Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani on Thursday announced Sherif Soliman as the next director of the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget, a role that will involve overseeing city finances and helping to implement the incoming administration’s agenda.

Soliman, a native New Yorker raised in the Pomonok Houses in Queens, has managed multibillion-dollar budgets in city government and higher education, Mamdani said at a press conference. Most recently, he served as senior vice chancellor and chief financial officer at CUNY.

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Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani named Sherif Soliman as director of the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget on Thursday

Soliman most recently served as senior vice chancellor and CFO at CUNY, where he reduced the structural deficit by nearly 80% over two years, according to Mamdani

He has held senior roles across three mayoral administrations, including commissioner of the Department of Finance

Mamdani will be sworn in as mayor on Jan. 1, 2026

In that role, Soliman reduced CUNY’s structural deficit by nearly 80% over two years, the mayor-elect said in a release. He has also held senior roles across three mayoral administrations, including serving as commissioner of the Department of Finance under former Mayor Bill de Blasio. 

“The director of the Office of Management and Budget might not be a name that every New Yorker can immediately recite, but it is someone who has the power to shape nearly every aspect of the city we call home,” Mamdani said.

He pointed to the role’s impact on schools, parks and housing, tying budget decisions directly to daily life for city residents.

“When a child walks into school and is greeted by a teacher who is paid a salary that means they can afford to live in this city, a school that is well-resourced, that is the mark of an OMB director hard at work,” he said. “When a group of friends see the sun is shining and go to a nearby public park because it is clean of trash and the lawns are green with grass, that is the mark of an OMB director investing in public services.”

“And it will be felt when a child can grow up here at the Pomonok Houses and rise all the way to serve as OMB director, because NYCHA tenants have received the investments and the resources that they deserve,” he added.

Soliman told Mamdani he was “humbled by the trust you have placed in me to take on this important role and to work alongside you.”

“It’s been said that public service is a privilege. Well, I have been lucky enough to enjoy that privilege for nearly 30 years in various roles in the state and the city of New York, and I’m honored to continue to serve in what will be my fourth mayoral administration,” he said. “I can honestly say that I am as excited today as I was 28 years ago about the opportunity to deliver meaningful change for public service.”

On a personal note, Soliman said he was proud to join the administration of the city’s first Muslim mayor. He described growing up as a first-generation Egyptian Muslim American in New York, and credited his father’s career at the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene with shaping his commitment to public service.

Thursday’s announcement followed Mamdani’s appointments Wednesday of labor veteran Jahmila Edwards as director of intergovernmental affairs and Catherine Almonte Da Costa as director of appointments. The hires mark the mayor-elect’s first senior-level appointments in more than a month.

In November, he named Dean Fuleihan as first deputy mayor and Elle Bisgaard-Church as chief of staff.

Mamdani will be sworn in as mayor on Jan. 1, 2026.