1. Kathryn A Garcia is an American public official serving as Director of State Operations for the state of New York.
15 Facts About Kathryn Garcia
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Kathryn Garcia served as commissioner for the New York City Sanitation Department from 2014 to 2020 and was a candidate in the 2021 New York City Democratic mayoral primary, losing by 0.8 percentage points to Eric Adams.
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Kathryn Garcia was born in Brooklyn and adopted as an infant by Bruce C and Ann McIver.
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Kathryn Garcia was raised in Park Slope, along with five multiracial adopted siblings.
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Kathryn Garcia started her career as an intern at the New York City Department of Sanitation, and then worked as a policy analyst at the New York City Department of Finance and as vice president at Appleseed, focusing on strategic planning and economic impact studies.
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Kathryn Garcia later served in several roles at the New York City Department of Environmental Protection during the Bloomberg administration, including as COO.
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Kathryn Garcia implemented efficiency measures that led to $30 million reduction in the agency's expenses, and helped restore 42 pumping stations and a wastewater treatment plant that was affected by Hurricane Sandy.
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Kathryn Garcia was the second woman to serve in that role.
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Kathryn Garcia pursued an ambitious zero waste to landfills agenda, and built the nation's largest residential curbside food scraps collection and composting program.
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Kathryn Garcia established a commercial franchise zoning system, an overhaul of commercial garbage pickup intended to make the industry safer for pedestrians, workers and the environment.
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In February 2019, Kathryn Garcia was appointed as CEO and interim chair of NYCHA.
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On March 22,2020, Kathryn Garcia was named "food czar" for New York's COVID-19 emergency response, and tasked with ensuring that every New Yorker in need has access to food and securing the city's food supply.
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On September 18,2020, Kathryn Garcia resigned from her roles as sanitation commissioner, interim NYCHA chair, and food czar due to the budget cuts to the Department of Sanitation and her intention to explore a run for New York City mayor.
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On September 1,2021, Governor Kathy Hochul appointed Kathryn Garcia to become director of state operations, succeeding Kelly Cummings.
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Kathryn Garcia was married to Jerry Kathryn Garcia, a banker of Puerto Rican descent, until their divorce in 2016.