Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani is moving quickly to put his stamp on City Hall, rolling out three appointments and one nomination to key city posts. Erich Bilal will lead the Public Design Commission, Asim Rehman will chair the Business Integrity Commission, and Ahmer Qadeer will run the Mayor’s Office of Pensions and Investments, while Lisa Kersavage is being nominated to chair the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The picks blend agency veterans with legal and labor-policy expertise and hint at an early focus on design, trade-waste oversight, and stewardship of the city’s pension assets as the new administration settles in.
Who Got The Call From City Hall
In a press release, the City of New York said Mamdani appointed Erich Bilal as Executive Director of the Public Design Commission, Asim Rehman as Commissioner and Chair of the Business Integrity Commission, and Ahmer Qadeer as Director and Chief Pension Administrator of the Mayor’s Office of Pensions and Investments. He also nominated Lisa Kersavage as Chair of the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Mamdani said the appointees "bring a deep commitment to public service," and the release notes that Kersavage’s nomination as LPC chair is subject to City Council advice and consent. The moves are part of a steady flow of staffing decisions since the mayor took office.
Erich Bilal: Planning The Public Realm
Bilal joins the Public Design Commission after serving as Vice President for Neighborhood Strategies at the NYC Economic Development Corporation, where he led community engagement and planning for housing, infrastructure, and public-realm projects. That experience positions him to oversee the PDC’s review of parks, public art, and civic structures at a moment when the city is speeding up capital work across all five boroughs. Expect design reviews under Bilal to lean heavily on neighborhood input and how projects land in real communities, not just on paper.
Asim Rehman: From OATH To Trade-Waste Watchdog
Rehman most recently led the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings and has held senior roles at the Department of Investigation, the Law Department, and the Department of Correction, according to his faculty profile at New York Law School. At the Business Integrity Commission, he will be responsible for enforcing background checks and licensing in the trade-waste industry and for protecting New Yorkers from corruption and fraud in regulated markets. In practical terms, that means his decisions on truck safety and oversight of wholesale markets will be an early stress test for how tough this administration intends to be on industry players.
Ahmer Qadeer: Labor Guy Turned Pension Chief
Qadeer brings a mix of labor research and pension know-how to the mayor's office. He previously worked on strategic initiatives at the Service Employees International Union and appears as an instructor and speaker on labor policy in Rutgers program materials. According to the mayor's announcement, the Mayor’s Office of Pensions and Investments oversees nearly 800,000 active and retired city workers and manages more than $300 billion in assets, and Qadeer will serve as the mayor’s primary pension and deferred-compensation trustee. That blend of labor, research, and finance experience is likely to shape how MOPI approaches investments and stewardship under the new administration.
Why These Jobs Matter To Everyday New Yorkers
The Public Design Commission helps shape how public projects look and function, a role explored in design-press coverage of PDC reviews and awards by The Architect's Newspaper. The Business Integrity Commission regulates the trade-waste industry and wholesale markets and has sat at the center of debates over safety, licensing, and industry reform, as reported by City Limits. The Landmarks Preservation Commission’s work protecting historic places and tackling long designation backlogs has been documented in coverage such as CityLand, which helps explain why the LPC chair job always draws attention.
What Happens Next At City Hall
Kersavage's nomination now heads to the City Council for confirmation, a step that will determine the timeline for her formally taking over LPC duties. For BIC and MOPI, look for early signals in enforcement actions in the trade-waste sector and in how pension governance and trustee priorities are framed. Upcoming Council hearings and agency rulemakings will show how fast these new leaders can turn the administration’s talking points into policies that affect streets, paychecks, and retirement accounts across the city.
