Dear Governor Cuomo, Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, and Assembly Speaker
Heastie,
New York City’s business community strongly supports multi-year extension of mayoral control
of the New York City public school system. A quality education is the key to unlocking economic
opportunity for the city’s residents. Mayoral accountability for management of the system is
essential to achieving that objective.
The governance system that was put in place by state legislative action in 2002 has resulted in
demonstrable improvements in educational outcomes in the city. Graduation rates are up and
disparities due to income and race are being reduced. Dropout rates are at historic lows. More
students than ever are taking and passing Advanced Placement exams and English test scores
are up in every district.
These improvements would not have been possible without the clarity of a system in which the
mayor has the clear authority over leadership, labor contracts, management and budget. We
urge you to pass a multi-year extension of the current law and not risk reversion to a
dysfunctional governance system.
Sincerely,
Lee S. Ainslie, III, Managing Partner, Maverick Capital
Ellen Alemany, Chairman & CEO, CIT Group Inc.
Robert Bakish, President & CEO, Viacom Inc.
Ajay Banga, President & CEO, Mastercard
Candace K. Beinecke, Senior Partner, Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP
William H. Berkman, Managing Partner, Associated Partners, LP
Kathy Bloomgarden, Chief Executive Officer, Ruder Finn, Inc.
Adam M. Blumenthal, Managing Partner, Blue Wolf Capital Management
Neil Blumenthal, Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Warby Parker
Albert Bourla, Chief Executive Officer, Pfizer Inc.
John Bruckner, President, NY, National Grid
Martin S. Burger, Chief Executive Officer, Silverstein Properties, Inc.
John Catsimatidis, Chairman & CEO, Red Apple Group, Inc.
H. Rodgin Cohen, Senior Chairman, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Creighton Condon, Senior Partner, Shearman & Sterling
Daniela Constantino, Partner, Mason Capital Management, LLC
Michael L. Corbat, Chief Executive Officer, Citigroup Inc.
Anthony J. de Nicola, President, Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe
Barry Diller, Chairman & Senior Executive, IAC and Chairman & Senior Executive, Expedia, Inc.
William R. Dougherty, Chairman, Executive Committee, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
Lynne Doughtie, U.S. Chairman & CEO, KPMG LLP
Douglas Durst, Chairman, Durst Organization Inc.
Joel S. Ehrenkranz, Partner and Co-Founder, Ehrenkranz Partners L.P.
Joseph R. Ficalora, President & CEO, New York Community Bancorp, Inc.
Laurence D. Fink, Chairman & CEO, BlackRock, Inc.
John Fish, Chairman & CEO, Suffolk
Winston C. Fisher, Partner, Fisher Brothers
Alan H. Fishman, Chairman, Ladder Capital Finance LLC

 William E. Ford, Chief Executive Officer, General Atlantic LLC
Paul Fribourg, Chairman & CEO, Continental Grain Company
Mark T. Gallogly, Co-Founder & Managing Principal, Centerbridge Partners
Jeff Gennette, Chairman & CEO, Macy's, Inc.
Eric Gertler, Executive Chairman, U.S. News & World Report
Dave Gilboa, Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Warby Parker
MaryAnne Gilmartin, Chief Executive Officer, L&L MAG
Daniel Glaser, President & CEO, Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc.
Barry M. Gosin, Chief Executive Officer, Newmark Knight Frank
Jonathan N. Grayer, Chairman & CEO, Weld North LLC
Logan Green, Co-Founder & CEO, Lyft
Kelly Grier, U.S Chairman & Americas Managing Partner, Ernst & Young LLP
Robin Hayes, Chief Executive Officer, JetBlue Airways Corporation
Brian T. Horey, President, Aurelian Management
Joseph Ianniello, President, CBS Corporation
Frederick J. Iseman, Chairman & CEO, CI Capital Partners LLC
Kenneth M. Jacobs, Chairman & CEO, Lazard Ltd
Brad S. Karp, Chair, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
William P. Lauder, Executive Chairman, The Estée Lauder Companies, Inc.
Joseph M. Leccese, Chairman of the Firm, Proskauer
Joey Levin, Chief Executive Officer, IAC
Martin Lipton, Senior Partner, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
Howard W. Lutnick, Chairman & CEO, Cantor Fitzgerald L.P.
Vikram Malhotra, Chairman of the Americas, McKinsey & Company, Inc.
Anthony E. Mann, President & CEO, E-J Electric Installation Co.
Donald B. Marron, Chairman, Lightyear Capital
Peter W. May, President & Founding Partner, Trian Partners
John McAvoy, Chairman, President & CEO, Con Edison, Inc.
Charles R. McCall, Chief Executive Officer, Astoria Energy II LLC &, Astoria Energy LLC
Heidi Messer, Co-Founder & Chairman, Collective[i]
Edward J. Minskoff, President, Edward J. Minskoff Equities, Inc.
Ken Moelis, Chairman and CEO, Moelis & Company
Greg Mondre, Managing Partner & Managing Director, Silver Lake
Deanna M. Mulligan, President & CEO, The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America
Kentaro Okuda, President & CEO, Nomura Holding America Inc.
Jon Oringer, Founder & CEO, Shutterstock, Inc.
Mark Pearson, Chairman & CEO, AXA Equitable Life
Charles E. Phillips, Jr., Chief Executive Officer, Infor
Scott Powell, Chief Executive Officer, Santander US
Deirdre Quinn, Co-Founder & CEO, Lafayette 148 New York
Steven L. Rattner, Chairman, Willett Advisors LLC
Scott H. Rechler, Chairman & CEO, RXR Realty LLC
Thomas J. Reid, Managing Partner, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
James D. Robinson, III, Co-Founder & General Partner, RRE Ventures
Michael I. Roth, Chairman & CEO, Interpublic Group
Steven Rubenstein, President, Rubenstein Communications, Inc.
William C. Rudin, Co-Chairman & CEO, Rudin Management Company, Inc.
Kevin P. Ryan, Chairman & Founder, Zola, Workframe, Nomad Health, MongoDB, Inc.
Timothy Ryan, U.S. Chairman & Senior Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP

 Faiza Saeed, Presiding Partner, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
Scott Salmirs, President & CEO, ABM Industries Inc.
Charles Scharf, Chairman & CEO, BNY Mellon
Michael Schmidtberger, Partner & Chair of the Executive Committee, Sidley Austin LLP
Alan D. Schnitzer, Chairman & CEO, The Travelers Companies, Inc.
Alan D. Schwartz, Executive Chairman, Guggenheim Partners, LLC
Stephen A. Schwarzman, Chairman, CEO & Co-Founder, Blackstone
Tarek Sherif, Chairman & CEO, Medidata Solutions, Inc.
Jonathan Silvan, Chief Executive Officer, Global Strategy Group, LLC
Larry A. Silverstein, Chairman, Silverstein Properties, Inc.
David M. Solomon, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Goldman Sachs & Co.
Rob Speyer, President & CEO, Tishman Speyer
Stephen Squeri, Chairman & CEO, American Express Company
Arthur P. Steinmetz, Chairman & CEO, OppenheimerFunds, Inc.
Steven R. Swartz, President & CEO, Hearst
Mary Ann Tighe, Chief Executive Officer, NY Tri-State Region, CBRE, Inc.
Daniel R. Tishman, Vice Chairman, AECOM & Principal, Tishman Realty
Paul Todd, Chief Executive Officer, GLG
Bridget van Kralingen, Senior Vice President, Global Industries, Platforms & Blockchain, IBM
Corporation
George H. Walker, Chairman & CEO, Neuberger Berman Group LLC
David R. Weinreb, Chief Executive Officer, The Howard Hughes Corporation
Charles Weinstein, Chief Executive Officer, EisnerAmper LLP
Robert Wolf, Chief Executive Officer, 32 Advisors, LLC
Kathryn S. Wylde, President & CEO, Partnership for New York City
Brett Yormark, Chief Executive Officer, BSE Global
Strauss Zelnick, Partner, ZMC
John Zimmer, Co-Founder & President, Lyft