New York City Mayor Eric Adams has elevated the current Deputy Mayor for Strategic Initiatives Sheena Wright to the position of first deputy mayor, and Senior Advisor to the Mayor Camille Joseph Varlack will serve as chief of staff starting January 2023. Wright and Varlack will assume their roles following the planned departures of First Deputy Mayor Lorraine Grillo and Chief of Staff Frank Carone.
“Lorraine Grillo and Frank Carone have been tremendous assets to me, to our colleagues at City Hall, and to all New Yorkers, and we are all incredibly grateful for their service,” said Mayor Adams. “They’re leaving big shoes to fill, and I’m confident that Sheena Wright and Camille Joseph Varlack have what it takes to serve the city that we all love as first deputy mayor and chief of staff. I trust them, I am confident in their skills and commitment, and I look forward to shaping New York City’s future and ‘Getting Stuff Done’ with them at my side.”
“I’m looking forward to continuing to serve New Yorkers as first deputy mayor and leading our dedicated team into 2023,” said Deputy Mayor for Strategic Initiatives Sheena Wright. “I’m grateful to Mayor Adams for his trust, to First Deputy Mayor Grillo for the incredible work she’s done during our first year, and to the remarkable team of women leaders in this administration for breaking glass ceilings on a daily basis. I know how to bring business, nonprofits, and government together to ‘Get Stuff Done,’ and that’s exactly what I’ll do as First Deputy Mayor.”
“I’m incredibly humbled to have the opportunity to serve as chief of staff, and I’m excited to continue to work with this incredible team that Mayor Adams has assembled,” said Special Advisor to the Mayor Camille Joseph Varlack. “My mother — a nurse from Trinidad and Tobago who immigrated to the U.S. — taught me from a young age that order, structure, and discipline were nonnegotiable, and that’s the mentality I bring with me wherever I go. New York City is at the heart of the American Dream, and we’ll work tirelessly to make sure our city continues to be a place where people like my mother can work hard and achieve their dreams.”
