Spin Cycle

Priscilla Almodovar will be recommended for appointment as the President and CEO of the New York State Housing Finance Agency (HFA). Ms. Almodovar is currently a policy advisor for the Governor-Elect's Transition office. She served as the Deputy Policy Director for Spitzer-Paterson 2006 where she had primary responsibility for various areas, including housing and health care policy. Ms. Almodovar began her career in 1990 at White & Case LLP, an international law firm based in New York City, where she specialized in complex financial transactions, including debt and equity offerings, project finance and asset securitizations. She was named a partner of the firm in 1998. She also served as the Administrative Partner for the Firm's New York Office’s Capital Markets practice. Ms. Almodovar graduated from Hofstra University and holds a J.D. from Columbia Law School.

Terryl Brown Clemons will serve as First Assistant Counsel. Ms. Clemons is currently the Assistant Deputy Attorney General of the Division of Public Advocacy in the New York State Attorney General’s Office. From 2003 to 2004, Ms. Clemons served as Acting Deputy Attorney General of the Division during the Director’s sabbatical. Prior to her appointment as Assistant Deputy Attorney General in 1998, Ms. Clemons served as the Deputy Bureau Chief of the Civil Rights Bureau, and before that as an Assistant Attorney General in the Litigation Bureau. Previously, Ms. Clemons worked in private practice and also overseas for the Dutch law firm, Nauta Dutilh. Ms. Clemons received a B.A. from Pace University and a J.D. and MBA from the University of Pittsburgh.

Eric R. Dinallo is being nominated to serve as Insurance Superintendent. Mr. Dinallo is the General Counsel of Willis Group Holdings Limited, a global insurance broker, and a member of Willis’ Partners Group. Formerly, Mr. Dinallo was Managing Director and Head of Regulatory Affairs at Morgan Stanley. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, he served as the Chief of the Investment Protection Bureau of the New York State Attorney General’s Office. Mr. Dinallo has served as Assistant District Attorney in the New York County District Attorney’s Office. He was a Litigation Associate at Paul Weiss and also clerked for The Honorable David M. Ebel, United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit in Denver, Colorado. Mr. Dinallo graduated from Vassar College. He holds a M.A. from Duke University’s School of Public Policy and a J.D. from the New York University School of Law.

Pat Foye is being nominated to serve as Downstate Chair of the New York State Urban Development Corporation (“ESDC”). Governor-Elect Eliot Spitzer has announced his intention to also appoint an Upstate Co-Chair of ESDC who will be based in Buffalo. In February 2004 Mr. Foye was named President & CEO of United Way of Long Island. Previously, he was an Executive Vice President of Apartment Investment & Management Company from 1998 to 2004. Mr. Foye practiced law at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom from 1981 to 1998 where he was a partner in the firm’s mergers & acquisitions group. From 1992 to 1994, he was Managing Partner of the firm’s Brussels, Budapest and Moscow offices. Additionally, Mr. Foye serves as Deputy Chairman of the Long Island Power Authority and is currently a Trustee of the New York Public Asset Fund. In May 2006, Mr. Foye was elected to the Port Washington School Board. Mr. Foye graduated from Fordham College with a B.A. in 1978 and Fordham Law School in 1981.

Avi Schick will serve as Downstate Chief Operating Officer and President of the Empire State Development Corporation. Mr. Schick currently serves as Deputy Attorney General in the New York State Attorney General’s Office, where his responsibilities include representing the State of New York in significant litigations and in matters relating to the $200 billion tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. He joined the Attorney General's Office in 1999. Mr. Schick began his legal career at Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, where he worked from 1994 to 1999. Mr. Schick graduated from Columbia Law School in 1994. Prior to law school, Mr. Schick attended Rabbinical School.

Marty Mack will serve as Deputy Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs. Mr. Mack served the last eight years as Deputy Attorney General. From 1980 to 1998 Mr. Mack practiced law while working as a public servant in a variety of capacities. Mr. Mack served as Assistant District Attorney of Cortland County from 1980-1983, Cortland County Attorney 1984-1987, Mayor of the City of Cortland from 1988-1992 and Executive Chair of the New York State Democratic Party in 1998. Mr. Mack received his B.A. from Cornell University and his J.D. from the University of South Carolina.

Peter Pope will serve as Policy Director. Since 2000 Mr. Pope has served as New York State Deputy Attorney General in charge of the Office’s Criminal Division. Prior to that Mr. Pope served in the Office of the Inspector General of the New York City School Construction Authority as Vice President and Inspector General from 1996-1999 and as First Assistant Inspector General and Counsel from 1995-1996. He served as Vice President of the Management Controls Department at Goldman Sachs from 1993-1995 and at the New York County District Attorney’s Office from 1988-1993. Mr. Pope clerked for the Honorable Robert W. Sweet in the Southern District of New York U.S. District Court from 1986-1987 and was a Legislative Assistant for the Honorable Charles B. Rangel from 1982-1983. Mr. Pope graduated from Harvard University in 1982 and Yale Law School in 1986.

Elliot "Lee" Sander is being recommended for appointment as the Executive Director and CEO of the MTA. Currently, Mr. Sander is Corporate Senior Vice President at DMJM Harris a leading transportation engineering firm. Sander also serves as Director of the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University. Sander is also the founder and co-chairman of the Empire State Transportation Alliance, and he is a Commissioner on the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission. He graduated from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University with a B.S.F.S. in 1977.

Michael Schell, will serve as Senior Advisor for Intergovernmental Affairs. Mr. Schell was Upstate Campaign Director Eliot Spitzer’s last two campaigns. In 1995 he was a founder of the Democratic Rural Caucus, a coalition of upstate Democratic leaders in 41 upstate counties, and served as Chair twice. He was Executive Chair of the New York State Democratic Committee from 1999 to 2001. As an attorney in private practice for 32 years, he was president of the Jefferson County Bar Association and Chair of the Merit Selection Panel for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of N.Y. Schell began his career as a staff announcer and news reporter for WKRT, Cortland. Mr. Schell went to Ithaca College and the Catholic University School of Law.

Anthony Ernest Shorris is being recommended for appointment as the Executive Director of the Port Authority. Mr. Shorris served as a Senior Policy Advisor to Spitzer-Paterson 2006 and the Governor-Elect's Transition office. Since 2003, Mr. Shorris served as the Director of Princeton University's Policy Research Institute at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He served as Deputy Chancellor of the New York City Board of Education from 2001-2003. From 1990-1995 he also served as the First Deputy Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Mr. Shorris has more than 25 years of experience in public and non-profit management and has consulted for national and international foundations and non-profit organizations on education, public finance, health care, tax policy, economic development, housing, and infrastructure. He served as New York City's Commissioner of Finance from 1988-1989 and Deputy Budget Director from 1984-1988. He holds an AB from Harvard College and a Masters in Public Affairs from Princeton University.

Patricia Smith will be nominated to serve as the Commissioner of the Department of Labor. Ms. Smith is currently the Assistant Attorney General in-charge of the Labor Bureau a positions she has held since 1999. She served at the Labor Bureau for 12 years, first as Prevailing Wage Section Chief and then as Deputy Bureau Chief. From 1979 to 1987, Ms. Smith served as a Litigation Director at the Legal Services Organization in Indiana. From 1977 to 1979, she was a Staff Attorney for Connecticut Legal Services. She graduated from Trinity College in Washington D.C. in 1974 and the New York University School of Law 1977.

Dennis P. Whalen will serve as Deputy Secretary for Health. Mr. Whalen was appointed Executive Deputy Commissioner for the State Department of Health on November 13, 1996. In his position as the State’s top deputy for health, he oversees the Department’s entire range of programmatic and operational functions, as well as advising the Commissioner on these and other related matters. From November 1998 to June 1999 he served as the Acting State Health Commissioner. Mr. Whalen previously served the Department of Health as the Director of the Office of Health Systems Management, and the Executive Deputy Director of the AIDS Institute. He also served in several senior policymaking positions at the Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services, including Deputy Commissioner for Program Services. He began his career with New York State at the Department of Health as a Public Health Educator. He is a graduate of Marist College and the National Preparedness Leadership Institute at Harvard University - Kennedy School of Government.