Mayor Eric Adams announced four new deputy mayors on Friday to replace the four respected aides whose planned resignations have destabilized his administration.
Adolfo Carrión, Jr., Kaz Daughtry, Suzanne Miles-Gustave and Jeffrey D. Roth will replace Maria Torres-Springer, Chauncey Parker, Anne Williams-Isom and Meera Joshi in their respective roles, the mayor said — although no appointee was announced to fully replace Torres-Springer, who had been serving as first deputy mayor while maintaining her initial portfolio focused on housing and economic development.
Carrión, Miles-Gustave and Roth will assume their roles March 14, City Hall said, while Daughtry will start at the close of business Friday.
The appointments, complete with a video announcement featuring Adams and the new deputies, signal an attempted reset for the mayor, whose perceived indebtedness to President Donald Trump and willingness to collaborate on immigration enforcement fueled the departure of Torres-Springer, Williams-Isom and Joshi.
Carrión, currently commissioner of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, will take over as deputy mayor for housing, economic development and workforce. He will have big shoes to fill replacing Torres-Springer, a popular figure within government and in the business community — but Carrión, too, is a well-known figure, having previously served in the City Council and as Bronx borough president.
Daughtry, the new deputy mayor for public safety may be the most controversial of the new appointments. Currently a deputy police commissioner, he has been known as a combative figure within the NYPD and led a quality-of-life team that was criticized for its aggressive tactics. He replaces Parker, a former prosecutor who himself replaced the embattled safety czar Phil Banks following Banks’ resignation in October.
Miles-Gustave is replacing Williams-Isom as deputy mayor for health and human services. A former acting commissioner for the state’s Office of Children and Family Services, she has also held senior legal roles in the city’s school system. Her predecessor, Williams-Isom, took on a leading role responding to the city’s migrant crisis and oversaw the city’s health and social services agencies.
Roth, who is replacing Joshi as deputy mayor for operations, is currently a deputy commissioner at the city’s Department of Veterans’ Services, worked in the Operations Office under Michael Bloomberg and, as an Army National Guard member, helped manage the U.S. Covid-19 response across its Middle East military bases.
Mayor Adams, in the video, said the new deputies would help the city achieve “even greater heights,” and touted the city’s recent overall crime drop and policies to containerize trash and build more housing.
His administration is in dire need of good news. A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday found Adams with an all-time low approval rating of 20%, with 56% of voters saying they believe he should resign from office — although the mayor has insisted he is both staying in his role and running for re-election.
Although Adams did not announce a new nominee for the powerful job of first deputy mayor, multiple outlets have indicated he is considering Randy Mastro, the veteran attorney whom Adams previously nominated as corporation counsel. Mastro withdrew from consideration as the city’s top lawyer as he faced likely rejection by the City Council, but deputy mayor jobs do not require the council’s approval.
