Filipino-American public servant María Torres-Springer has been named co-chair of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s transition team—an all-women group set to shape the city’s next political era. Her appointment places a veteran government official and daughter of immigrants at the heart of a historic handover following Mamdani’s election as New York’s first Muslim mayor.

For Torres-Springer, the moment marks both a homecoming and a reckoning. Once the city’s first deputy mayor under Eric Adams, she returns to the public stage not as a bureaucrat but as a builder of transitions—someone who has long believed that government works best when it remembers who it’s meant to serve.

Born in Los Angeles and orphaned of her mother, Elsa, at a young age, Torres-Springer was brought by her father, Manuel, back to the Philippines, where she spent her formative years in Pampanga.

“I lived in the Philippines from ages 9 to 14,” she recalled in an interview with New York-based journalist Marivir Montebon. “My mom had just passed, and my dad took us back to Pampanga. I had the fortune of growing up with literally hundreds of cousins. But my time in Pampanga was valuable because it allowed me to understand where I came from and allowed me to connect not just to my family but also to the rich and deep history of Filipinos.”

Those years instilled in her the empathy that would define her public life. “It was very difficult for my father,” she said. “He worked multiple jobs. We struggled to make ends meet. We relied on food stamps, on Section 8. I know firsthand what it means because we experienced it when government works—when it feels like it is trying to help you. And we also experienced what it was like when the government didn’t work. From those experiences, I try not to forget what it’s like to be a struggling family in the roles that I have in public service, which has really been my life’s work.”

Her resume tells that story: commissioner of housing, head of the city’s economic development corporation, deputy mayor for housing and workforce, and later, first deputy mayor overseeing “Rebuild, Renew, Reinvent,” New York’s post-pandemic economic recovery plan.

A graduate of Yale and Harvard, Torres-Springer is known for her blend of precision and empathy—hallmarks of a leadership style rooted in both intellect and lived experience.

“Being Filipino, for me, has been a real foundation for the type of public service I have,” she said in the interview. “It’s one based on hard work. Most people around me in City Hall are smarter than I am. But no one works harder than I do. No one works harder than a Filipino.”

She laughed, adding with affection, “The second thing that I’ve learned, and I’ve carried with me—except for the Kapampangan’s being known as mayabang—is our humility. I didn’t get here all by myself. I stand on my generations of ancestors who are Filipinos, believers, doers, strivers. I will never forget that because of my responsibility to open doors for others who are struggling.”

Mamdani’s victory over former governor Andrew Cuomo drew record turnout—the largest in half a century—and brought with it a vision of City Hall driven by progressivism and public trust. “I and my team will build a City Hall capable of delivering on the promises of this campaign,” he said after his win.

His all-women transition leadership—Torres-Springer, former Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan, United Way of New York City president Grace Bonilla, and budget expert Melanie Hartzog—will help translate that vision into governance. Their task is to ensure a smooth handover from Election Day to the January inauguration and to lay the groundwork for an administration focused on housing, equity and public accountability.

For Torres-Springer, who has spent her career turning blueprints into realities, this new role offers a chance to build once more—not just a city, but a renewed faith in what it means to serve it.