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Betsy MacLean

Betsy MacLean
Advisory Board
NYC Chief Policy & Innovation Officer
She/Her

Betsy MacLean has been engaged in groundbreaking community development for more than 20 years. New York City’s Chief Policy and Innovation Officer, Betsy runs the Mayor’s Office of Policy and Planning where she and her team work to align government programs with priority policy goals and advance cross-agency and cross-sector solutions to entrenched urban challenges.

Betsy was appointed the first-ever Chief Engagement Officer for NYC in 2022 where she aimed to maximize the opportunities for New Yorkers to work hand in hand with government, and for government to value, learn from, and be accountable to New Yorkers' priorities, ideas and insights.

Before City Hall, Betsy served as Co-Executive Director of Hester Street, a national leader in community planning, design and development. She and her team led neighborhood planning efforts in East Harlem and Bushwick, citywide participatory policymaking on fair housing and cultural equity, and national economic development and climate resiliency in the Navajo Nation and Puerto Rico. She developed a community ownership program that democratized real estate development, advanced alternative forms of land ownership, and supported community facility purchase, design and construction by and for communities.

She brings her on the ground experience as Director of Community Development at Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation to her city-wide and national work. In East New York she planned and developed hundreds of affordable homes, spearheaded the community-led design and construction of Brooklyn’s first green public school (PS/IS 89), and created a neighborhood-wide planning and sustainability initiative.

Betsy began her career as a carpenter. Her carpentry work brought her to Cuba where she led an international community development program. She was named to the NY Community Engagement Power 50 and has been recognized with the NY Housing Conference Public Service award, the APA Leadership in Housing & Equal Opportunity Award and the ALIGN-NYC Movement Builder Award, among others. Betsy holds master’s degrees in urban planning and international affairs from Columbia University. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two tall sons and coaches basketball.