Mamdani Appoints Ahmed Tigani As DOB Commissioner

Zohran Mamdani has added a Department of Buildings commissioner to his incoming administration.

The mayor-elect announced on Wednesday the appointment of Ahmed Tigani, Mayor Eric Adams’ acting commissioner of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, as the head of the agency.

The announcement comes hours before Mamdani is set to take over as New York City’s 112th mayor. The 34-year-old former Assembly member will be sworn in at midnight during a ceremony held in an out-of-service subway station under City Hall.

Tigani took over HPD in March, after stints as the first deputy commissioner and chief diversity officer of the department. His promotion came after Adams tapped the previous commissioner, Adolfo Carrión, to step in as the deputy mayor of housing, economic development and workforce after Maria Torres-Springer resigned from the post amid the fallout from the Department of Justice’s corruption charges against Adams.

Before joining HPD, Tigani served as the deputy commissioner of the Office of Neighborhood Strategies and the chief of staff to the Department of Buildings commissioner under former Mayor Bill De Blasio.

In a press release, Mamdani’s team described Tigani’s appointment as demonstrating the administration’s “focus on experienced public servants with a proven track record of translating progressive vision into operational results.”

Tigani in a statement described his vision for the agency as “transparent, efficient, and focused on serving New Yorkers.” His appointment was announced alongside two others, including Louise Yeung as chief climate officer and Emmy Liss as executive director of the Office of Child Care.

Last week, Mamdani appointed Leila Bozorg as the deputy mayor of housing and planning. Bozorg previously served in the Adams administration as the executive director of housing, a position he created two years ago. She was also a member of Adams’ Charter Revision Commission, the group responsible for the four housing-related ballot measures that New Yorkers voted on last month.

In the press release, Bozorg, who worked with Tigani under the Adams administration, cast the incoming commissioner as a “proven leader who has tackled the hardest housing problems head-on.”