New York City Mayor-elect Eric Adams Names Indian American Meera Joshi Deputy Mayor for Operations
- Currently, deputy administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, her nomination to head the agency is currently stalled in the Senate.
New York City Mayor-elect Eric Adams has named Indian American Meera Joshi as the deputy mayor for operations. The deputy administrator for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) at the Department of Transportation joins a list of five women Adams selected on Dec. 20 to serve as top lieutenants in his administration.
In a tweet, Adams wrote that “as Deputy Mayor for Operations, Meera Joshi will ensure that our City is able to respond in real-time to meet and exceed the needs of every community and be a model of excellence for all urban centers.”
“I am deeply honored to serve Mayor-elect Eric Adams and all New Yorkers,” Joshi is quoted saying in the New York Post. “Our work ahead is clear. The operations of our city must meet and exceed the needs of every community, respond in real-time and be a model of excellence for all urban centers.”
This appointment also spells the end of Joshi’s nomination to head the FMCSA, a post she was chosen for by President Biden in April. Her nomination is being held up in the U.S. Senate by Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), a member of the Senate Commerce Committee. Scott recently indicated that it is his “intention to hold all Department of Transportation” nominees until the panel hears from the leadership at the Transportation and Commerce departments about the Biden administration’s response to national supply chain woes.
The Senate Commerce Committee approved Joshi’s nomination in October. During her confirmation hearing, Joshi told the Senate panel: “The transition from mechanical to [artificial intelligence] occurs but for FMCSA, the mission of safety is the No. 1 priority, stays the same. So our challenge is to ensure that our regulations to uphold roadway safety translate into an [artificial intelligence] world.”
Joshi is no stranger to the Big Apple. She previously had served as CEO of the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission. At the nation’s largest for-hire transportation regulator, she spearheaded novel Vision Zero campaigns using data tools to keep high-risk drivers and unsafe vehicles off the road. She also led landmark policy, including establishing robust open transportation data standards for app-based providers; enacting the nation’s first for-hire driver pay protection program and providing broad access to for-hire transportation for passengers who use wheelchairs.
Prior to transportation regulation, Joshi was the inspector general for New York City’s Department of Corrections, responsible for the investigation of corruption and criminality at all levels of New York City’s jail operations and the first deputy executive director of New York City’s Civilian Complaint Review Board, leading investigations of police misconduct. In addition to her government positions, Joshi served as general manager for the New York Office of Sam Schwartz Transportation Consultants and was a visiting scholar at New York University’s Rudin Center for Transportation Policy.
Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she holds a B.A. and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.