Membership of FutureWorks Commission Announced

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced the composition of FutureWorks, a blue-ribbon commission charged with developing recommendations on ways New York can protect the economic security of workers while harnessing the economic benefits of AI. The Commission is composed of 20 members, each offering specific expertise on issues relating to technology, workforce development, education and the economy. Futureworks reflects New York’s strong leadership and role as a global capital for responsible AI and innovation. The Commission will be chaired by former U.S. Secretary Tom Perez, Thasunda Brown Duckett of TIAA and Molly Kinder of the Brookings Institution.

“Preparing our economy to contend with AI may turn out to be the defining challenge of our time,” Governor Hochul said. “I’m grateful that business and labor leaders, researchers, and industry experts are stepping up to help New York achieve a future where everyone can share in the prosperity promised by the innovation economy.”

FutureWorks was announced earlier this year in Governor Hochul’s speech at the Association for a Better New York. The Commission will deliver its recommendations to help navigate the AI transition by the end of the year.

This announcement builds on Governor Hochul’s ongoing efforts to strengthen New York’s position as the responsible AI capital of the nation through her groundbreaking initiatives like Empire AI, her first-in-the-nation legislative victories to address safety in emerging technologies, and programs to provide free community college for adult learners in high-demand fields through SUNY and CUNY. These efforts will be complemented by new efforts to train students, small businesses, entrepreneurs and the State workforce in AI skills.

Commission Members

Tom Perez (Chair) is a Partner at the global law firm of Mayer Brown. Secretary Perez served as Secretary of Labor and Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the Department of Justice during the Obama administration. Secretary Perez has worked with key business, labor and community leaders at a federal, state and local level to ensure access to good jobs and sustainable career pathways.

Thasunda Brown Duckett (Chair) is President and CEO of TIAA, a leading provider of secure retirement and investment solutions for millions of people and thousands of institutions. Before joining TIAA in 2021, she held key executive roles at JPMorganChase, including CEO of the Consumer Bank and Auto Finance. Duckett serves on various boards including NIKE, Inc. and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights.

Molly Kinder (Chair) is a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, where she leads a multi-year research project on how AI is transforming work and what policymakers should do about it. She has spent 25 years at the intersection of policy, technology and social change, including serving in the Obama administration and co-founding a $200 million social impact fund. Her research has shaped federal policy, moved more than $1 billion in public investment, and reached more than two million workers.

Zoë Baird served over twenty years as CEO and President of the Markle Foundation, where she established broad collaborations to prepare the workforce for technological change. She was Senior Counselor for Technology to the Secretary of Commerce in the Biden Administration, leading its work on AI internationally. She is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress (CAP).

Jonathan Bowles is Executive Director of the Center for an Urban Future (CUF), a leading think tank focused on building a stronger and more equitable economy in New York, and expanding economic opportunity for all New Yorkers. At CUF, he has overseen influential research on expanding pathways into well-paying tech jobs, boosting outcomes for CUNY and SUNY students and increasing apprenticeships in high-wage industries.

Mario Cilento is the President of the New York State AFL-CIO, a federation of 3,000 unions, representing 2.5 million members, retirees and their families, with one goal: to raise the standard of living and quality of life of all working people. President Cilento has been a member of the Newspaper Guild-CWA since 1990 and began working at the state federation in 1992; he was first elected president in 2011.

Alexander Colvin is the Kenneth F. Kahn ’69 Dean and Martin F. Scheinman ’75, MS ’76 Professor of Conflict Resolution of the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University. Dean Colvin’s research and writing in the field of labor and employment relations includes co-authoring the books An Introduction to U.S. Collective Bargaining and Labor Relations, Labor Relations in a Globalizing World, and The Oxford Handbook of Conflict Management in Organizations.

David Greenfield is the CEO of Met Council, the nation’s largest Jewish poverty-fighting charity, which serves more than 350,000 people annually across 250+ locations. Under his leadership, Met Council has launched an organization-wide initiative that pays every staff member to learn AI, a workforce-first approach designed to expand services and to model how organizations can adapt AI while preserving jobs.

John B. King Jr. is the Chancellor of State University of New York (SUNY), the nation's largest comprehensive system of public higher education. Chancellor King previously served in President Obama’s cabinet as the U.S. Secretary of Education and as President and CEO of The Education Trust.

Hope Knight is the President, CEO and Commissioner of Empire State Development, New York State’s economic development agency. Commissioner Knight was instrumental in the creation of the state’s Office of Strategic Workforce Development which focuses on improving New York's workforce development programs and practices to better align with the needs and priorities of today's employers.

Arvind Krishna is the Chairman, President and CEO of IBM. Over his 30-year career at IBM, he has led the building and expansion of new markets for IBM in artificial intelligence, cloud, quantum computing, and blockchain. He also headed IBM Research, where he drove innovation in core and emerging technologies including artificial intelligence.

Annmarie Lanesey is the Founder and CEO of Can Code Communities, where she leads statewide efforts to expand access to digital skills and AI literacy for New York’s most disadvantaged communities. Through her work, thousands of low-income individuals, immigrants and rural residents have gained in-demand skills, resulting in measurable wage growth and new pathways to economic mobility for themselves and their families.

Terah Lyons is the Global Head of AI and Data Policy at JPMorganChase. For over a decade she has been involved in building capacity for the public and the private sectors to measure, shape and respond to the developing field of AI. She previously served in President Obama’s White House leading AI policy for the U.S. Government, and as the Founding Executive Director of the Partnership on AI.

Marc H. Morial is the President and CEO of the National Urban League, the nation's largest historic civil rights and economic justice organization. As Mayor of New Orleans, he led a renaissance that slashed both violent crime and unemployment by more than half, leaving office with a 70-percent approval rating.

Thomas J. Quatroche Jr., PhD, is CEO of Erie County Medical Center Corporation (ECMC), Western New York’s only Level 1 Adult Trauma Center. With a career spanning over two decades at ECMC, Dr. Quatroche in June 2026 will transition to President and CEO of the Healthcare Association of New York State.

Roberta Reardon has served as New York State Labor Commissioner since 2015. She is deeply connected to the rapidly evolving needs of the market, including artificial intelligence, and how both workers and businesses can utilize the latest technological advancements to augment and strengthen our economy. Commissioner Reardon was President of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) and the founding Co-President of SAG-AFTRA.

Julie Samuels is the President and CEO of Tech:NYC, an organization representing New York’s fast-growing tech industry, which she founded in 2016. Before launching Tech:NYC, she served as Executive Director of Engine, a national nonprofit focused on technology entrepreneurship and advocacy, and as a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Matt Sigelman is President of the Burning Glass Institute, a nonprofit data laboratory working at the intersection of the future of work and the future of learning to advance economic mobility, opportunity, and improved outcomes for workers and learners. Previously Chairman and CEO of Lightcast, Matt pioneered the field of real-time labor market analytics. He serves as Senior Advisor at the Harvard Project on the Workforce and a Futures Fellow at the Stanford Center on Longevity.

Hamdi Ulukaya is the founder and CEO of Chobani, a leading food and beverage company. He built Chobani on the foundation that it would do well by doing good, and is well-known for his employee-first policies, including instituting innovative profit-sharing and paid parental leave programs for employees, and efforts to fight hunger in our communities.

Robin Vince is Chief Executive Officer of BNY, a global financial services platforms company that safeguards, manages and moves assets for clients around the world. BNY is headquartered in New York City and was the first company publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange, with a more than 240-year history of innovating for clients.