to the de Blasio administration’s plan for Sunnyside Yard—revealed the day after New York announced its first confirmed Covid-19 case last year—as a project that could introduce the type of inclusive growth he believes is necessary for the city’s recovery. The plan includes what would be the largest expansion of affordable housing in decades—but comes with the same costly requirement of building a deck above rail yards.

“The issue, again, is that platforms are really expensive to construct, and therefore you have to be really creative with what you do,” Doctoroff said.

As for how the next mayor can win people over to the idea of de-

THANK YOU Crain’s acknowledges the presenting sponsor of the business forum, United Airlines, as well as its corporate members, Brown & Weinraub, BTEA, Cozen O’Connor, GCA, George Arzt Communications, Greenberg Traurig, Kasirer, Nicholas & Lence Communications and Patrick B. Jenkins & Associates. Without their support, this business forum would not have been possible.

DOCTOROFF

BUCK ENNIS

BY RYAN DEFFENBAUGH

velopment, Doctoroff said developers and city planners under the next mayor must show “very specific plans” for how growth can benefit New Yorkers. That includes focusing rezoning on building affordable housing, embracing technology that reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and improving the walkability and transit options in neighborhoods.

Finding that balance will require

“visionary leadership” from the next mayor, Doctoroff said, stopping short of naming any candidate directly.

“We can’t have a decision about our next mayor without thinking about, really, how we can harmonize the importance of growth with being more fair and more inclusive,” he said. “That’s the model.

That's something we have really got to prioritize.” ■

MARCH 8, 2021 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 5

ASKED & ANSWERED New York Taxi Workers Alliance INTERVIEW BY BRIAN PASCUS

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WHO SHE IS Executive director, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance AGE 48

s executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance—a union with 25,000 members—Bhairavi Desai is at the forefront of the battle to protect yellow cab drivers from the predatory loans that have devastated their industry. She also aims to fix what she considers a double standard that has allowed Uber and Lyft to prosper at the expense of taxi drivers. Now Desai is pitching a plan to place a $125,000 ceiling on the value of individual medallion loans.

How did things go so wrong for taxi drivers?

City officials from the Bloomberg era on inflated the price of the medallion. They worked with banks and taxi brokers who also had a vested interest in the inflated value because they made money from interest and transaction fees. The same city officials allowed Uber and Lyft to come in unregulated, and some of them went to work directly for Uber and Lyft. It’s a Greek tragedy with multiple characters and multiple villains.

What has been Uber’s and Lyft’s role?

They have unleashed a race to the bottom and destroyed a full-time job that, particularly for immigrant workers, was one of the last ones where you could earn a decent living.

Uber and Lyft unleashed a business model which has not only sought to destroy the existing industries in the most

BORN Gujarat, India EARLY DAYS Desai arrived in the U.S. in July 1979, when she was 6 years old. She lived in North Carolina, then moved to New Jersey. She calls herself a “Jersey girl.”

RESIDES The Bronx EDUCATION Bachelor’s in history and women’s studies, Rutgers University SMALL BEGINNINGS Desai founded the NYTWA in 1998 with only 700 members. Today membership is at 25,000.

BIG-NAME SUPPORTERS Both Comptroller Scott Stringer and Attorney General Letitia James support the medallion loan bailout proposal.

unfair and anticompetitive method, but they did it by going after drivers.

What could cab drivers and their union have done differently?

First of all, drivers needed to pause before signing up to work for Uber and Lyft. They put bonuses on the table and all these incentives, and you understand the desperation many drivers felt. But it’s taken too long for our union to really develop in

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larger numbers. The corrupt political class was not going to stop these big companies that were lobbying them. It was only going to be a united voice of the drivers.

What part did the Taxi and Limousine Commission play?

The TLC tells you the shade of yellow you need to have on your car. It would’ve been impossible for yellow cab drivers to assume the TLC did not have a robust regulation system in place. So many drivers became owners by spending their life savings to buy a medallion simply because the TLC said, “This is a sound investment.”

Why do you think a bailout plan will succeed?

We’re saying $125,000 is the ceiling for medallion loans. Amortized at 4% over 20 years, that’s $757 per month.

Those numbers reflect what we see as the maximum medallion owners can pay.

We’ve tried to balance an amount that is livable for those with active loans and also one that would not take the bottom out of the value of the medallion.

How can the city help?

The second part of our proposal is to get the city to backstop the medallion loan.

If someone bids more, the city doesn’t have to buy it. The city can also sell the loans after they buy. The lenders can have the confidence that the loans have bottomed out and they don’t have to keep revaluing them. ■

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BUCK ENNIS

BHAIRAVI DESAI

DOSSIER

POLITICS

Cuomo’s apology could be a confession under New York sexual harassment law 31%

BY CARA EISENPRESS

she resigned her position.

A former aide, Charlotte Bennett, told The New York Times that she felt harassed when Cuomo asked her invasive questions about her sex life when she worked for him.

Anna Ruch, who did not work in state government, BOYLAN told The Times that the governor had approached her aggressively at a wedding, minutes after meeting her.

Boylan indicated there were more women with accounts.

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ov. Andrew Cuomo's apology could be considered a confession under a law the governor signed in 2019, according to an employment lawyer.

The new harassment rules increased the statute of limitations for victims from one to three years, eliminating the need for incidents to be reported internally first, and changing the standard for harassment from “severe and pervasive” to any treatment that subjects “an individual to inferior terms” or what a reasonable victim would deem more than “petty slights or trivial inconveniences.”

Eighteen months later, three women have come forward to say the governor sexually harassed them in the office and at a social event. Advocates fighting sexual harassment in the workplace say more needs to be done to eradicate such behavior.

In late February, Lindsey Boylan, former deputy secretary for economic development and special adviser to the governor, posted about harassment so pervasive that

Cuomo’s apology In New York state, 31% of women say that they have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace, according to a survey conducted by the Cornell Survey Research Institute in 2018. Cuomo issued a statement on Feb. 28, which denied inappropriate touching. He brushed off his remarks to the women as teasing. On March 3 he apologized.

“I now understand that I acted in a way that made people feel uncomfortable,” Cuomo said. “It was unintentional and I truly and deeply apologize for it.”

That could meet the standard for harassment under New York state law.

“It’s almost admitting to the exact behavior the law prohibits,” said Nina Frank, an associate at Outten & Golden who represents employees.

Three pieces of legislation—the April 2018 state budget, the 2019 state law and the Stop Sexual Harassment in NYC Act from 2018—now guide how New York City employers comply with harassment requirements. The change in standards has been a crucial update.

“The new standard of inferior terms is more in keeping with what’s happening in a workplace,” said Frank, because it prevents people thinking that if the abuse isn’t on the same level as what Harvey Weinstein did, then it’s not sexual harassment.

Prevention policies In addition, employers must have sexual harassment prevention policies that meet minimum standards set by the state, including training, a complaint form and education

check, especially at small about what constitutes businesses, said Carol sexual harassment. More Gordon, a human rethan 400,000 people have PERCENTAGE sources consultant, who taken the training on the of women who said that employers need New York City Commissaid they were to improve the atmosion on Human Rights’ sexually harassed sphere overall, rather website, which meet the in the workplace than trying to draw lines state’s requirements. in the sand about each Still, even in 2020, New particular bad behavior.

Yorkers were more likely than those in the rest of Safe workplaces the country to fear emNUMBER of people who have ployer retaliation for re“We need to have taken sexual porting sexual harassworking conditions harassment ment, according to a where everyone feels safe training on national survey that the and can do their best New York City’s Cornell Institute helped work,” she said.

Commission of run.

Elizabeth Crothers, Human Rights The state laws’ broader co-founder of the Sexual website measures include proviHarassment Working Group, which advances sions prohibiting employanti-harassment legislaers from requiring mandatory arbitration and protections tion in Albany, agreed. But she is for contractors and other nonem- still fighting for the group’s next legployees. In the city there are also islative agenda, such as closing a measures intended to improve re- loophole that makes it hard for adporting and research about harass- ministrative aides in government to ment and a requirement that train- file harassment claims. ing includes information on how “I’m more optimistic now,” she bystanders can report harassment. said, thanks to supportive memBut the increased mandates bers in the Assembly and state Sencan become just another box for ate and the courage of women still Human Resources departments to speaking out. ■

400K

REAL ESTATE

FiDi bike shop claims it was extorted by Thor Equities

BY NATALIE SACHMECHI

RELO-STECKANTRIEB1/FLICKR

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espite a citywide bicycle boom, a Financial District building isn’t big enough for two bike shops.

Or so says Tour Central Park, which is suing its former landlord at 38 Park Row, the Potter Building, accusing it of threatening to park a competing cycling business next door unless it agreed to pay more rent.

The bike rental company claims that Joe Sitt’s Thor Equities resorted to extortion by threatening to lease additional space in the building to Unlimited Biking, another bike rental business, unless Tour Central Park agreed to double its monthly rent from $5,500 to $11,000, according to a lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court in Manhattan Having a competing business next door would “loot its business,” Tour Central Park claimed in the lawsuit. Despite succumbing to the landlord’s demands for a rent increase to avoid that fate, Thor Equities leased space to the competition anyway, court papers say.

The tenant has since moved out of the space, which sits across from City Hall, but even vacating the premises came with its own share of drama. Now the landlord is holding on to the shop’s $30,000 security deposit, the company claims.

“Thor and Knief leased to [Tour

Central Park’s] competitor, predatorily increased [its] rent and stole [its] security deposit as acts of spite, collusion, bad faith and predation,” said the complaint.

Month-to-month The cycling shop's lease expired in January 2020, but the building’s leasing agent, Austin Knief, who was also named in the lawsuit, persuaded the shop to stay on a monthto-month basis with a discount on the monthly rent because any decrease in the building’s occupancy would affect its financing.

The shop would only have to pay $8,000 a month—the discounted amount after the rent had been raised to $11,000—for the space it had previously been paying $5,500 for, the lawsuit said.

By March, Tour Central Park wanted out. The pandemic had al-

ready ensued and Thor desperately needed “to retain the illusion of the building being leased at 100% capacity,” so Knief offered three rent-free months if the bike business would stay put, documents show.

The bike shop, however, started getting rent bills from Thor, which Knief told them to ignore, according to the lawsuit. The broker told the shop that the landlord would continue to hold the space rent-free in case the company wanted to return as a tenant.

When the company let its landlord know that it wouldn’t be coming back and asked for its security back, Knief let the company know that it had been put toward the rent during what the company thought was a rent-free period, the complaint said.

The cycling company also sued Michael Stern’s JDS Development, seeking $150,000 in losses after an accident at his new development at 111 W. 57th St. resulted in street closures in the fall of 2020.

A representative for Thor Equities did not respond to a request for comment. Unlimited Biking did not respond either. ■

Grassi Consulting: Because running your business is never a straight path. grassicpas.com/consulting

MARCH 8, 2021 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 7

chief executive officer K.C. Crain senior executive vice president Chris Crain

EDITORIAL

group publisher Jim Kirk publisher/executive editor

Amnesty makes more sense than refunds to help small businesses

Frederick P. Gabriel Jr. EDITORIAL editor Robert Hordt assistant managing editors Telisha Bryan,

L

associate editor Lizeth Beltran art director Carolyn McClain photographer Buck Ennis senior reporters Aaron Elstein, Eddie Small reporters Ryan Deffenbaugh, Brian Pascus,

Natalie Sachmechi, Shuan Sim executive assistant Devin Cavallo to contact the newsroom:

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Gjonaj introduced a bill that would force the city to ease off issuing summonses for violating city rules on plastic bags, sanitation, transportation and other facets of small business.

His bill would waive civil penalties to small businesses for infractions and refund fines paid between March 2020 and the date the law is passed. If your business was fined for leaving garbage in front of your shop, you would get your money back. Now would be a good time to point out that the city is facing a budget gap of $3.8 billion, or worse.

Though it’s true that all the sanitation fines in the five boroughs won’t fix that hole, discouraging compliance SADDLING SMALL BUSINESSES with garbage WITH SUMMONSES CLEARLY ISN’T regulations will undermine the city’s GETTING THE DESIRED RESULT comeback.

Bronx Councilwoman Vanessa entrepreneurial spirit, and they Gibson has a bill that would shift are suffering. the emphasis from enforcing the As important as relief is, only regulations to fixing the problem. one of these bills makes sense— Under her plan, the city would the others amount to pandering issue up to two warnings before and could have a deleterious inspectors would break out the effect on quality of life issues, not ticket book, virtually eliminating to mention depleting the city’s the consequences for violating the coffers during a budget crunch.

Last Monday, Councilman Mark law. Again, clean streets are a ast week the New York City Council introduced competing bills that would help small businesses by easing burdensome fines and regulation.

We applaud the belated but necessary attention being paid to one of the most important sectors in the city’s economy. There are approximately 230,000 small businesses in the city; they employ 1.3 million New Yorkers. During the lockdown, small-business revenue dropped by at least 20% across the five boroughs, and nearly 70% in Manhattan alone, according to a December City comptroller report. Mom-and-pop stores are a vital part of the city’s

GIBSON

quality-of-life issue, and if they are allowed to deteriorate the city’s public health and public image suffers.

The only bill of the three that makes sense comes from yet another councilman, Fernando Cabrera. Under Cabrera’s plan, small-business owners in default on their fines would be offered amnesty—a chance to pay them off at a 25% discount. This works for both small businesses, the budget and the city’s quality of life.

Both Cabrera and Gibson are vying for Bronx borough president.

In 2019, the city issued $484 million in fines and collected $166 million of that. Last year the city issued $362 million in penalties, and so far has collected $59 million, about a 50% drop.

Saddling small businesses with summonses clearly isn’t getting the desired result.

Amnesty is a great way to ease the burden on small businesses, bring in much needed cash to keep the teachers teaching and the cops patrolling and keep the city streets clean. That’s good for everyone. ■

N

account executives Roland Espinosa,

Christine Rozmanich, Laura Warren, Tori Weil

dstein@crain.com CUSTOM CONTENT senior manager, custom content

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www.crainsnewyork.com/events events and marketing manager

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Strong cable agreements mean strong public access broadcasting ew York City’s public access channels, BRIC, BronxNet, Manhattan Neighborhood Network and Queens Public Television, have for decades provided New York’s artists, activists, performers and local community members with an outlet to connect their work with mainstream audiences and learn skills that can translate into career opportunities and growth, many times at little or no cost.

Many of our partners and contributors come from Black, Hispanic and low-income communities, making our channels incredibly unique in our ability to broadcast hyperlocal news, facilitate freedom of expression, and reflect the cultural richness and diversity that make New York the greatest city in the country.

When Covid-19 forced the sud-

senior account executive Kelly Maier

people on the move manager Debora Stein,

OP-ED

BY KRISTINA NEWMAN-SCOTT, MICHAEL MAX KNOBBE, DAN COUGHLIN AND DAN LEONE

Janon Fisher

den closing of schools and a transition to virtual learning that threw millions of parents into shock, the fault lines of the digital divide were laid bare. Some kids couldn’t get access to a tablet or to sufficient broadband to be able to participate in an already challenging environment.

Staying connected Through a collaborative effort between the city Department of Education superintendents, local schools in Brooklyn and the Bronx, and BronxNet and BRIC, we mobilized to connect students and parents with educational content so they could continue to learn. We created BronxNet’s Education Project and BRIC’s One Brooklyn TV, which provided daily blocks of education content.

Even as collaborative events were canceled because of the emerging pandemic, QPTV still kept its audience up to date with announcements and news from its

8 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | MARCH 8, 2021

not-for-profit partners.

Our collective work in this crisis and in the past has been made possible through funding that is allocated by the franchise agreements between cable providers and the city for using the public rights of way.

Right now the city is in negotiations with these providers to extend those contracts. They should, but not without adjusting service standards and how the public rights-of-way fees are assessed to reflect the loss in revenue because of the shift in focus from cable TV to other broadband services such as streaming apps.

If the city fails to negotiate strong franchise agreements, these stations will continue to suffer from the decline in capital and operating funding needed to continue operations and keep up with the changes in technology and equipment.

Just in the past decade, digital offerings, technology equipment and broadband services have evolved

greatly. In that same period BRIC, BronxNet and MNN were able to open new centers and expand their reach into the underserved communities of Brooklyn, East Harlem and the East Bronx.

Despite the trials and tribulations brought on by the pandemic, we remain committed to being essential resources and ensuring New Yorkers are covered whether physically or virtually.

But the reality is we will not be able to maintain this important work if critical funding continues to decline. The city can reverse this trend, but that starts by ensuring the franchise agreements are done right. ■ Kristina Newman-Scott is the president of BRIC; Michael Max Knobbe is the executive director of BronxNet; Dan Coughlin is the president of Manhattan Neighborhood Network; and Dan Leone is the president of Queens Public Television.

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CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC. chairman Keith E. Crain vice chairman Mary Kay Crain chief executive officer K.C. Crain senior executive vice president Chris Crain secretary Lexie Crain Armstrong editor-in-chief emeritus Rance Crain chief financial officer Robert Recchia founder G.D. Crain Jr. [1885-1973] chairman Mrs. G.D. Crain Jr. [1911-1996]

OP-ED

Albany foot-dragging is jeopardizing $1.3B in housing support

F

amilies in every neighborhood of the five boroughs who are behind on their rent payments should circle Sept. 30 on their calendar. That’s the day the U.S. Department of the Treasury will take back New York’s unused $1.3 billion in federal rent-relief funds and reallocate that money to other states.

What a loss it would be if every dollar of this second round of rent relief from Washington doesn’t make its way into the hands of tenants and landlords who are desperate for a financial lifeline. The state came under fire at the end of last year, when approximately $60 million from the Cares Act was still sitting on the shelf, with a Dec. 31 spending deadline jeopardizing the money. Fortunately, the federal government extended the deadline. The state may not be as lucky this time, and that situation certainly can’t be allowed to happen again, not with $1.3 billion at stake.

Although it seems a long way off, Sept. 30 is closer than you think, particularly because the application process for this second round of rent relief, far more complex than the first, hasn’t even opened yet. Renters will be required to prove that their household income is at or below 80% of the AMI, the combined average median income for New York.

But qualifying won’t be the problem; it’s the time that the vetting process will consume. And with the rent arrears crisis already

at epic proportions, waiting four or five months down the road to start the application process will push families and the landlords that house them off the cliff.

Already behind Thousands of renters are already months—even close to a full year— behind in their rent payments.

Landlords are behind in their city property taxes—with another tax bill coming due in June—and have fallen behind in repairs and maintenance because their only source of revenue—the rent—has plummeted. This catch-22 can be resolved, but it will take a team effort and swift action by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state Legislature.

The state knew weeks ago that the $1.3 billion was on its way from the Treasury Department, but Albany lawmakers have seemed content to wait until the April 1 state budget is in place before setting the wheels in motion for the application and distribution process.

While legislation tied to the state budget is well intentioned—seeking to provide guidance that ensures federal dollars will reach renters most in need—federal guidance, which includes the income means test for applicants, already guarantees that will happen.

Legislation is not needed, and linking it to the state budget bill is adding unnecessary layers to an application and distribution process that families and building owners can’t afford to have delayed any longer.

Time is not on our side. Waiting

BUCK ENNIS

BY JOE STRASBURG

until April 1 for the state budget to be in place—assuming Albany delivers a budget on time—conceivably delays the start of the application process until May or June, which means families won’t see rent-relief dollars until the summer months, with that Sept. 30 use-it-or-lose-it deadline looming.

According to the federal act deploying rent-relief funding across the country, the Treasury plans to take back a state’s unused funds and reallocate them to other states and localities that have obligated at least 65% of their original allocation. In other words, if New York state isn’t able to get $845 million out the door by the Sept. 30 deadline, it will lose millions in undistributed rent-relief funds.

Albany lawmakers must detach

from the state budget bill the distribution of this $1.3 billion in federal rent relief. The state’s executive and legislative branches should be working in harmony to speed the process—not delay it, as making it part of the budget bill is doing. They can easily jump-start the process.

Getting it done The governor could provide the Legislature with a message of necessity, and the Legislature, in turn, would be able to immediately pass an appropriation bill so that the agencies charged with the distribution of these federal relief funds could begin the application process and dole out the money.

It’s that simple—and starting now will provide the time to work out

any wrinkles in the process.

Last year Albany was able to distribute federal relief funds for unemployment and food insecurity with lightning speed. The governor and lawmakers can duplicate that same effort for rent arrears relief and give New Yorkers one less thing to worry about. State agencies such as the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, among others, have the infrastructure in place and are prepared to assist renters and owners in all stages of application, review and distribution. Landlords have been working with tenants to keep them in their homes throughout the pandemic; now they are ready to help them apply for the funds.

Distributing this $1.3 billion with greater urgency means lifting a financial burden from families, enabling them to pay months of back rent. It would also give landlords the ability to pay their property taxes and water bills—pumping much-needed revenue into the city treasury—and they would be able to perform repairs, maintenance and upgrades in their buildings, which would translate into jobs and revenue for every neighborhood in the five boroughs.

And that would put the city on the road to economic recovery. ■ Joe Strasburg is president of the Rent Stabilization Association, representing 25,000 diverse landlords of more than 1 million apartments in virtually all neighborhoods of the five boroughs.

OP-ED

It’s too late to merely reform the NYPD— it’s time for a wholesale overhaul

BY RICHARD ABORN

R

eforming policing is no longer a viable solution. It is time for much greater change.

The Crime Commission of New York City was founded by civic and business leaders in 1978 because of rampant crime and the realization that toxic community–police relations would curtail the reforms

opportunity today to move ahead with transformative, generational change.

A six-point plan

The Citizens Crime Commission has proposed a six-point plan to restore trust and legitimacy to policing through dramatic change that recognizes that force cannot solve every problem, and aggressive policing will ultimately fail.

The first fundamental step IT WILL NOT BE EASY, BUT IF is to institute WE FAIL TO ACT, WE WILL FORFEIT the idea of police services in our policing apAN OPPORTUNITY paratus.

This that were needed at the time. We change can have a profound imtook steps then, through innova- pact on violent crime and address tion, research and education, to quality of life. It also can combat embrace change. It took years to the underlying problems of aggresreduce crime and to achieve great- sive police behavior, whereby use er accountability at the communi- of force can be curtailed through community and conflict-resoluty level.

In 2021 we must realize we need tion tactics. This includes recruita new path forward. There is ample ing a broader range of skills into

policing to equip police to be more responsive to community needs and play a larger role in the prevention of crime, helping to identify those city services that would mitigate crime as opposed to waiting for it to occur. A police service can achieve this while also building on community capital and credibility.

Through the transformation, policing agencies such as the NYPD can address the major roles of implicit bias and explicit racism, especially toward communities of color, through training and oversight from frontline supervisors.

Sergeants and lieutenants who interact with patrol officers all day have the greatest chance to reshape police attitudes in their precincts. A police service must also measure performance differently, applying the same standards we applied to crime indicators to issues including implicit bias, conflict resolution and community engagement.

The Rev. Jack Maple, who did a lot to bring data to policing and was the driver behind the successful implementation of Compstat, counseled us “to inspect what we expect.” That advice is as important today as it was in the 1990s.

Taking that services approach, we can go beyond performance metrics such as arrests and summons to measure actions to improve community relations. Effective discipline and oversight are also critical to restoring legitimacy with communities, and it can be achieved through more rapid and transparent discipline, civilian oversight and state-of-the-art early warning systems.

Deeper relationships In any police service, our officers will continue to patrol, respond to 911 calls and make arrests. But we must deepen relationships with diverse communities to push for greater change and accountability.

New York’s civic and business leaders identified the need for change in the 1970s. And we continued to push for greater quality-of-life improvements and more accountability from our uniformed men and women. But now we must come together to implement greater change, to go beyond reforms to tackle the very idea of what our police agencies are mandated to do.

The NYPD has taken notable steps to develop its neighborhood policing programs and introduce implicit-bias training to combat glaring issues, but we know there is still more that we can do.

It will not be easy, but if we fail to act, we will forfeit an opportunity for change and also fail to address the type of change that allows us to continue to have a safe, thriving city. ■ Richard Aborn is president of the Citizens Crime Commission of New York City.

MARCH 8, 2021 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 9

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THE LIST LARGEST COMMERCIAL BANKS New York–area banks ranked by total assets

RANK

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

BANK

PHONE/ WEBSITE

2020 ASSETS (IN MILLIONS)/ % CHANGE VS. 2019

2020 NET INCOME (IN MILLIONS)/ % CHANGE VS. 2019

2020 LOAN TYPES (% OF EACH) RESIDENTIAL COMMERCIAL & INDUSTRIAL 1 CONSUMER 2 REAL ESTATE 3

NONRESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE 4

OTHER 5

2020 NONPERFORMING LOANS 2020 OUTSTANDING IN % OF TOTAL LOANS MILLIONS 7 ASSETS (IN MILLIONS) 6

JPMorgan Chase

614-248-5800 jpmorganchase.com

$3,025,290.0 +29.4%

$21,032.0 -32.9%

19.0%

19.5%

30.8%

5.4%

25.3%

$1,023,730.0

$15,396.0

0.5%

Bank of America

704-386-5681 bankofamerica.com

$2,258,830.0 +21.9%

$14,298.0 -46.6%

31.0%

16.2%

27.5%

8.0%

17.4%

$929,573.0

$9,275.0

0.4%

Wells Fargo Bank

605-575-6900 wellsfargo.com

$1,767,810.0 +3.2%

$3,455.0 -82.3%

17.9%

12.0%

36.6%

13.7%

19.8%

$890,245.0

$14,280.0

0.8%

Citibank

605-370-6261 citi.com

$1,661,510.0 +14.3%

$9,151.0 -47.4%

23.8%

25.4%

15.8%

10.6%

24.5%

$649,145.0

$7,841.0

0.5%

PNC Bank

302-429-1361 pnc.com

$463,097.0 +16.4%

$2,837.9 -35.3%

39.2%

11.1%

22.3%

12.1%

15.2%

$243,539.0

$3,444.2

0.7%

TD Bank

302-351-4560 tdbank.com

$401,512.0 +25.3%

$1,337.9 -50.1%

22.8%

18.3%

26.1%

15.0%

17.8%

$162,897.0

$1,270.8

0.3%

Bank of New York Mellon Corp.

212-495-1784 bnymellon.com

$386,515.0 +24.1%

$2,360.0 -8.6%

5.7%

0.0%

7.2%

10.6%

76.5%

$25,616.0

$92.0

0.0%

Capital One Bank

703-720-1000 capitalone.com

$363,522.0 +10.5%

$1,356.1 -46.8%

16.6%

51.1%

7.3%

12.4%

12.7%

$164,360.0

$1,754.0

0.5%

Goldman Sachs Bank

212-902-1000 marcus.com

$271,652.0 +18.7%

$905.0 -44.0%

18.8%

13.8%

14.0%

8.5%

44.9%

$93,550.0

$2,422.0

0.9%

HSBC Bank USA

703-883-8029 us.hsbc.com

$197,980.0 +14.5%

-$776.5

35.8%

2.1%

35.1%

11.1%

15.9%

$64,326.8

$2,174.5

1.1%

First Republic Bank

415-392-1400 firstrepublic.com

$142,502.0 +22.6%

$1,064.2 +14.4%

11.9%

4.7%

68.8%

9.8%

4.7%

$112,587.0

$195.4

0.1%

Manufacturers and Traders Trust Co.

716-635-4000 mtb.com

$142,220.0 +19.1%

$1,325.6 -32.4%

22.8%

12.8%

25.6%

33.6%

5.2%

$98,433.6

$2,070.2

1.5%

Morgan Stanley Private Bank

212-762-1803 morganstanley.com

$119,908.0 +44.4%

$1,173.0 -1.0%

5.9%

19.6%

44.6%

4.8%

25.1%

$81,267.0

$271.0

0.2%

Santander Bank

877-768-2265 santanderbank.com

$89,502.0 +5.7%

-$1,772.1

27.6%

17.2%

34.9%

13.3%

7.0%

$55,271.6

$680.9

0.8%

City National Bank

800-773-7100 cnb.com

$76,261.4 +24.2%

$430.8 -30.9%

22.4%

1.6%

32.0%

20.1%

23.9%

$52,780.5

$145.4

0.2%

Signature Bank

646-822-1500 signatureny.com

$73,888.3 +46.0%

$528.4 -10.3%

37.3%

0.4%

32.0%

26.7%

3.6%

$49,240.5

$363.1

0.5%

People's United Bank

203-338-7001 peoples.com

$63,216.5 +8.4%

$594.2 +9.3%

24.6%

0.2%

32.5%

28.0%

14.6%

$43,977.1

$447.5

0.7%

East West Bank

626-768-6000 eastwestbank.com

$52,225.9 +18.2%

$577.8 -16.2%

26.9%

0.0%

33.6%

31.6%

7.9%

$38,692.7

$332.7

0.6%

Deutsche Bank Trust Co. Americas

212-250-2500 db.com

$45,312.0 +20.6%

$148.0 -72.0%

16.2%

1.3%

36.4%

17.6%

28.5%

$12,206.0

$75.0

0.2%

Valley National Bank

973-305-8800 valley.com

$40,680.1 +8.6%

$405.8 +13.4%

18.9%

6.5%

30.9%

41.0%

2.6%

$32,518.5

$264.8

0.7%

BankUnited

786-313-1010 bankunited.com

$34,883.5 +6.4%

$224.7 -33.1%

19.8%

0.0%

33.3%

28.3%

18.5%

$23,890.7

$254.9

0.7%

Sterling National Bank

845-369-8040 snb.com

$29,739.9 -2.7%

$258.5 -42.3%

24.6%

0.0%

28.4%

29.7%

17.3%

$21,860.2

$203.9

0.7%

Investors Bank

855-422-6548 myinvestorsbank.com

$25,991.3 -2.7%

$219.5 +13.1%

5.3%

2.0%

56.1%

33.0%

3.6%

$20,898.5

$116.4

0.4%

Cathay Bank

213-625-4791 cathaybank.com

$19,024.2 +5.3%

$236.3 -16.8%

17.0%

0.0%

43.4%

38.9%

0.8%

$15,671.0

$93.3

0.5%

Customers Bank

610-933-7195 customersbank.com

$18,434.7 +60.1%

$139.6 +67.4%

40.7%

8.0%

14.1%

11.9%

25.2%

$15,832.3

$79.8

0.4%

New York area includes New York City and Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties in New York, and Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Union counties in New Jersey. To qualify for this list, institutions must meet the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s definition of a commercial bank: a bank with a state or national charter that is supervised by the comptroller of the currency, the Federal Reserve or the FDIC. In addition, their U.S. headquarters must be in the New York area or they must have a significant presence in the area. "A significant presence" means the institution has more than $1 billion in deposits in the New York area or its deposits within the area are at least 33% of the institution's total deposits. All figures are for the bank unit only (not the holding company) and were compiled from regulatory filings on Feb. 11, 2021. Loan type percentages may not add up to 100% in every instance because calculation components are reported in thousands in the regulatory filings and are calculated from total consolidated loans and leases (net of unearned income and gross of reserve). Branch ownership for each company is based on the FDIC's June 30, 2020, Summary of Deposits filing, and is adjusted for completed and announced mergers and acquisitions and any branch openings or closings. 1--Total consolidated commercial and industrial loans. Includes loans made to small businesses. 2--Total consolidated consumer loans. 3--Domestic office loans secured by one- to four-family residential properties and domestic office loans secured by multifamily residential properties (five or more units). 4--Consolidated total real estate loans less residential real estate loans. 5--Loans to depository institutions, agricultural production loans, foreign government loans, loans to state and political subdivisions and all other loans and total leases. 6--Total loans and lease financing receivables (net of unearned income). 7--Calculated as the sum of total nonaccrual and restructured loans, adjusted to exclude the guaranteed portion of nonaccrual loans by the U.S. government. Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence (spglobal.com/marketintelligence); additional research by Crain's (researcher@crainsnewyork.com) MARCH 8, 2021 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 11

THE LIST LARGEST THRIFTS New York-area savings institutions ranked by total assets

RANK

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

THRIFT

PHONE/ WEBSITE

2020 ASSETS (IN MILLIONS)/ % CHANGE VS. 2019

2020 NET INCOME (IN MILLIONS)/ % CHANGE VS. 2019

2020 LOAN TYPES (% OF EACH) COMMERCIAL & INDUSTRIAL 1 CONSUMER 2

RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE 3

NONRESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE 4 OTHER 5

2020 2020 NONPERFORMING LOANS OUTSTANDING TOTAL LOANS IN % OF (IN MILLIONS) 6 MILLIONS 7 ASSETS

New York Community Bank

516-683-4100 mynycb.com

$56,282.5 +5.0%

$547.8 +27.4%

4.2%

0.0%

75.6%

16.1%

4.1%

$43,000.7

$52.8

0.1%

Apple Bank for Savings

212-224-6400 applebank.com

$16,173.8 +2.3%

$22.9 -79.5%

46.0%

0.1%

29.9%

19.9%

4.0%

$10,627.9

$28.8

0.2%

Provident Bank

732-590-9285 provident.bank

$12,914.4 +31.7%

$97.3 -13.4%

12.8%

0.2%

33.1%

53.2%

0.6%

$9,822.9

$108.8

0.8%

Columbia Bank

201-794-5719 columbiabankonline.com

$8,784.6 +7.4%

$58.0 +3.9%

12.2%

0.0%

51.3%

36.5%

0.0%

$6,187.9

$52.4

0.6%

Kearny Bank

973-244-4500 kearnybank.com

$7,317.0 +11.0%

$51.4 +21.6%

4.1%

0.1%

71.0%

24.8%

0.0%

$4,841.2

$79.6

1.1%

Ridgewood Savings Bank

718-240-4900 ridgewoodbank.com

$6,373.9 +9.6%

$35.2 -21.3%

0.7%

0.1%

94.2%

4.7%

0.3%

$4,010.5

$42.7

0.7%

Emigrant Bank

212-850-4521 emigrant.com

$6,260.2 +5.1%

$67.1 +5.6%

44.9%

1.0%

28.5%

23.1%

2.3%

$4,268.2

$221.0

3.5%

Northfield Bank

732-499-7200 enorthfield.com

$5,515.6 +9.0%

$37.5 -6.2%

5.2%

0.1%

73.5%

21.2%

0.0%

$3,843.1

$15.0

0.3%

Spencer Savings Bank

201-703-3800 spencersavings.com

$3,271.9 +7.6%

$12.1 -28.4%

1.3%

0.1%

65.7%

32.9%

0.0%

$2,472.4

$28.3

0.9%

Maspeth Federal Savings and Loan Association

718-335-1300 maspethfederal.com

$2,051.7 +4.5%

$15.3 -32.7%

0.0%

0.0%

71.1%

28.9%

0.0%

$1,790.7

$58.4

2.8%

Blue Foundry Bank

201-939-6600 bluefoundrybank.com

$1,945.4 +5.8%

-$18.3 n/d

4.1%

0.0%

83.3%

12.6%

0.0%

$1,284.1

$13.7

0.7%

Union County Savings Bank

908-354-4600 unioncountysaving.com

$1,852.2 +3.5%

$3.0 -20.5%

0.0%

0.9%

90.4%

8.7%

0.0%

$95.9

$0.0

0.0%

Quontic Bank

718-215-4000 quonticbank.com

$1,380.3 +249.7%

$6.5 +27.7%

68.4%

0.0%

26.8%

5.1%

0.0%

$1,256.9

$1.1

0.1%

Ponce Bank

718-931-9000 poncebank.com

$1,315.3 +25.1%

$4.8 n/d

7.9%

2.3%

62.1%

27.6%

0.0%

$1,174.5

$19.6

1.5%

Haven Savings Bank

201-659-3600 havenbank.com

$981.0 -1.5%

-$0.6 n/d

2.3%

0.0%

78.1%

19.5%

0.0%

$725.8

$6.2

0.6%

NorthEast Community Bank

914-684-2500 necommunitybank.com

$959.6 +1.4%

$12.1 -2.0%

10.9%

0.0%

15.5%

73.6%

0.0%

$820.4

$3.6

0.4%

Bogota Savings Bank

201-862-8260 bogotasavingsbank.com

$741.2 -3.3%

$2.0 -17.8%

2.4%

0.1%

75.1%

22.4%

0.0%

$560.1

$1.3

0.2%

NVE Bank

201-816-2800 nve.bank

$712.4 +5.6%

$4.5 -8.3%

3.3%

0.1%

61.0%

35.6%

0.0%

$435.2

$5.9

0.8%

Carver Federal Savings Bank

212-360-8805 carverbank.com

$687.2 +20.1%

-$4.1 n/d

9.0%

0.6%

41.0%

48.3%

1.1%

$468.6

$13.8

2.0%

First Central Savings Bank

516-609-3500 firstcentralsavings.com

$686.6 +7.8%

$1.5 -42.2%

10.6%

0.0%

37.3%

52.0%

0.1%

$588.7

$11.0

1.6%

RSI Bank

732-388-1800 rsi.bank

$606.4 +10.7%

$2.2 -6.1%

7.0%

0.1%

61.7%

31.0%

0.2%

$375.2

$9.3

1.5%

Cross County Savings Bank

718-326-6300 crosscounty.com

$532.7 +15.1%

$1.7 -7.7%

0.0%

0.0%

79.1%

20.9%

0.0%

$393.9

$5.0

0.9%

Community Federal Savings Bank

212-897-9650 cfsb.com

$409.4 +86.6%

$3.5 +202.9%

58.1%

2.7%

33.3%

6.0%

0.0%

$254.6

$2.7

0.7%

Lusitania Savings Bank

973-344-5125 lusitaniabank.com

$365.6 +9.8%

$2.5 -0.2%

0.1%

0.6%

91.6%

7.7%

0.0%

$160.8

$0.9

0.2%

Abacus Federal Savings Bank

212-285-4770 abacusbank.com

$352.2 -0.3%

$1.6 -22.5%

1.3%

0.0%

81.9%

17.1%

0.0%

$287.9

$1.2

0.3%

New York area includes New York City and Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties in New York, and Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Union counties in New Jersey. To qualify for this list, institutions must meet the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s definition of a savings bank or savings institution: a bank or institution with a state or federal charter that is supervised by the FDIC or the Office of Thrift Supervision. In addition, their U.S. headquarters must be in the New York area or they must have a significant presence in the area. "A significant presence" means that the institution has more than $1 billion in deposits in the New York area or its deposits within the area are at least 33% of the institution's total deposits. All figures are for the thrift only and were compiled from regulatory filings on Feb. 11, 2020. Loan type percentages may not add up to 100% in every instance because calculation components are reported in thousands in the regulatory filings and are calculated from total consolidated loans and leases (net of unearned income and gross of reserve). Branch ownership for each company is based on the FDIC's June 30, , Summary of Deposits filing, and is adjusted for completed and announced mergers and acquisitions and any branch openings or closings. n/m-Not meaningful. 1--Total consolidated commercial and industrial loans. 2--Total consolidated consumer loans. 3--Domestic office loans secured by one- to four-family residential properties and domestic office loans secured by multifamily residential properties (five or more units). 4--Consolidated total real estate loans less residential real estate loans. 5--Loans to depository institutions, agricultural production loans, foreign government loans, loans to state and political subdivisions and all other loans and total leases. 6--Total loans and lease financing receivables (net of unearned income). 7--Calculated as the sum of total nonaccrual loans and restructured loans, adjusted to exclude the guaranteed portion of nonaccrual loans by the U.S. government. Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence (spglobal.com/marketintelligence); additional research by Crain's (researcher@crainsnewyork.com) 12 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | MARCH 8, 2021

The past few years have brought important progress toward gender diversity in the financial services industry, which is responsible for more than 60% of New York City’s private-sector wages.

With peer-networking opportunities and the help of stepped-up recruitment, retainment and mentorship efforts, women now make up 22% of the executive level at financial services firms, a Deloitte study found.

That number is expected to grow to 31% by 2030.

Women make up more than 50% of the employees at Bank of America, thanks to the firm’s commitment to a diverse and inclusive workforce. Twenty-seven percent of Goldman Sachs’ new partner class is female.

Although there is still much more work to be done to achieve gender equity, the successes provide women with incentives and offer hope for parity in the upper echelons.

The 56 finance professionals on Crain’s 2021 list of Notable Women on Wall Street have succeeded in wealth management, consumer and investment banking, equity research, asset management and quantitative strategy, among other areas.

The list includes immigrants, first-generation college graduates and women who have worked for decades in the industry. It represents C-suite executives and the heads of the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq.

In addition to their professional accomplishments, these women have demonstrated a commitment to mentoring female colleagues and helping their communities through pro bono work.

The honorees on Crain’s 2021 list of Notable Women on Wall Street will pave the way for generations to come.

METHODOLOGY: The honorees did not pay to be included. Their profiles were drawn from submitted nomination materials. This list is not comprehensive. It includes only executives for whom nominations were submitted and accepted after an editorial review. To qualify for this list, nominees had to be working in the New York financial sector (such as banks, investment firms, insurance companies, mutual funds, hedge funds, private-equity funds and stock exchanges) for a minimum of five years. In addition, nominees had to showcase professional achievements within the past 12 to 18 months and demonstrate involvement in community and/or philanthropic activities, mentoring programs, etc.

TRACIE AHREN

ELLEN R. ALEMANY

KAREN ALTFEST

SARAH BRATTON HUGHES

TRACY CASTLE-NEWMAN

Chief financial officer, chief risk officer, member of the executive board PineBridge Investments

Chairwoman, chief executive officer CIT Group

Executive vice president Altfest Personal Wealth Management

Head of sustainability, North America Schroders

Since 2016 Ellen Alemany has been the chief executive officer of CIT Group, where she has led a strategic shift from a financial services model to a leading bank.

In October 2020 Alemany announced a merger between CIT and First Citizens Bank, creating a top 20 U.S. bank. In a career of more than 40 years, she has transformed businesses and operations, built high-performing teams and created inclusive workplace cultures. Alemany formerly headed the Royal Bank of Scotland Americas. Earlier, she was CEO for global transaction services at Citigroup. During the pandemic, she moved CIT to a remote model. Alemany is on the board of the Partnership for New York City, the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City and the Conference Board.

Karen Altfest is a highly regarded financial planner who specializes in working with female clients.

Altfest entered the business in the 1980s, when there were few female peers or mentors. Early on she observed a need for customized advice for women. Many of her clients have come to her because they weren’t taken seriously by their previous financial advisers. In her office, Altfest created “the parlor,” a private space for clients to share their personal issues. The industry has recognized Altfest many times over. She was named to Forbes’ list of Top Women Wealth Advisors from 2017 to 2020. Altfest, who is committed to reducing food insecurity, is the founding chairman of the New York Common Pantry.

For more than nine years, Sarah Bratton Hughes has led the sustainability program at investment manager Schroders.

In this capacity, she oversees the environmental, social and corporate governance integration of the firm’s investments.

Her team has created proprietary tools to measure the impact of sustainable investing on portfolio returns. Among their capabilities, these platforms analyze the effects of climate change, rising temperatures and decarbonization on investor portfolios. The programs assign monetary values to the costs and benefits of environmental factors for companies and countries. The Schroders team has committed to the U.N. Global Compact, the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative. Bratton Hughes recently participated in the Climate Week NYC event, which focused on rebuilding after the coronavirus.

Managing director, global chief operating officer of institutional equity distribution Morgan Stanley

A career that has risen swiftly and steadily has put Tracie Ahren in an enviable position: She is one of the few female financial officers at an institutional money management firm. As the CFO of PineBridge Investments, Ahren has helped strengthen her firm’s balance sheet with a recent bond listing on the Singapore stock exchange.

She was involved in the first mergers-and-acquisitions deal in PineBridge’s 10-year history— the acquisition of Benson Elliot Capital Management, a private-equity real estate fund. In 2020 she helped lead PineBridge to more than $110 billion in assets under management. In her spare time, Ahren has held board positions at the Human Rights Campaign and DC Scores, a literacy and afterschool athletic program. She is an active contributor to LGBTQ+ organizations.

Within Morgan Stanley’s institutional equity division, Tracy Castle-Newman is responsible for client strategy and business development. She built the firm’s commission management business to more than 600 clients. She created a marketing strategy for exchange-traded-funds products; developed the bank’s Delta One business, which engineers and executes derivative financing products; established a quantitative assets global offering; and helped grow the bank’s equity and fixed-income sales and trading joint venture to $1 billion.

Castle-Newman has initiated events focused on women clients, including the bank’s women’s investment roundtable and its women’s investment leadership conference. She is a contributor to community organizations and a champion for women investors, whom she has helped start funds and advance their careers.

WOMEN MAKE UP MORE THAN 50% OF BANK OF AMERICA’S WORKFORCE, MORE THAN 45% OF ITS MANAGEMENT TEAM AND MORE THAN 30% OF ITS BOARD OF DIRECTORS. —BANK OF AMERICA MARCH 8, 2021 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 13

LAURA CHEPUCAVAGE

LISA CLYDE

SUSAN K. CULLEN

STACEY CUNNINGHAM

ELIZABETH DENNIS

Managing director, global head of short rate sales and trading Bank of America

Head of global corporate banking and global leasing Bank of America Securities

President NYSE Group

Head of private wealth management Morgan Stanley

At Bank of America, Laura Chepucavage is in charge of the global repossession business, short-term treasury and agency securities trading, as well as commercial paper trading.

In addition, she manages short rate sales. Chepucavage began her career as a summer intern at Merrill Lynch in 2002 and started working full time in the interest rates sales division the next year.

After 10 years in interest rates sales, where she ran the relative value hedge fund sales group, Chepucavage moved on to run the short rates team in 2013. She became head of the global short rates sales and trading team in 2017. Chepucavage has been active in Bank of America’s Women’s Leadership Council. In 2015 she was its co-chair.

A team of 1,000 professionals across 45 cities and 30 countries follows the lead of Lisa Clyde, head of corporate banking and leasing at Bank of America Securities. The corporate banking division is one of the most global businesses within the bank, delivering credit, financing, cash management, payments and risk management solutions to more than 2,000 of the world’s largest companies. The leasing group, meanwhile, is the largest U.S. bank-owned equipment financing company, providing solutions to more than 64,000 clients in 10 countries. From 2013 to 2020 Clyde worked in investment banking, running the bank’s consumer and retail group. In addition to her day job, she is a board member of New Alternatives for Children and a member of C200, an invitation-only global senior women’s business network.

Senior executive vice president, chief financial officer Flushing Financial Corp. and Flushing Bank

Susan Cullen is the chief financial officer of Flushing Bank and a member of its executive management team. Cullen leads the accounting and treasury functions at the bank, where she also is responsible for investor relations. During the pandemic her communication of the bank’s quarterly results and other achievements was crucial to maintaining investor confidence and shareholder value.

During 2020 Cullen was instrumental in completing the acquisition of Empire Bancorp and converting its technology systems within two weeks of the acquisition date, all while working remotely. To assist customers, Cullen implemented the reporting of loans evaluated under the Cares Act. As a board member with the Neighborhood Housing Services of New York City, she is committed to giving back to the community.

In its 228-year history, Stacey Cunningham is the first woman to lead the New York Stock Exchange. Since 2018, when she became president, the NYSE Group has been ahead of innovation in capital markets with the development of direct listings and special-purpose acquisition companies, alternative routes for companies to access public markets. The NYSE represents 2,200 of the world’s largest companies. In addition to the NYSE, Cunningham oversees four other equity exchanges, with nearly $4 trillion of listed exchange-traded fund assets under management, and two equity options exchanges.

Cunningham advocates for members before regulators and lawmakers and speaks on the role of capitalism and free markets. She supports board diversity through the NYSE Board Advisory Council.

At Morgan Stanley, where she has worked for nearly 20 years, Elizabeth Dennis is head of wealth management. The division employs more than 500 advisers in over 55 regional offices, exclusively focused on ultra-high-net-worth individuals, families and their foundations with $20 million-plus in investable assets.

She oversees international wealth management, family office resources, strategic client management, global sports and entertainment, as well as the client and field management group. Previously, as head of strategic client management, Dennis organized a collaboration between the wealth and institutional businesses, more than doubling new assets from prior years. She is involved philanthropically with Feeding America and Student Sponsor Partners, which gives at-risk city children the opportunity for a private-school education.

THE FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY IS NOW OUTPACING OTHER INDUSTRIES IN MAKING CHANGES AT THE BOARD LEVEL. IN 2016 REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN ON FINANCIAL SERVICES BOARDS WAS 4 PERCENTAGE POINTS GREATER THAN FOR OTHER INDUSTRIES. —OLIVER WYMAN, “WOMEN IN FINANCIAL SERVICES 2020”

CINDY DISHMEY MONTGOMERY Head of data strategy, global real assets Morgan Stanley

As head of data strategy for Morgan Stanley, Cindy Dishmey Montgomery works closely with business and investment leaders to develop and implement data and analytics in mission-critical areas of the investment management business. Dishmey Montgomery inspires leaders and global organizations to reimagine the future of their businesses and to achieve their visions with data-driven solutions. She strives toward a competitive advantage with innovative applications of data.

Dishmey Montgomery previously was head of data and analytics at Revantage, a Blackstone real estate portfolio company. Before that, she was head of analytics and business intelligence for the capital markets group at Goldman Sachs. Dishmey Montgomery speaks publicly about data and technology and promotes Black and Latino representation in her field.

STEPHANIE DRESCHER

ADENA FRIEDMAN

EMILY FRITZ

LISA GOLIA

Senior partner and global head of client and product solutions, management committee member Apollo Global Management

President and CEO Nasdaq Inc.

Director of business development LibreMax Capital

Managing director and head of field strategic services Morgan Stanley

The stamina she developed as a college soccer player serves Emily Fritz well as director of business development at LibreMax Capital, an $8 billion asset management firm. Fritz prefers outdoor runs with clients to investor breakfasts and lunches. She has deep limited partner relationships, domestically and abroad, and a strong track record of raising institutional capital.

Before joining LibreMax in 2017, Fritz was director of business development at Coastland Capital, where she managed all aspects of the firm’s fundraising and investor relations efforts globally. She previously held similar roles at Gracie Asset Management and GoldenTree Asset Management. Fritz is a founding board member of Chick Mission, a nonprofit focused on fertility preservation for cancer patients.

As the head of field strategic services, Lisa Golia is focused on bettering the experience of Morgan Stanley’s wealth management clients. Golia manages approximately 8,000 people across the country. She has been responsible for technology enhancements, process improvements and strategic centralization in the wealth management division.

She has helped modernize the end-to-end experience through digital tools that allow clients to securely and efficiently authorize transactions and sign documentation from virtually anywhere.

She has created bespoke concierge centers, which are unique in the industry, to augment Morgan Stanley branches. Golia is a trustee of the Morgan Stanley Foundation, which is focused on the communities where employees live and work. She is an avid volunteer at the Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital.

In 2004 Stephanie Drescher joined Apollo as the manager of a few investment strategies.

Since then she has helped develop Apollo’s more than 30 investment vehicles, covering private equity, credit and real assets.

Drescher has been instrumental in the firm’s 39-fold increase in assets under management, currently totaling $433 billion. In 2020 Apollo introduced a large-scale direct-lending platform with a $12 billion balance sheet, its first impact strategy and a general partner-level special-purpose acquisition company, in addition to new and add-on offerings across aviation, credit, infrastructure and real estate. During 2020, despite Covid-19, Drescher held hundreds of investor calls and led $18 billion in fundraising. She serves on Apollo’s management committee.

14 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | MARCH 8, 2021

When she took over as CEO of Nasdaq in 2017, Adena Friedman became the first woman to head a global exchange. Friedman is a vocal proponent for strong public markets and leveraging technology to even the playing field. She orchestrated Nasdaq’s pivot from an exchange to a global technology company. Nasdaq’s market technology division, which offers trading and settlement technology solutions, has had a 48% increase in revenue in the past four years. Shareholder value returns are 113% during her tenure, and the Nasdaq has continuously listed more initial public offerings each year than its competitors, with 300 in 2020.

Under Friedman’s leadership, Nasdaq filed a Securities and Exchange Commission proposal for the disclosure of diversity in public company boards, an important step toward progress.

Transformational

leadership Ellen R. Alemany Chairwoman and CEO, CIT Group

Congratulations to Ellen Alemany and this year’s honorees on being named to the Crain’s Notable Women on Wall Street list.

Your achievements and dedication inspire us all.

© 2021 CIT Group Inc. All rights reserved. CIT and the CIT logo are registered trademarks of CIT Group Inc. MM#9490

CN020136.indd 1

2/26/21 2:44 PM

MARIA GOTSCH

MARIA A. GRASSO

PAM HABNER

STACY HAISLIP

SUSAN HUANG

President and CEO Partnership Fund for New York City

Senior executive vice president, chief operating officer and corporate secretary Flushing Bank

Head of U.S. branded cards and lending Citi

Director of portfolio management TAG Associates

Vice chairman and global cohead of investment banking Morgan Stanley

Her work ethic goes back to her father’s immigrant roots. As a child, Pam Habner’s dad came to the United States from Italy, worked his way to a scholarship from Georgetown University and served in the U.S. Air Force. At Citi, Habner has forged her own success, most recently as head of branded cards and lending. She launched Chase’s Sapphire Reserve card to widespread acclaim. Habner is bringing features to the market that address the needs of card members amid Covid-19 and aligning with partners to launch offerings such as Citi Flex Pay on Amazon. She recently helped support an initiative to enable transgender and nonbinary customers to use their chosen first name on Citi’s credit cards without a legal name change.

As the director of portfolio management at TAG Associates, Stacy Haislip oversees the firm’s long-only managers. In that role, Haislip cultivates managers who are strong stewards of capital and thoughtful risk managers. She conducts quantitative and qualitative diligence for the firm’s long- only-manager roster, which includes equities, fixed income and liquid alternatives. Haislip has consistently recommended managers who have outperformed to the upside and protected client capital in volatile markets. Her role has expanded into private-equity diligence, where she looks for investment opportunities in the alternatives space. Haislip serves on TAG’s investment committee.

In addition, she is on the board of the Brooklyn Emerging Leaders Academy. BELA is a women’s public charter school in Bedford-Stuyvesant that focuses on science, technology, engineering, arts and math.

Susan Huang is one of the few women to run an investment banking division at a large bank, which she has done at Morgan Stanley since 2018. Huang previously headed mergers and acquisitions for the Americas. In a career of more than 30 years at Morgan Stanley, she has advised the bank’s largest clients on mergers, acquisitions, spinoffs, divestitures and recapitalizations. Huang is noted for her flexible approach and ease in dealing with different cultures and markets. This has been crucial in advising clients across geographies and industries. She is a role model to colleagues at Morgan Stanley. Huang is a member of the board of trustees of Dartmouth College, her alma mater, and the board of trustees of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

Maria Gotsch runs the investment arm of the Partnership for New York City, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing the city’s standing as a center of commerce, innovation and economic opportunity.

The Partnership’s $175 million fund has built a network of experts from investment and corporate communities who identify and support the city’s promising entrepreneurs in the for-profit and nonprofit sectors. One of Gotsch’s priorities has been developing and supporting the city’s fintech ecosystem. She has led the Partnership’s investment in fintech companies such as Cutover, Digital Reasoning, Enigma, Seeqc and Revolution Credit. In addition, she co-founded the FinTech Innovation Lab, an accelerator-style program providing early and growth-stage fintech startups with access to senior executives at high-profile financial institutions.

As Flushing Bank’s chief operating officer, Maria Grasso supervises all the back-office operations and support areas such as compliance, customer service, facilities and human resources. In addition, the 30-year banking pro is responsible for strategic initiatives, including mergers and acquisitions, corporate-wide change management, process reengineering and expense management. Grasso was instrumental in helping the bank deal with the escalating Covid-19 crisis. Under her leadership, Flushing ran its business continuously, servicing its customers while ensuring the health and safety of its employees. Grasso is committed to numerous charitable causes. She is a member of the national board of the American Kidney Fund and a former chair of the United Way of Long Island.

ORGANIZATIONS WITH WOMEN IN THE TOP LEADERSHIP POSITIONS HAVE ALMOST DOUBLE THE NUMBER OF BOARD SEATS HELD BY WOMEN. —DELOITTE

MICHAL KATZ

INNA KHIDEKEL

KARIN KLEIN

FELICIA LA FORGIA

GONCA LATIF-SCHMITT

Head of investment and corporate banking Mizuho Americas

Partner Bridge Investment Group

Founding partner Bloomberg Beta

In recognition of her work for affordable housing and her leadership in growing the Bridge Investment Group, Inna Khidekel became, at 33, the youngest partner in Bridge’s history.

Khidekel devised an affordable housing strategy that is the largest globally.

She is a top capital raiser for new business; she helped grow Bridge’s assets under management from $6 billion, when she joined in 2016, to $25 billion.

Khidekel has a roll-up-yoursleeves approach and an ability to develop and monetize client relationships, which have made Bridge one of the fastest-growing real estate private-equity firms.

She led Bridge’s partnership with New Yorkers for Children, a nonprofit devoted to improving the lives of youth in and transitioning out of foster care.

When the discussion turns to New York City’s most successful investors in venture capital, an industry with few women, Karin Klein’s name comes up. For the past 20 years, Klein has invested in New York startups, developing an expertise in the future of work, artificial intelligence and machine learning, enterprise software, security, and media and communications, among other sectors. At Bloomberg Beta, which has $225 million under management, Klein runs East Coast activities.

Bloomberg Beta focuses on early stage tech companies. Notable investments include goTenna, Lina and Flexport. She also has invested in security companies, including Cobalt Robotics, CyberGRX and Flashpoint. Klein has received numerous press awards. She has advised civic organizations on advancing equitable technology opportunities for all New Yorkers.

Head of corporate banking U.S. Bank corporate and commercial banking

Global head of commercial cards Citi

For more than a decade, Felicia La Forgia has played a key role at U.S. Bank. When the corporate and commercial banking division was restructured in June 2020, La Forgia was a natural fit to head corporate banking. She previously ran the bank’s oil and gas, retail and apparel, and utilities segments, guiding the divisions to strong results.

Today, La Forgia leads client activity throughout all industry, geographic and government sectors; leads community engagement; and heads U.S. Bank’s initiatives in the greater New York City area. Under her leadership, loans have grown by 12%, deposits by 18% and capital markets revenue by more than 40%. Among her volunteer commitments, La Forgia is a trustee of the New York City chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Gonca Latif-Schmitt is head of the commercial cards business at Citi, which provides travel, purchase and virtual card offerings to institutional clients, including corporations, financial companies and public-sector entities. With issuance in more than 60 countries and 45 currencies, the group is recognized as a global market leader. Overall, under Latif-Schmitt’s leadership in 2020, the pipeline increased by 20%, and the business had a 71% win rate and a client retention rate of more than 98%. Latif-Schmitt has implemented strategic initiatives, including a Cards for eCommerce program to drive growth in virtual cards. She helped introduce an intelligent virtual agent capability that allows artificial intelligence in the call centers to provide clients with a consumer-like experience.

Outside of work, Latif-Schmitt advocates for media literacy.

In 2019, when she joined Mizuho Americas, Michal Katz became head of investment and corporate banking. Katz is responsible for banking activity throughout the U.S., Canada and Latin America. In only two years—during a pandemic— she has seen Mizuho America’s revenue grow by 30% annually and its rankings advance in league tables. Katz has driven Mizuho’s expansion of noninvestment grade and equity franchises across corporate and financial sponsor clients. Her initiatives have yielded roles on marquee-leveraged buyouts, initial public offerings, special-purpose acquisition companies and advisory transactions. She has spearheaded Mizuho’s sustainable finance strategy. Katz is on several boards, including the advisory board of the Financial Times.

16 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | MARCH 8, 2021

Mizuho Americas Congratulates Michal Katz At Mizuho, we’re committed to developing and supporting a diverse team of professionals whose fresh perspectives foster creativity and drive excellence.

We congratulate Michal Katz, Head of Investment and Corporate Banking, and all the distinguished women named among Crain’s Most Notable Women on Wall Street.

We are inspired by your leadership and passion to our clients, people and communities.

mizuhoamericas.com © 2021 Mizuho Americas LLC. All rights reserved. Mizuho Financial Group company. All company names used with permission of their respective trademark holders.

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BETH LAWLOR

IDA LIU

MADELINE MARQUEZ

MARY MCNIFF

DORIS MEISTER

President, private wealth management U.S. Bank

Head of private banking North America Citi

Senior vice president, chief external affairs officer Ponce Bank

Chief compliance officer Citi

Executive vice president and head of wealth management Wilmington Trust/M&T Bank

U.S. Bank’s wealth management team of nearly 600 employees in 37 offices nationwide takes its cues from Beth Lawlor. In 2020 Lawlor successfully led her team during the Covid-19 crisis as it confronted the unprecedented task of serving clients, recruiting, and driving growth and expansion into new markets, all in a remote environment. Despite the circumstances, advisor recruiting increased 16% and assets under management grew 8% year over year. Using video meetings to connect with clients, Lawlor turned the challenge of being virtual into a positive. Her division held more than 200 events in 2020, double the previous year’s number. Lawlor is involved with the bank’s Women and Wealth Initiative, which seeks to close the wealth gap between women and men.

Her track record speaks for itself.

Ida Liu has consistently delivered double-digit growth for Citi’s North America Private Bank for the past five years.

In 2020 Liu’s business achieved record results for the firm, exceeding revenue expectations by 12% and growing new client acquisition by 20%. Liu’s team serves 30% of the billionaires in North America. She has helped top Citi leaders develop return-to-work protocols for Citi. Moving from investment banking to fashion to private banking has given her a unique career background. This vantage point has allowed her to think outside the box to identify opportunities. Liu, one of the few Asian female finance executives, is on numerous committees to support women and Asian colleagues.

After quickly fulfilling a mandate to help Ponce Bank become a designated Small Business Administration lender and a certified community development financial institution, Madeline Marquez was promoted to Ponce’s chief external affairs officer in 2018. In her expanded role, Marquez has been responsible for the bank’s Paycheck Protection Program.

During the first two rounds of the program, she processed more than 1,000 PPP applications amounting to $85 million. In a more recent effort, Marquez handled more than 800 applications for more than $65 million in loans. She is the executive director of the bank’s four-yearold Ponce De Leon Foundation, which has provided more than $1 million in grants to community organizations in its branch network.

In June 2020, eight years after she joined Citi, Mary McNiff was promoted to chief compliance officer. Earlier, she was the chief executive officer of Citibank, North America, which accounts for approximately 75% of the bank’s total assets. In her current role, McNiff is working on a plan to improve Citi’s compliance risk management to a level that will make the bank better positioned to address the needs of its clients, regulators and shareholders. McNiff is no stranger to hard work: She attended college during nights and weekends while working at a bank in the United Kingdom to help pay her tuition. To make masks for essential workers during the pandemic, McNiff and her two teenage daughters made mask ear protectors.

With more than four decades of financial and executive management experience, Doris Meister oversees the wealth management business for M&T Bank Corporation, which includes Wilmington Trust. Meister is responsible for setting strategic priorities for the bank and is one of three women on the 15-member management committee. Among her recent successes, she transformed her division’s operating model, enabling the firm to recruit and promote 35 wealth advisors in 18 months and nearly double its client-facing staff. Meister developed portfolio software to assess investment risk and goals.

By leveraging the bank’s balance sheet and delivering innovative lending solutions, she has achieved consistent 12% year-over-year loan growth.

Meister, who believes in promoting diversity, is involved in nonprofits supporting women’s issues.

REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN ON EXECUTIVE COMMITTEES IN MAJOR FINANCIAL SERVICES FIRMS WAS 26% IN 2019, UP 6% FROM 2016.

—OLIVER WYMAN, “WOMEN IN FINANCIAL SERVICES 2020”

ERIN MILES

DONNA MILROD

TERESA MIRELES HOUGH

CARIN MUHLBAUM

Co-Lead of equity research Bridgewater Associates

Executive vice president and head of the Global Asset Managers Segment and Global Clients Division State Street Corporation

Partner, chief asset officer Bridge Debt Strategies

General counsel Schroders

Having distinguished herself as the head of asset management at Bridge Debt Strategies, Teresa Mireles Hough was promoted to partner this year. Mireles Hough has more than 20 years’ expertise in structured finance and commercial real estate. For the past five years at Bridge, she has been building its asset management and underwriting platform, which has grown to more than $7 billion of assets under management. Her recent work on a Freddie Mac K-series B piece bond investment placed Bridge as a preferred investor, capturing one of the largest market shares.

Mireles Hough has led initiatives for women’s empowerment at her firm. Externally, she is devoted to the Toigo Foundation, which supports diverse leadership within organizations, and Covenant House, a nonprofit that helps young people facing homelessness.

Carin Muhlbaum brings more than 20 years’ legal experience to her role as general counsel at Schroders, a position she has held since 2003. In her job, Muhlbaum is tasked with strategic, organizational and human resources matters, as well as potential ethical and reputational issues. She has been a trusted strategic advisor to senior management across the global investment management firm. Muhlbaum has managed and mentored teams of legal, compliance and human resources professionals. She is involved in corporate responsibility initiatives at Schroders. She also advises on a range of environmental, social and corporate governance issues.

Muhlbaum is a member of the firm’s management committee and a founding member of the Schroders’ Gender Equality Network.

At hedge fund giant Bridgewater Associates, Erin Miles is a co-lead of equity research and a senior investor. After more than 10 years at the fund, she is driving the firm’s broad research agenda, working alongside Bridgewater’s co-chief investment officers Ray Dalio, Bob Prince and Greg Jensen. Miles also co-heads the fund’s equity team, converting insights and investigations into investment algorithms. Miles has pioneered Bridgewater’s systematic approach for micro-research at scale, directing a task force spanning Bridgewater’s technology, engineering and investment groups. Her views on financial market trends and the implications for global economies have frequently been featured in the firm’s research pieces in Bridgewater Daily Observations. Miles is a champion of diversity and empowerment for women starting their careers.

Donna Milrod joined State Street in 2018 after more than two decades in banking, to launch and develop its global clients division. The division caters to State Street’s largest and most complex clients and generates from 60% to 70% of the firm’s revenue.

Its clients include traditional asset and alternatives managers, insurance companies and asset owners. Milrod’s teams have streamlined user interactions, removed internal silos and provided customized solutions based entirely on a client’s portfolio. Her work has generated impressive revenue growth.

The processes implemented by her team were so successful that State Street expanded them to an additional level of customers.

Milrod is a member of State Street’s management committee and a mentor to female colleagues.

18 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | MARCH 8, 2021

A GLOBAL SURVEY OF 1,000 COMPANIES SHOWS THAT THOSE IN THE TOP QUARTILE FOR GENDER DIVERSITY ON EXECUTIVE TEAMS WERE 21% MORE LIKELY TO OUTPERFORM ON PROFITABILITY. —MCKINSEY

FIVE LEADERS. ENDLESS APPRECIATION.

Congratulations to Pam Habner, Gonca Latif-Schmitt, Ida Liu, Mary McNiff and Carolyn Sheridan for making Crain’s New York Notable Women on Wall Street list.

Thank you for bringing success to all of us with your inspiring leadership.

From your Citi Family

© 2021 Citigroup Inc.

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KIM MUSTIN

JANE NEWTON

RACQUEL ODEN

NORA PINILLA SHAPIRO

KIM-THU POSNETT

Senior managing director Bernstein Private Wealth Management

Partner and wealth advisor RegentAtlantic

Managing director, Northeast division director, consumer banking JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Senior vice president, head of international preferred banking International Finance Bank

Global head of investment banking services Goldman Sachs

Client needs and effective teamwork are the two most important aspects of Nora Pinilla Shapiro’s work. Since joining International Finance Bank in 2018, Pinilla Shapiro has coordinated the establishment, design and development of the bank’s New York Banking Center in Midtown, where she maintains a portfolio of high-networth Latin American and domestic clients. The quality of Pinilla Shapiro’s relationships with her international clients has led her to multigenerational repeat business. She is proud of being able to foster these relationships while working within the restrictions typical of smaller banks. Pinilla Shapiro began her banking career in 1982 at Union Chelsea National Bank, a Modern Bank predecessor, where she worked for several years.

In January it became official: Kim-Thu Posnett is the first woman and the youngest person to be named global head of investment banking services at Goldman Sachs.

The promotion recognized Posnett’s ability to develop strong client relationships and her track record in leading landmark technology deals. In her new post, she is responsible for driving Goldman’s banking client coverage strategy. Posnett previously she served as co-chief operating officer of the global technology, media and telecom group. She was co-head of the internet investment banking business. In that role she provided advice in some of the firm’s most high-profile deals, including initial public offerings for Etsy, Pinterest, Demandware and Wayfair.

Posnett, who is passionate about education, is on the board of the Posse Foundation, which provides merit-based scholarships to promising students.

Karin Mustin’s first job at the Treasury Department inspired her to build a career around financial literacy, and this commitment remains her priority, whether she is helping children prepare for inherited wealth or educating clients on unfamiliar investment opportunities. As a senior managing director at Bernstein, Mustin co-leads its largest office in New York, with approximately 250 employees, and works closely with clients to identify investments that match their beliefs and goals. Her expertise in serving complex clients, as well as a desire to help people feel secure in their wealth, benefits high-net-worth individuals and families over multi-generations. Mustin is committed to developing diverse talent. She is the executive sponsor for Bernstein’s Women of Wealth initiative, which offers mentoring opportunities.

In 2005 Jane Newton joined RegentAtlantic to advise individuals and families on their financial and personal objectives. Newton had 17 years of Wall Street experience before becoming a financial planner.

Drawing on her banking background, she has a particular focus on the unique needs of Wall Street’s female professionals that extends to their career and personal issues. Her expertise includes addressing the challenges of employer stock-related compensation and evaluating career options in the context of each client’s goals. In 2010 Newton launched its annual RegentAtlantic Wall Street Women Forum, an event designed exclusively for high-level women on Wall Street to help them continue their professional success. She was named to Barron’s Top 100 Women Financial Advisors in 2019.

She was the first in her family to attend college, and her first job out of college was in the mailroom at Publisher’s Clearinghouse, where she worked the night shift. The experience made Racquel Oden, a daughter of immigrants whose mother pushed her to focus and work hard, realize she wanted a career on Wall Street. Today she is head of national sales for Chase consumer banking, with responsibility for more than $980 billion in deposits and investments. Oden, recognized by her peers and industry, leads more than 40,000 employees in the Northeast. She previously spent eight years in leadership roles at Merrill Lynch. Oden is on the boards of the Apollo Theater and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.

REDUCING GENDER INEQUALITY COULD ADD 6% GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT GROWTH TO ADVANCED ECONOMIES OVER 20 YEARS. —CITI, “GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES & SOLUTIONS”

TIFFANI POTESTA

KIM POTVIN

GLORIA RADEFF

NITYA RAJENDRAN

JOSEPHINE SAVASTANO

Chief administrative officer, North America Schroders

Senior vice president Merrill Lynch

Founding member, partner and chief administrative officer LibreMax Capital

Senior associate Tribeca Venture Partners

Chief lending officer Valley National Bank

Nitya Rajendran attributes her intellectual curiosity, passion for working with entrepreneurs and collaborative approach to her success in the venture-capital industry.

Rajendran leads early stage investments in consumer-tech, fintech and business-to-business companies. She joined Tribeca Venture Partners as an associate in 2017, and she was promoted to senior associate in 2019. Rajendran sourced and led Tribeca’s Series A investment in 1Huddle and has worked on numerous other deals, including investments in Clean.io, Spiffy, Vivvi, Domio and Ampjar. The lifelong New Yorker is a board member for Off the Record, an organization that creates curated forums for founders. In addition, she is on the Young Professionals Committee at Neythri, a global community for South Asian female professionals.

Josephine Savastano is the youngest of four children and the first in her family to receive a college degree. After graduating from St. Francis College in Brooklyn, where she received a full scholarship, she joined National Westminster Bank in 1987 and entered is 18-month credit training program. Savastano then progressed through her career with several New York banks. She spent five years at Wells Fargo before joining Valley Bank, where she is now the chief lending officer. Savastano was recently honored by the Queens Center for Progress as 2020’s Businesswoman of the Year.

Savastano has been dedicated to women’s career development and mentorship and is the leadership advisor for Valley’s new resource group, Women Influencing Success and Empowerment.

As the chief administrative officer for Schroders North America, Tiffani Potesta handles business management and strategy. In addition, Potesta heads product and marketing, sustainability and client service for the Americas.

When Schroders shifted its intermediary business strategy to create a subadvisory relationship with Hartford Funds, she led a team to grow the legacy intermediary business from $2.5 billion to more than $8 billion. Potesta has held several executive roles at Schroders in the past nine years. She has assisted in redefining Schroders’ distribution business, as well as its CEO transition to structure the firm as a well-diversified institutional and subadvised intermediary.

Potesta is chair of Schroders’ gender equality network, which promotes an inclusive and diverse culture at the firm.

Early in life Kim Potvin learned that a financial plan can become derailed without a sound advisor.

The experience motivated her to become a certified financial planner and to develop a systematic planning process for the wealth management team she co-heads at Merrill Lynch.

Potvin creates customized plans to simulate the viability of her clients’ financial goals and identifies strategies to help them incorporate their personal values. Potvin’s process was adapted by Merrill Lynch as a standard for wealth management planning. In 2020 she was named to Forbes’ America’s Top Women Wealth Advisors list.

Potvin is a member of the leadership committee of the New York City chapter of Merrill Lynch’s Women’s Exchange, which fosters networking and career development opportunities.

Gloria Radeff credits her childhood move from Germany with creating an ability to adapt to new environments and maintain an open mind toward others’ approaches.

Radeff has transitioned from an investment analyst to a strategic role. Since 2010 she has been responsible for developing policies for asset management firm LibreMax Capital, with specific oversight of the firm’s operations, finance and accounting, technology and human resources departments. Radeff also is involved in business development opportunities, including the minority investment from Neuberger Berman Group’s Dyal Capital Partners in 2018, and the firm’s acquisition of Trimaran Advisors, with $3 billion in assets under management, in 2019. During the pandemic, Radeff led LibreMax’s continuity plans.

20 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | MARCH 8, 2021

COPY EDITOR ______ COLD READER ______ WRITER ______ SENIOR EDITOR ______ FINAL ______

Applauding our leaders

Felicia La Forgia

Beth Lawlor

Christine Waldron

Executive Vice President

Senior Vice President

Senior Vice President

Head of Corporate Banking U.S. Bank Corporate & Commercial Banking

President U.S. Bank Private Wealth Management

Chief Global Strategy Officer and Head of Client Management U.S. Bank Global Fund Services

Congratulations to Felicia La Forgia, Beth Lawlor and Christine Waldron for being selected as Notable Women on Wall Street! U.S. Bank proudly recognizes your outstanding leadership and contributions to our industry. You’ve built a culture of integrity and inclusivity that inspires us all.

usbank.com

Member FDIC. ©2021 U.S. Bank 498705 2/21

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ALLISON SCHWARTZ

LISA SHALETT

SUZANNE SHANK

CAROLYN SHERIDAN

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Relationship Manager, Corporate Client Banking and Specialized Industries JPMorgan Chase

Wealth management chief, investment officer and head of the global investment office Morgan Stanley

President, CEO and co-founder Siebert Williams Shank

Managing director, head of banking, capital markets and advisory risk and control Citi

C B

During her 14-year career at JPMorgan Chase, Allison Schwartz has stepped up to challenges and new opportunities. This has facilitated her rise from an analyst to an executive director, with more than 30 technology clients. Schwartz started out working with mega-cap technology, media and telecom companies on debt issuances, helping them raise hundreds of billions of dollars in capital and leading more than 25 debut bond offerings. After 11 years in that role, she moved to corporate client banking in 2018.

Schwartz assists fast-growing companies prepare for an initial public offering, raise capital or build out their treasury functions. In addition to her client portfolio, Schwartz mentors a team of bankers.

Lisa Shalett delivers asset allocation advice for one of the world’s largest wealth managers, serving nearly 16,000 financial advisors overseeing approximately $4 trillion in client assets. In 2020 Shallett helped deliver Morgan Stanley’s bold and nonconsensus advice to add aggressively to risk assets at the height of the pandemic, a prescient call. She also is head of the Global Investment Office, a 165-member research department that delivers market research and advice. Shalett is well known for her ability to parse complex investment strategy. She is a frequent contributor to CNBC, Bloomberg TV and The Wall Street Journal. Across the industry, Shalett is among the most influential representatives of the LGBTQ community and is a vocal advocate for diversity and inclusion efforts.

WOMEN MAKE UP 27% OF THE 2020 PARTNER CLASS AT GOLDMAN SACHS, SURPASSING THE PREVIOUS RECORD OF 26% IN 2018.”

—GOLDMAN SACHS

In financial services for more than 30 years, Suzanne Shank has built the top-ranked minority- and woman-owned investment banking firm in the country.

Shank founded the firm, along with Muriel Siebert, the first woman to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, in 1986. Siebert Williams Shank is a full-service investment bank offering debt and equity origination services to a wide range of Fortune 500 companies and debt underwriting for municipal clients nationally. As a manager of 228 investment grade corporate debt offerings, SWS had its busiest year in 2020. The investment bank served as a co-lead manager on the Pershing Square Tontine Holdings’ $4 billion initial public offering, the largest special purpose acquisition corporation offering.

To make sure that a robust governance, conduct and control framework is applied across all regions and products, Carolyn Sheridan works closely with the business risk teams at Citi.

Sheridan also partners with legal entity governance teams. Before this, Sheridan was the chief operating officer of global corporate banking. Her primary focus as COO was to drive the implementation of strategy and alignment with the broader corporate and investment bank business objectives. Sheridan worked with the bank’s leadership and management team and partners in human resources, finance and risk to ensure execution of key initiatives. She supports her local community by promoting education for minority groups.

We take many paths to value Congratulations to our Senior Partner and Global Head of Client & Product Solutions, Stephanie Drescher, and all of the other nominees on being included in the 2021 Notable Women on Wall Street list!

Bethesda

El Segundo

New Delhi

New York

Frankfurt Powai

Hong Kong

Purchase

Houston

San Diego

London

Shanghai

Los Angeles

Singapore

Luxembourg

Tokyo

Madrid

Mumbai

Woodland Hills

www.apollo.com

22 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | MARCH 8, 2021

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LUVLEEN SIDHU

KENDRA SMITH

LAURA SPIEKERMAN

DANA TELSEY

Co-founder and CEO BM Technologies Inc.

Managing director, public finance Moody’s Investor Service

CEO, Chief research officer Telsey Advisory Group

Luvleen Sidhu is one of the youngest female founders and chief executives of a public company. Sidhu is the head of BM Technologies, a digital-banking platform that was recently formed from the sale of BankMobile Technologies to special-purpose acquisition company Megalith Financial Acquisition Corp. The new company, BM Technologies, is among the first publicly traded, financial-technology bank companies and SPAC mergers of the year. Sidhu helped develop the company’s banking-as-a-service model, which acquires customers at higher volumes and substantially lower expense than traditional banks. BM Technologies recently forged an agreement with Google to introduce digital bank accounts. In her spare time, Sidhu works as a health and wellness coach and mentors women.

At Moody’s Investor Service, the bond credit rating business, Kendra Smith is a managing director responsible for several teams in the public finance group. They include health care, global higher education, nonprofits and housing.

Smith previously was in the corporate finance group, leading the high-yield team and the retail, apparel, restaurants, gaming and lodging group. In a 20-year career at Moody’s, she has covered a myriad of industries as a lead analyst and a ratings chairperson. Smith has authored special comments on topics such as refunding risk, needs of nonfinancial companies and rating methodologies. At Moody’s she is a past co-chairperson of the Women’s Employee Resource Group, a senior advisor of the Black Inclusion Group and a member of the Diversity Council.

Co-founder and chief revenue officer Alloy

FORTY-FIVE PERCENT OF JPMORGAN CHASE’S OPERATING COMMITTEE IS MADE UP OF WOMEN, AS IS 30% OF THE FIRM’S SENIOR LEADERS. —JPMORGANCHASE

Laura Spiekerman is a co-founder of six-year-old Alloy, a software company that helps financial services firms navigate the complex regulatory requirements that come with identifying their customers when onboarding. Alloy’s technology provides access to traditional and alternative data sources to convert more customers. Spiekerman played a critical role in helping secure Alloy’s $13 million in Series A funding in 2019, followed by a $40 million in Series B funding in 2020. Spiekerman began her financial services career as one of the first employees at an early stage software-as-a-service startup in the mobile payment space in Kenya. As a woman in fintech, Spiekerman prioritizes diversity and inspires other females to pursue careers in a male-dominated field.

After more than a decade at Bear Stearns, Dana Telsey founded Telsey Advisory Group in 2006.

Since then, TAG has grown to be a leading equity research, trade execution, investment banking and consulting firm, focused on the consumer space. Among its areas of coverage are apparel manufacturers, children’s and teen retailers, consumer electronics, cosmetics, department stores, discounters, footwear and office suppliers.

Telsey has followed more than 100 companies during her 31-year career, and she is the only U.S.-based analyst to provide complete analysis of the European luxury goods sector.

TAG is certified as a women-owned business enterprise by several states and cities. For more than 25 years, Telsey has led classes and conferences on economics, education, professional development and urban revitalization.

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Small enough to know you.

Large enough to help you.® FlushingBank.com

Flushing Bank is a registered trademark

MARCH 8, 2021 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 23

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MEENA THEVER

KELLY TULLIER

MONALI VORA

CHRISTINE WALDRON

Managing director, capital markets Bridge Investment Group

Executive vice president, chief legal and administrative officer Visa

To bring together people and ideas to drive her business and strengthen her community, Meena Thever leverages her diverse educational, political, financial and social networks.

As a managing director at Bridge Investment Group, a $25 billion real estate private-equity fund, Thever is in charge of product development and capital formation and works with institutional investors, including pension plans, insurance companies, university endowments and foundations. She previously was a director at BlackRock. Thever is a leader in the broader community; she was appointed to Manhattan Community Board 8, representing the Upper East Side and Roosevelt Island, and was on the board of Futures and Options, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering New York City’s underserved youth.

At Visa, where she has worked since 2014, Kelly Tullier oversees legal and compliance, global communications and corporate services. Tullier was previously Visa’s general counsel; in that role she led a team of 275 employees. In 2020 Tullier was the interim head of Visa’s human resources, during the Covid-19 pandemic and social justice campaigns. Tullier had a key role in Visa’s Black Scholars and Jobs Program. Tullier is a champion of inclusion and diversity. Her efforts were recognized in 2019 by the Minority Corporate Counsel Association, which awarded Visa its National Employer of Choice Award.

Tullier co-leads Visa’s Gender Inclusion Council, and she is the executive sponsor of Visa’s Women’s Network, which focuses on developing female talent.

Partner, head of customized beta strategies Goldman Sachs Asset Management

Senior vice president, chief global strategy officer and head of client management U.S. Bank Global Fund Services

Monali Vora has spent the past 20 years at Goldman Sachs, where she is the head of customized beta strategies for its quantitative investment strategies platform. In this capacity Vora leads portfolio management, product development and strategy, as well as technology-related projects. Vora has grown the customized, tax-managed business for the asset management group from less than $100 million in 2000 to more than $94 billion in assets across 16,000 separately managed accounts. She is a portfolio manager on six of the bank’s mutual funds totaling $8.9 billion in assets. Vora was named a partner in November 2020. She is focused on hiring and mentoring female talent in the quantitative investment strategies group, a historically male-dominated field.

At U.S. Bank Global Fund Services, Christine Waldron leads the mutual fund administration, tax, relationship management, and product and strategy teams. In this capacity, Waldron implements key business initiatives, including strategic and technology planning, and product development and business integration.

Her ability to anticipate industry trends and quickly develop a strategic direction has led to her success. In 2020, as a result of expanded product offerings, U.S. Bank saw an increase of more than 37% in new business across all services. Waldron is on the board of Student Partner Alliance of New Jersey, which provides opportunities for children in underserved areas to attend private high schools.

RESEARCH SHOWS THAT COMPANY PROFITS AND SHARE PERFORMANCE CAN BE CLOSE TO 50% HIGHER WHEN WOMEN ARE WELL REPRESENTED AT THE TOP. —MCKINSEY

AWARD CATEGORIES: n DIVERSITY CHAMPIONS n EMERGING LEADERS n TOP D&I OFFICERS n BOARD HEROES n CIVIC DIVERSITY HEROES Crain’s first annual Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion Awards will celebrate New York City individuals and businesses that lead by example and hold themselves and others accountable for diversity-and-inclusion initiatives.

Join Crain’s New York Business in our commitment to celebrate diversity and cultivate a culture of belonging when you nominate a business professional or organization today for the awards program.

Finalists will be recognized June 21 in a special issue. Winners will be announced at an awards reception in July and recognized in an issue appearing the week after the event.

NOMINATE TODAY: CrainsNewYork.com/Nominations Deadline to nominate: March 12

24 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | MARCH 8, 2021

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Notice of Qualification of Fintech Meetup, LLC. Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/15/21. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 01/11/21. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 605 3rd Ave., 26th Fl., NY, NY 10158. Address to be maintained in DE: Registered Agent Solutions, Inc., 9 E. Loockerman St., Ste. 311, Dover, DE 19901. Arts of Org. filed with the DE Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activities.

Notice of Qualification of STORY VENTURES MANAGEMENT, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/19/21. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 10/24/18. Princ. office of LLC: 50 W. 17th St., 2nd Fl., NY, NY 10011. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the princ. office of the LLC. DE addr. of LLC: Corporation Service Co., 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808-1674. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of PRIVATE EQUITY V GP LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/11/21. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 01/04/21. Princ. office of LLC: 9 W. 57th St., 12th Fl., NY, NY 10019.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c /o Summit Rock Advisors, LP at the princ. office of the LLC. DE addr. of LLC: c/o Corporation Service Co., 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, 401 Federal St. - Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Investments.

Notice of Formation of CLOUD NINE HOLDINGS, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/12/21. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 483 Tenth Ave., NY, NY 10018. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the addr. of its princ. office. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of formation of King Durian LLC. Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of NY (SSNY) on 10/ 07/2020. Office Location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served. The Post Office address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/her is: 7014 13th Avenue, Suite 202BRO, Brooklyn, NY 11228. The principal business address of the LLC is: 456 Washington Street, Apt 6A, New York, NY. Purpose: any lawful act or activity.

Glen Falls DB Developer LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 11/16/20. Office: New York County.

SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, c/oDuvernay + Brooks, 2095 Broadway, Ste 404, New York, NY 10023. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

HOCNYCO LLC has filed Articles of Organization filed with Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 1/18/2019. Office location: New York. SSNY is designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 355 South End Ave, #3B, New York NY, 10280. Purpose: any lawful act or activity.

Notice of Qualification of PEG COINVESTMENT FUND L.P. Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/11/21. Office location: NY County. LP formed in Delaware (DE) on 10/29/20. Duration of LP is Perpetual. SSNY designated as agent of LP upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207.

Name and addr. of each general partner are available from SSNY. DE addr. of LP: CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of LP filed with DE Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of TOWER ENTERPRISES GROUP LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/11/21. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in New Jersey (NJ) on 12/30/20. Princ. office of LLC: 256 W. 36th St., 8th Fl., NY, NY 10018. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC, 61 Reservoir Ave., Apt. 2, Jersey City, NJ 07307. Cert. of Form. filed with State Treasurer, 33 W. State St., Fifth Fl., Trenton, NJ 08646. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF MID-TOWN EAST DISTRIBUTING LLC. Articles of Organization filed with Secretary of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/19/2021.

Office location: New York County.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to: The LLC, 216 East 45th St. Suite 1302, New York, NY 10017.

Purpose: any lawful activity.

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF AfroConex LLC. Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/22/20. Office location: NEW YORK County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served. The Post Office address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/her is: 119 Payson Ave, Apt 6E, New York, NY 10034. The principal business address of the LLC is: 119 Payson Ave, Apt 6e, New York, NY 10034. Purpose: any lawful act or activity Notice of Qualification of VEKOMA CAPITAL ADVISORS, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/04/21. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 01/15/21. Princ. office of LLC: 3 Peter Cooper Rd., 3A, NY, NY 10010. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 122072543. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19807.

Cert. of Form. filed with DE Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., #4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Hedge fund.

POSITIONS AVAILABE Notice of formation of SEAPORT SNAK NYC, LLC. Arts of Org filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 1/8/21. Office location: NY County.

SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy of process against LLC to: 130 Barrow St., #511, NY, NY 10014 . Purpose: any lawful act.

Notice of Qualification of CONNECT CCC, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/13/21. Office location: NY Cou nty. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 07/29/19. Princ. office of LLC: One Park Ave., Ste. 1412, NY, NY 10016.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c /o Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., #4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Residential ISP Provider.

NOTICE OF FORMATION NXTTHING RPO, LLC Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on October 21, 2020. Office location: NEW YORK County. LLC formed in Ohio on Mach 22, 2019.

SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served. The Post Office address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/her is: 28 Liberty Street, New York, NY 10005. The principal business address of the LLC is: 7298 Upper Clarenton, Drive South, New Albany, Ohio 43054. Ohio address of LLC is: 7298 Upper Clarenton, Drive South, New Albany, 0hio 43054. Certificate of LLC filed with Secretary of State of Ohio located at: 22 North Fourth Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215. Purpose: any lawful act or activity.

NOTICE OF QUALIFICAITON of HVPF MANAGER II, LLC. App. For Auth. filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 01-06-21. Office location: New York County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 01-15-20. SSNY is designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of any process to: 28 Liberty Street, New York, New York 10005. DE address of LLC: c/o 1209 Orange Street, Wilmington, DE 19801. Articles of Org. filed with DE Secy of State, 401 Federal Street, Ste 3, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activity.

NOTICE OF FORMATION of Optimal Health and Greatness LLC.Arts of Org filed with Secy.State of NY (SSNY) on 8/20/20 Office location:NY County.

SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail a copy of process against LLC to 310 E 46th St,#9G, NY, NY 10017.R/A US Corp Agents, Inc. 7014 13th Ave, #202, BK, NY 11228 Purpose: any lawful act

Notice of formation of Limited Liability Company name:Walker 9, LLC Art. Of Org. Filed Sec. of State of NY 06/07/2017. Off. Loc.: Richmond Co. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY to mail copy of process to The LLC, 209 Granite Ave Staten Island NY. Purpose: Any lawful act or activity

Lead Engineer (WorldQuant, LLC / New York, NY) – Lead team of engneers dvlpg & maintng numerous internl business apps. Reqs Bach in Comp Sci, Comp Engrg, Software Engrg or FOVO\ UODWG ÀHOG \UV RI H[S LQ MRE RIIUG RU \UV RI H[S DV :HE $UFKLWHFW RU Software Engineer, &/or Web DevelopHU RU LQ VLPLODU SRVLWQV LQ WKH ÀQDQFH LQGXVWU\ %NJG LQ HGXF WUDLQJ RU H[S must incl kwlg of database systms incldg 0\64/ 3RVWJUH64/ H[S Z UHTXUPWV DQO\VLV XVHU LQWHUIDFH GHVLJQ XVHU H[S design, & web technlgies incldg HTTP, 5(67 $3,V +70/ 5HDFW 6FUXP $JLOH NZOJ RI DXWKHQWLFWQ DXWKRUL]WQ LQIR security, distrbutd systems, scaling, high availblty, & netwrkg. Send resumes to Sandra.DiCairano@worldquant.com; ref MRE WLWOH LQ VXEMFW OLQH Vice President, Portfolio Management (w/ Specialization) & Special Assistant to the Global Research Directors Engineer (WorldQuant, LLC / New York, NY) – Dvlp & maintain statsticl arbitrage stratgies for own portfolio, using forecastg models as inputs. Reqs Bach or higher in Mathematics, Comp Sci, Electrical Engrg, Comp Engrg, Electrical & Comp Engrg, Statistics, Physics, Operations Research or similar quantitative ÀHOG \UV H[S LQ MRE RIIUG RU \UV H[S as Regional Research Director, VP, Research, Sr. Quantitative Researcher, or in similar position(s). Bkgd in educ, traing RU H[S PXVW LQFO VRIWZDUH SURJUDPPJ H[S DW XQLY OHYHO LQ DW OHDVW RQH RI WKH IROlowing: C, C++, Java, Python, or Matlab; mathmaticl maturity, incldg undrstndg of anlysis linear algebra, logic, probablity & statstics, & basic optmizatn concpts.

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PUBLIC & LEGAL NOTICES SUSHI LAB LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 02/16/2021. Office loc: NY County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 132 W 47th St, NY, NY 10036. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.

Notice of Formation of Bluebird Capital LLC, Articles of Organization filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSYNY) on 3/19/19. Office location: NY County.

SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy of process against LLC to 1562 First Ave, #205-2089 NY, NY 10028. /A: US Corp Agents, INC 7014 13th Ave, #202, BK, NY 11228. Purpose: any lawful act.

Notice of Formation of COMMUNITYPOLICE RELATIONS FOUNDATION OF NEW YORK, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 0 1/13/21. Office location: NY County.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c /o Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. Purpose: Charitable entity.

2496 Amsterdam LLC, Arts of Org. filed SSNY 11/05/20. Office: NY Co. SSNY design agent of LLC upon whom process may be served & mail to c/o Yeshiva University, 500 West 185th St., Belfer Hall Ste. 1001, NY, NY 10033. General Purpose.

MARCH 8, 2021 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 25

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SCANDAL FROM PAGE 1

MANHATTAN PROTESTERS call for a tax on the wealthy last year.

SHUTTERSTOCK

feel uncomfortable,” he said. “It was unintentional and I truly and deeply apologize for it. I feel awful about and, frankly, I feel embarrassed about it.”

The accusations have prompted an investigation by Attorney General Letitia James.

Last Friday, the legislature was expected to scale back the emergency power that the governor was granted during the height of the pandemic.

In addition to questions over his administration’s handling of nursing homes during the height of the pandemic, these allegations come at a politically sensitive time—budget negotiations with the Democratic leadership will begin this month.

“I’m going to cooperate with the Attorney General’s investigation and do the budget,” he said.

Cuomo has generally been a hindrance to progressives in both chambers of the Legislature, but this year Senate Democrats are more intent to raise taxes on the richest New Yorkers than they have

fellow at the Empire Center, a conservative think tank. “And Cuomo is the first Democratic governor to be facing two Democratic supermajorities.”

Even Cuomo appears to have acknowledged the new political reality. In January he announced a plan to raise New York’s state and local tax rate to the highest level in the nation.

Budget negotiations could be further complicated in March if additional accusations are made against Cuomo.

“Will he cave to the progressive left on spending and taxes in hopes of softening the attacks on him over alleged sexual harassment?” McMahon asked. “That’s what it comes down to. Because he has the power. He’s still in the driver’s seat.”

“WE HAVE TO DO IT IN A WAY THAT DOES NOT KILL THE GOLDEN GOOSE” been historically.

“It’s obviously a distraction for the governor, and that’s one part of it,” longtime political operative George Arzt said. “The other part is the governor being in a weakened position, he will have a limited number of fights in him on budget items.”

No less than eight wealth tax bills have been introduced in the Senate’s 2021-22 legislative session.

The bills seek to raise taxes on millionaire and billionaire residents through either higher income tax rates or new capital gains and stock transfer taxes.

A new focus For most of his 10 years as governor, Cuomo has resisted tax increases, going so far as to call a proposed millionaire's tax “an impossibility” in 2017.

“In any budget situation, the governor is the adult in the room,” explained McMahon, who has studied Albany for more than three decades. “The Legislature majorities are less inclined to be fiscally responsible. They run into debts and say yes to everyone.”

Cuomo’s long-held resistance to tax increases on the wealthy appears inspired by data that indicate those richest New Yorker’s already make a substantial contribution to the state’s financial portfolio.

Supermajorities “They want a radical expansion of taxation in ways and to levels never before contemplated or considered in New York or any other state,” said E.J. McMahon, senior

BILL FROM PAGE 1

infractions rather than issuing fines.

“This is about giving small businesses a fighting chance,” Gjonaj said, “and not allowing them to be a piggy bank they’ve been treated as all along.”

A rival plan, introduced by Councilman Fernando Cabrera, tries to strike a balance between easing city debt from small businesses by offering to forgive a portion of their fines incurred during the Covid-19 crisis.

His measure applies only to shops that went into default on their fines or shut down after March 2020.

“The amnesty will be able to essentially help them pay what they owe, and it eliminates the extra bur-

CABRERA

NYC COUNCIL .GOV

Another proposal

den of fees and interest of penalties for missed summonses,” Cabrera said.

Cabrera’s small-business relief legislation would be administered by the Department of Finance and cover violations attached to codes

26 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | MARCH 8, 2021

Wealthy New Yorkers pay an 8.82% top marginal rate in state income taxes. Combined with the city’s 3.88% rate, that top marginal tax rate jumps to 12.7%, second in the nation only to California's.

The top 1% of earners—roughly 107,000 filers statewide—paid 38.3% of New York’s income tax liability in 2018, according to Department of Taxation figures. The top 0.03% with adjusted gross income of $10 million or more—roughly 2,722 state residents—paid nearly 20% of the state’s total tax liability in 2018.

But these numbers are simply not enough to many residents, especially to an emboldened Democratic Party voting base that elected Senate Democrats to a 43-seat supermajority in November.

“I do think that people are tired of the same old, same old,” said Barbara Denham, senior economist at Moody’s. “There’s a lot of momentum behind this progressive movement.”

Growing inequality The devastation that the pandemic thrust on Black and brown communities in the outer boroughs laid bare deadly quality-of-life inequalities in health care and housing. Black and Hispanics accounted for 47% of all New York Covid-19 deaths, even though Black and Hispanics are only 33% of New York’s population, the Kaiser Family Foundation reported.

An analysis from the Center for an Urban Future found income disparities between Black and white workers in nearly every industry in New York City, and Data USA cenfrom the same city agencies.

If there were a judgment of default on the small businesses because they didn’t attend a hearing, Cabrera explained, the amnesty amount would be the base penalty without the additional penalties of interest for failing to attend the hearing, and a 25% discount would be taken off any initial fine.

His plan, however, would be no free ride to those businesses that willingly violate the city codes.

“If corrective action is needed, they’re able to get the reduced penalty and are given three months to do the corrected action,” Cabrera said. “If they don’t do it in three months, then it comes back to full penalty.”

Cabrera said his proposal would create an organic reward system for small businesses to comply with city codes and motivate owners to

sus reports showed more than 25% of Hispanics in the city lived below the poverty line in 2018.

There are 120 billionaires in New York state who hold more than $600 billion in wealth, Americans for Tax Fairness found. New York billionaires have seen their profits grow by $88 billion during the pandemic, the public policy group said.

“New York has one of the most unequal distributions of income and wealth in the country,” said Michael Mazerov, a senior fellow at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. “People at the bottom pay a higher share of their income than people at the top do.”

The top 1% took home 31% of the wealth in New York, according to 2015 data from the Economic Policy Institute, a lberal think tank. This same data show that the top 1% made 39.4% more than the rest of the citizenry, and the average income in Manhattan for the top 1% was $8.9 million; the remaining 99% average $79,528.

New Yorkers appear prepared to welcome what they consider a long-overdue increase on the wealthy, including members of the business community. Approximately 42.5% of 318 executives and business leaders surveyed by Crain’s this year say a “millionaires tax” should be imposed by the state to help pay for the city’s recovery.

All this has created difficult political considerations for the Senate.

“Not everyone is in favor of the millionaires tax in the Democratic caucus, but certainly the progressive wing of the caucus will be pushing for it and the governor will have a tough time,” Arzt said. “He can push back, but he doesn’t have the clout or intimidation that he did a few weeks ago.”

Sen. James Sanders Jr., chairman of the Banking Committee, includes sunset provisions in his wealth tax bill, so as not to alienate New York’s financial community.

“We have to do it in a way that does not kill the golden goose,” he said. “We are in a capitalist system, and we want New York to be the most effective place for capitalism to thrive in the nation.”

Sanders also introduced a bill that would repeal the rebate on pay any future or back-end fines in a timely manner.

“It will gain money and will cost the city nothing. People will get a letter telling them what the discount will be and then, boom, we get the money,” he said. “It will incentivize people to pay it.”

Pushback Cabrera’s plan is still being drafted, so it remains to be seen if his measure will receive support.

Speaker Corey Johnson has backed Gjonaj and Gibson’s joint proposal. But elements of the city’s bureaucracy are gearing up to fight parts of the legislation.

At a City Council hearing March 1, the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection and the Department of Small Business Services pushed back on Gjonaj’s and Gibson’s proposals.

stock transfers and allow those transactions to be taxed per trade.

In his mind, moderate, “pragmatic progressive” policies, as he calls them, are not at odds with a capitalistic economy.

“We can ask for those who have done well during the pandemic to be patriots and aid us in this time,” he said.

Across state lines The overarching fear New York fiscal experts hold: The high tax policies will drive the wealthy to other states.

“The risk is the mobility of high-income earners,” said Andrew Rein, executive director of the Citizens Budget Commission. “Potentially their businesses can move and have an economically deleterious effect.”

New York Tax Commissioner Michael Schmidt warned that a stock transfer tax could cause trading activity to migrate across state lines.

The $10,000 cap placed on state and local tax deductions, or SALT deductions as they are commonly called, in the 2017 federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is another hindrance on New York’s ability to compete with other states.

But three economists are unconcerned that the proposed tax increases will actually lead the wealthy to flee to other states.

“This idea is absolutely overblown,” said Denham, who noted that Florida and Texas haven’t had personal income taxes for decades.

“If people haven’t moved already, they won’t move again.”

In fact, the number of millionaires in New York state increased by 60% between 2010 and 2018, according to an analysis from James Parrott, an economist at the New School.

“The bulk of research shows interstate differences in tax levels have a very low impact on the rates of interstate migration,” Mazerov explained, adding that he supports a wealth tax. “Not nearly enough would move to change the fact that, on net, it would raise enormous amounts of revenue.”

Ultimately the tax proposals pushed by Senate Democrats will hinge on the political fortunes of an embattled Democratic governor facing the crisis of his career with a month to go before the next fiscal year begins. ■ Steve Ettannani, executive director of external affairs at the consumer protection agency, said at the hearing that aspects of the bills would “inhibit our ability to patrol businesses,” adding that the agency would like to amend the legislation.

Cabrera’s problem with the rival plans: Refunding fines would require the outgoing de Blasio administration to hire additional staff to examine each case.

Regardless of which is the better path for the City Council to take, there’s no denying that small businesses have borne a significant burden under city regulations.

The Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings issued $362 million in imposed fines against people, businesses and property in 2020 and received $58.8 million in payments so far, said Marisa Senigo, OATH’s deputy commissioner. ■

OUT OF OFFICE

BUCK ENNIS

SEASONED VEGAN

AARON AND BRENDA BEENER

SEASONED VEGAN ORIGINAL CONCEPT A vegan comfort food restaurant with homemade meat substitutes

Making it work: A Harlem restaurant shifts focus to its online marketplace

2020 REVENUE Seasoned Vegan made about 40% of its 2019 revenue in 2020.

BY CARA EISENPRESS

STRATEGY CHANGE After encountering obstacles in trying to plan for outdoor dining last summer, Seasoned Vegan’s owners opted not to offer it. Instead of adapting to regulation and weather changes, the restaurant has been growing a vegan-only online marketplace, where it now offers some of its products.

Seasoned Vegan expands its web offerings but keeps its dining room closed

E

ven before the pandemic, the owners of Harlem restaurant Seasoned Vegan had been thinking about selling their fare online. Fans of the eatery’s dishes, such as “chicken” nuggets made from fermented soy and po’ boy sandwiches filled with “shrimp” made of fried yam protein or “crawfish” made from fried burdock root, wanted a way to get their hands on them even outside the restaurant’s delivery radius.

“The shutdown really helped us put that plan into hyperdrive,” said general manager Aaron Beener. His mother, Brenda, is the restaurant’s owner.

Fortunately, the duo had launched an online store in 2019. The e-commerce shop, The SV Market, is set up to feel like an all-vegan farmers market with multiple sellers. The platform allows its small vendors to find an

audience, and in turn The SV Market takes a cut of sales.

The Beeners started the platform knowing it would eventually carry the eatery’s products.

When Covid-19 restrictions shut down Seasoned Vegan’s dining room, business dwindled immediately. After gearing up for its busiest season, the restaurant laid off 30 of its 36 employees. Sales from takeout and delivery— along with funds received through the Paycheck Protection Program—have kept the restaurant afloat, but Beener said the to-go options simply can’t re-create the experience of dining at the restaurant.

“We were the first full-service vegan restaurant in Harlem,” he said.

“There’s music, an atmosphere—it just happens to be plant-based.”

When establishments were allowed to reopen for outdoor dining last June, the team encountered a problem: Because of a fire hydrant and a

mailbox in front of the building, the restaurant didn’t have a workable expanse of sidewalk on which to set up tables and chairs.

In retrospect, this was good fortune, said Beener, because they didn’t waste time and money trying to provide table service only to close again when regulations changed.

“Restaurant margins are so slim in the first place,” he said.

They decided to wait to reopen until restaurants can be at full capacity again. In the meantime, the Beeners have used the vacant dining room to explore how to package some of their products, sending beta versions to friends around the country for feedback. Last month they began selling frozen burdock root, one of their most popular meat replacements, on The SV Market. Eighty out of the first run of 100 have sold in just a few weeks; the 3-pound packages sell for $60 each.

EMPLOYEES There were about 36 employees before the closures. Now there are six, plus the owners.

POPULAR DISHES BBQ “crawfish”: Chopped, grilled burdock root and fermented soy “crawfish” smothered in barbecue sauce Harlem chopped “cheeseburger”: Oat protein “meat” with “cheddar” and ketchup chopped on the grill, served on a baguette with mayo, greens and tomato.

Salted pecan chocolate chip cookie WEBSITES seasonedvegan.com and thesvmarket.com

The next products to launch will be vegan cookie dough and some of the restaurant’s most popular sauces.

The hope, Beener said, is to have thriving online businesses for both the larger SV Market and Seasoned Vegan’s retail products, and to continue growing them even when the restaurant fully reopens. ■ MARCH 8, 2021 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 27

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2-year price guaranteeˇ • FREE installationˇ

Limited-time offer; subject to change. Qualified new business customers only. Must not have subscribed to applicable services w/ in the last 30 days & have no outstanding obligation to Charter. *$64.99/mo: Spectrum Business Internet only with 200Mbps starting speeds for 12 mos. *$69.98 Internet and Voice bundled offer is for 12 months and includes Spectrum Business Internet starting speeds & Business Voice w/ one phone line. **$114.98 Internet and Voice bundled offer is for 24 months and includes Spectrum Business Internet Ultra & Business Voice w/ one phone line. Internet speed may not be avail. in all areas. Actual speeds may vary. Speed based on download speed on wired connection. Wireless Internet speeds may vary. Spectrum Internet modem is req’d & included in price; Internet taxes are included in price except where req’d by law (Texas). Voice service incl. unlimited local & long distance w/ in the U.S., Puerto Rico, & Canada plus 2,000 long distance minutes to Mexico. Limited time offer. Phone offer includes phone taxes, charges and fees. Other telephone services may have corresponding taxes and rates. ˇ2 yr. Price Guarantee & Free Installation: requires Spectrum Business Internet Ultra & one Voice line. °Based on Tenth Measuring Broadband America Fixed Broadband report completed by the FCC & published Jan, 2021. +Based on the most annual ‘Best Protection’ AV-TEST awards, industry-leading advanced attacks detection capabilities confirmed by MITRE ATTACK® evaluations, and 2020 Customers’ Choice for Vulnerability Assessment in Gartner Peer Insights. #Savings based on comparison of Spectrum Business promo rates vs. competitors’ non-promo rates for Internet & an avg. of 2 phone lines, based on customer billing statements Jan. - Jun. 2020. Actual savings may vary. §99.9% network reliability based on average HFC Availability, Jan 2019 - Oct 2020. Visit business.spectrum.com/network-reliability for details. ◊Contract Buyout offer is valid up to $500. Visit Business.Spectrum.com/contractbuyout for details. Services subject to all applicable service terms & conditions, which are subject to change. Services & promo. offers not avail. in all areas. Standard pricing applies after promo. period. Installation & other equipment, taxes & fees may apply. Restrictions apply. Call for details. © 2021 Charter Communications, Inc.

Pick the plan that

BEST MEETS YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS Best Value

200Mbps Internet

FASTEST, MOST CONSISTENT DOWNLOAD SPEEDS

Latest FCC Broadband Report°

64

Download speed Free modem 25 custom email addresses for employees Award-winning desktop security+ 35+ advanced calling features Unlimited local & long distance calling

69

98

99 $

$ INCLUDED FEATURES

200Mbps Internet + Business Phone

/mo. for 1 yr.*

/mo. when bundled for 1 yr.*

600Mbps Internet + Business Phone

$

114

98

200

200 Mb

600 Mb

200Mbps

200Mbps

600Mbps

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Mbps

ps

ps

2-year price guaranteeˇ FREE installationˇ

NO Contracts • NO Added Phone Taxes • NO Hidden Fees

CALL 877-509-4336 VISIT BUSINESS.SPECTRUM.COM

SMB-GEN200-0308

/mo. when bundled for 2 yrs.**