ESTER R. FUCHS is a Professor of Public Affairs and Political Science at Columbia University and Director of the Urban Policy program at SIPA. She served as Special Advisor to the Mayor for Governance and Strategic Planning under New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg from 2001-2005. Fuchs was the first woman to serve as Chair of the NYC Charter Revision Commission in 2005. Before taking a public service leave to work for Mayor Bloomberg, she was Chair of the Urban Studies Department at Barnard and Columbia Colleges, and founding Director of Columbia University Center for Urban Research and Policy. Fuchs received her PhD from the University of Chicago.

Fuchs currently serves on the NYC Mayor’s Sustainability Advisory Board, NYC Economic Opportunity Commission, the NYC Workforce Investment Board, the NYC Commission on Women's Issues, and the Advisory Board for NYC’s Out of School Time (OST) Initiative. She is also appointed to the Committee on Economic Inclusion of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and is a member of the Boards of the Fund for the City of New York, the Citizens Union, The Museum at Eldridge Street, The Jewish Community Relations Council, and The Hebrew University Rothberg International School.

Fuchs is the author of Mayor’s and Money: Fiscal Policy in New York and Chicago and has done research and written articles on New York City politics and policy, neighborhood economic development, workforce development, education and afterschool policy, environmental and economic sustainability, social policy, political participation in the Moslem community, the women’s vote, global cities, civic engagement, political parties and elections. She has consulted on numerous political campaigns, is a frequent political commentator on tv and radio, and lectures on American politics and policy. Fuchs is currently working on a book, Governing the 21st Century City.

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