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Experience and Qualifications
For the last five years, Drew has taken on the affordable housing crisis, as Chief Operating Officer and then as co-CEO of Enterprise Community Partners, where he helped lead a nonprofit that has created and preserved more than 1 million affordable homes. As Chief of Staff of The Port Authority of NY & NJ, Drew played a central role in reviving the rebuilding of the World Trade Center, which had been stalled by years of gridlock and finger-pointing. He rolled up his sleeves, brought people together, and stood up to powerful interests—transforming a symbol of dysfunction into one of resilience. Drew then joined a Fortune 250 power company to build their renewable energy division. Under his leadership, the division transformed into an independent renewable developer and owner. Drew led its community solar business, helping build an industry from scratch, putting more than $1B of steel in the ground, and democratizing access to renewable energy for Americans all across the country.
Community Involvement
Downtown Soccer League Youth Coach; Drew proudly served on the board of directors of Union Settlement, one of NYC’s oldest service providers.
Education
BA, Cornell University; MBA, Columbia University
Party Endorsements
Make The Road- Action, Caring Majority Rising, Broadway Democrats, DivestNY, IATSE Local 4
Campaign Phone
9378694999
Campaign Instagram
DrewForNY
Campaign YouTube
My vision is an activist comptroller’s office. I will:
1. Address the affordable housing crisis. I will launch the largest affordable housing fund in the United States, investing $20 billion from the state pension fund to build and preserve 200K permanently affordable homes for working New Yorkers, including supportive housing for vulnerable populations.
2. End the "DiNapoli Tax". Comptroller DiNapoli has paid $11.3 billion in taxpayer-funded fees to 664 Wall Street managers who underperformed their own benchmarks by 39%, costing New Yorkers $59.1 billion. I will shift to a smarter diversified index-based strategy, and put money back in New Yorkers' pockets.
3. Use the audit power of this office far more aggressively than it has ever been used. The Comptroller's audit authority is one of the most powerful and underused tools in state government. I will use it to cut costs and improve services for working families. And I will audit every county and municipality cooperating with ICE.
The three biggest challenges are underperformance, misalignment, and complacency:
On underperformance: DiNapoli has paid $11.3 billion in fees to 664 active managers who underperformed their own benchmarks by 39%. Because the fund must be fully funded by law, that underperformance has been passed directly to taxpayers – $59.1 billion in higher property and income taxes. I will fire those managers and shift to a diversified low-cost index strategy.
On misalignment: I reject the false choice between fiduciary duty and social priorities. Our analysis of fossil fuel investments found they cost the fund $15.1 billion in lost value — meaning divestment would have been both the financially prudent and the environmentally responsible choice.
On complacency: the fund holds $437 million in Palantir stock and billions in fossil fuels. I will fully divest from fossil fuels within my first year, divest from Palantir on Day 1, and divest from all foreign sovereign bonds.
The current pension fund's investment record is a study in geographic inequity. 95% of real estate investments are sent out of state, and of what stays in New York, 85% goes to New York City.
On investment power: The $20 billion Affordable Housing Investment Fund will dedicate $10 billion specifically to communities outside New York City – upstate cities like Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse, the Hudson Valley, Long Island, and rural communities that have been systematically redlined out of investment for generations.
On audit power: I will audit every major economic development program – examining whether subsidies are creating jobs in the communities they were meant to serve, at the wage levels promised, with the community benefits committed. I will publish annual accountability reports naming every recipient and every commitment kept or broken.
The most important thing I can do to protect the independence of this office is to actually use it.
The Comptroller has constitutional independence to act boldly. I will use it. I will not accept campaign contributions from entities with active state contracts or pension fund relationships. I will publish all audit findings publicly, in full, regardless of which administration or which party is implicated. I will use the audit authority of this office proactively – not reactively, not after political pressure, not calibrated to avoid friction with the powerful.
I will also use the bully pulpit of this office loudly and independently – having opinions on taxing the ultra-wealthy, on the CLCPA, on the fiscal impact of federal cuts – things the current Comptroller refuses to do. As the state's chief financial officer, having an opinion is part of the core job.
The narrow interpretation of fiduciary duty – maximizing financial returns and nothing more – is legally contestable, morally bankrupt, and financially wrong.
My interpretation of fiduciary duty is as follows: Get the strongest risk-adjusted return at the lowest cost to taxpayers. The Comptroller is a trustee for more than one million public employees and retirees whose economic well-being depends not just on their retirement check, but on the affordability of their housing, the stability of their climate, the strength of their local economies, and the health of their communities. Investing their retirement savings in ways that actively harm those conditions is a betrayal of the trust placed in this office.
Investment decisions should be guided by: long-term risk-adjusted returns first; alignment with the communities whose labor funds the pension; cost discipline; and divestment from assets that are both financially underperforming and harmful.
