Maria Torres-Springer is a Senior Fellow at the Ford Foundation and the former First Deputy Mayor of New York City. She was previously Vice President of US Programs at the Ford Foundation where she oversaw the Foundation’s domestic grant making.

Torres-Springer has a long track record of public service with the City of New York. She served as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the nation’s largest municipal housing agency; President of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, where she was the first woman to serve as president; and Commissioner of the New York City Department of Small Business Services.

Torres-Springer also served previously as the Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff at NYCEDC as well as Chief Operating Officer for Friends of the High Line. Maria earned her bachelor’s degree from Yale University and a master’s in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.