New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Socialists of America’s most prominent elected official, has assembled a 15-person Business Advisory Council to guide City Hall’s economic policy. Launched August 27, 2026, the body will meet quarterly with the mayor and his deputy mayor for economic justice, Julie Su, to advise on economic development, industry growth, infrastructure and regulation.
The council is a who’s who of Wall Street, real estate, the medical-industrial complex and other business sectors. It includes four billionaires—of the city’s 150 billionaires—and numerous multimillionaires. It includes the billionaire son of a former president of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
The Business Advisory Council’s purpose, in Su’s own words, is to work with “the leaders who make the hiring and investment decisions that will define New York’s economy for the next decade.” At the council’s announcement event, Mamdani said, “The doors of City Hall are always open to New York’s business leaders, and I look forward to welcoming their experience and strategic guidance.”
The council is being framed as a “bridge” between an administration identified with “democratic socialism” and a corporate sector worried by the popular radicalization that brought Mamdani to power. Fortune reported that the council was created as Mamdani “looks to mend a rocky relationship” with powerful executives. But the council is not a bridge between two opposed camps. It is a recognition—by both sides—that they are on the same side.
Makes sense to at least get input from the industry owners. Just because he lets them speak, doesn’t mean he has to do what they want.
If you were to make big changes that will affect a bunch of companies, having a dialog with them is essential to make sure the workers still have a job afterwards. This doesn’t mean the company gets to dictate what happens, but giving them a heads up, letting them give their point of view in the discussuon, doesn’t seem like a bad thing, as long as he is as critical of their intentions as he has been so far.
Yeah I don’t have any issues having them on a council like this. Some input is fine. The only input is not.