Governor Kathy Hochul today announced new administration nominations and recommendations.
"New York faces critical challenges ahead, and we need strong, experienced leaders who know how to work with local partners and deliver results," Governor Hochul said. "With wide ranging expertise and backgrounds, Robert Rodriguez, Rossana Rosado, and Minosca Alcantara could not be better suited for the positions for which I've recommended them. I look forward to being able to work with these individuals as we recover from the pandemic and move New York forward."
Robert J. Rodriguez will be nominated as New York's 68th Secretary of State. Mr. Rodriguez is a uniquely accomplished leader and legislator, with civic and legislative successes that have been focused strategically on investing in and developing public-good infrastructure projects, creating good-paying jobs and addressing financial disparities for historically underrepresented minorities and low-income communities. Mr. Rodriguez has specialized in providing advice to state and local governments, and transportation issuers in the Northeast and Midwest focused on the issues of financial planning, credit rating strategy, managing and executing debt issuance transactions, asset-liability management and public-private partnerships. As a legislator, Mr. Rodriguez serves as a member of the New York State Assembly, Co-Chair of the Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment, founding Chair of the Assembly sub-committee on Infrastructure and Member of Committees on Ways and Means, Housing, Labor, Banking, Corporations and Authorities and Mental Health. In the private sector, Mr. Rodriguez is a Director at Public Financial Management, the leading municipal financial advisor in the nation. Prior to PFM, Mr. Rodriguez was a Vice-President at A.C. Advisory, Inc. and held various management and operations roles at Bloomberg LP. As a civic leader, Mr. Rodriguez served on a number of volunteer boards including as Chairman of Manhattan Community Board 11 and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone. Mr. Rodriguez is a graduate of Yale University, where he received a B.A. in History and Political Science and New York University Stern Business School where he received an MBA in Finance.
Rossana Rosado will be nominated as Commissioner, New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS). Ms. Rosado served as New York's 67thSecretary of State. Her leadership has made the Department of State one of the most dynamic agencies in State government. She led DOS through a modern restructuring, including the implementation of innovative local government and professional licensing programs. In 2017, Ms. Rosado implemented the County Wide Shared Services Initiative, which led to the submission of 34 specific county plans in its first year. In addition, through the Office for New Americans, she launched the Liberty Defense Project, a public-private initiative to bring critical legal services to immigrant New Yorkers. Prior to joining DOS, Ms. Rosado was a dominant force in New York media for 27 years. A highly-respected journalist and an award-winning producer, Ms. Rosado was a trailblazer for women. She was the first woman to hold the position of Editor-in-Chief, and then Publisher & CEO of El DiarioLa Prensa, the oldest Spanish-language newspaper in the country and the largest Spanish-language daily newspaper in the Northeast. During her 18-year tenure, she established the paper as a leading entity for social and economic justice. Ms. Rosado's dedication as a public servant is far reaching. She has been at the forefront of issues relative to prisoner re-entry for over a decade and proudly co-chairs the Council on Community Re-entry and Reintegration of New Yorkers, which was established as part of an ambitious criminal justice reform agenda. In addition, she is the chair of a collaborative effort among the Department of State, the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision and the State Education Department to re-establish and expand the Barbering Program for incarcerated individuals. This initiative eases the complex re-entry transition by providing education, job skills and opportunity for state occupational licensure prior to release. Ms. Rosado has received numerous awards including an Emmy, a STAR award from the NY Women's Agenda, the Peabody Award for Journalism and the NY Press Club President's award. A native New Yorker, Ms. Rosado received her B.A. in Journalism from Pace University and a MA in Criminal Justice from CUNY's John Jay College. Ms. Rosado will serve as Acting Commissioner until confirmed by the Senate.
Governor Hochul recommends the Commissioners of the New York State Bridge Authority appoint Minosca Alcantara as Executive Director. Dr. Minosca Alcantara is Chief of Project Scheduling at MTA Construction & Development, and Commissioner to the Equal Employment Practices Commission for the City of New York. She is an experienced civil engineer with expertise in large, urban project and construction management. Ms. Alcantara has worked as a lead cost/schedule engineer in a variety of projects involving Architectural, Infrastructure and Wastewater management locally and internationally. Dr. Alcantara is also committed to the field of education. She is currently a Board Member at the Summer Science Program (SSP) and Hudson River Community Sailing (HCRS) programs. At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign she designed, implemented and expanded programs that engage K-16 students with STEM, particularly women and other students from groups underrepresented in STEM. She holds a BS in Civil Engineering from the Universidad Nacional Pedro Henriquez Ureña, an MA in Construction Management from GWU and EdM and EdD from Columbia University. She is the mother of three, who all followed in her engineering footsteps.
