In a move that seemed designed to satisfy both business leaders and his democratic socialist supporters in New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday appointed two people to head the Economic Development Corporation whose vision for the agency might seem at odds.
Anthony E. Shorris, a veteran of city government and a partner at the global consulting firm McKinsey & Company, will serve as president. Lina Khan, the former chair of the Federal Trade Commission and an advocate for strong government regulation, will serve as the board chair.
The announcement by Mr. Mamdani, a democratic socialist, comes as his administration has sought to shift the focus of the agency. The corporation, known as E.D.C., is a municipally run nonprofit designed to drive economic growth by creating jobs and encouraging economic development.
Mr. Mamdani has said he wants the organization to also focus on economic justice. The business community has expressed concerns about that shift and questioned whether the mayor was being inattentive to the city’s economy.
Those concerns heightened after The New York Times disclosed a memo, circulated by Julie Su, the deputy mayor for economic justice, that demanded that every E.D.C. program be re-evaluated to ensure the organization was not focused solely on economic growth, but also on justice.
