Dean Fuleihan

Fuleihan was born to a Lebanese American family. His father immigrated from Lebanon, and his mother's parents also immigrated from Lebanon.^[10]

Fuleihan earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Alfred University and studied public finance at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.^[11][12]

Fuleihan began his career as a policy analyst in the New York State Assembly in 1978.^[5][13] He worked as a budget analyst and rose to become long-time Speaker Sheldon Silver's "budget guru",^[5] in charge of negotiating New York State's $130 billion budget.^[5] Fuleihan retired from the Assembly in 2011 and joined the SUNY Poly College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering as an executive vice president.^[8][5]

Bill de Blasio hired Fuleihan after his victory in the 2013 mayoral election. His first main task as the Director of the New York City Mayor's Office of Management and Budget was negotiating labor contracts that previous mayor, Michael Bloomberg, had left expired for years.^[14][15] Under de Blasio and Fuleihan, the budget of New York City grew from $72 billion to $85 billion.^[16][17][18]

In late November 2017, First Deputy Mayor Anthony Shorris announced he would step down from his post,^[19] and de Blasio offered the job to Fuleihan, who accepted the role as First Deputy Mayor effective January 2018.^[4] Fuleihan was replaced as Director of the New York City Mayor's Office of Management and Budget by Melanie Hartzog.^[4]

In June of 2024, Governor Kathy Hochul appointed Fuleihan to the New York State Financial Control Board.^[20] On November 10, 2025, mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announced that Fuleihan would be his first deputy mayor, having previously advised Mamdani since the primary campaign.^[3][10]