A Message from the Comptroller   Budget season is in full swing and I just returned from Albany where I testified about the state of the City’s finances, the significant challenges we currently face, and the urgent need for greater investment in New York City through State funding. As you’ve likely heard, the City faces a multi-billion-dollar budget gap in the next two years. It’s not all doom and gloom, however; revenue is high and revised tax receipts are up this year. Still, New York remains a city of contradictions. The stock market is at an all-time high — the Dow above 50,000 for the first time ever — yet nearly 90,000 New Yorkers slept in our shelters last night. New York City is home to more billionaires than any other city in the world. And yet nearly one in four New Yorkers live in poverty. That’s 2 million people, including 420,000 children. And this month’s New York by the Numbers, our monthly economic snapshot, reflects that disconnect. While New York City’s office market has continued its steady and robust rebound in early 2026, job growth remains stagnant, with weekly jobless claims creeping upward in January and persistent hiring challenges for recent graduates which could further hamper future job growth. Rents continue to soar, which means shelter costs and the City’s contribution to rent subsidy programs are also rising. At the same time, New York City remains a preeminent destination with tourism numbers coming in stronger than last January and higher consumer confidence than the rest of the country. These contradictions are also evident in the City’s budget. With a fiscal gap not seen since the Great Recession, all options are on the table and a stronger partnership with Albany will be essential — after all, New York City sends far more money to the state than we receive in return; by one recent estimate, more than $20 billion. If we act now with clarity, urgency, and a real partnership with Albany, we can create a more resilient fiscal foundation, steel ourselves for the uncertainty ahead, and be a city and state that leaves no one behind. As always, we will continue to track these trends closely and share clear, data-driven insights to help New Yorkers understand what’s happening in our economy, and what it means for the City’s future. Sincerely, New York City Comptroller Mark D. Levine

Office of the New York City Comptroller Office of New York City Comptroller Mark D. Levine 1 Centre Street New York, NY 10007 United States

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Andy Marks, Managing Director, MATTER, Inc., the entertainment and sports marketing division of Edelman, the world’s largest independent PR firm. He joined Edelman when it acquired MATTER, a leading branded entertainment and content development consultancy Andy co-founded to develop marketing and media partnerships between leading brands, and entertainment companies and content creators. With MATTER operating within the Edelman fold, Andy has drawn upon his expertise to create entertainment marketing and content opportunities for Edelman’s industry-spanning client roster, and has built the division into a full service entertainment and sports marketing practice operating worldwide. He provides ongoing strategic business and entertainment counsel for clients including Brita, Amtrak, Hidden Valley Ranch, Pepsi, Dove, Johnson & Johnson, and the Empire State Building; and has advised clients including Butterball, Nissan, Knitting Factory Entertainment, History Channel, and BET, among others. He has worked with non-profit organizations such as the McCormick Foundation, the American Heart Association, Step-Up Women’s Network, Music Empowers Foundation, and The Creative Coalition on developing mutually beneficial corporate and entertainment partnerships. Andy has placed a number of clients in TV partnerships with programs including The Biggest Loser, Top Chef, Cake Boss, and Project Runway, and partnered brand clients with celebrities including Natalie Portman, Wynonna Judd, Tim Burton, Joe Pantoliano, Ricki Lake, Emme, Marisa Tomei, and Bob Harper. He has developed original branded content programs for clients Anvil Organics, AstraZeneca, Hidden Valley Ranch, and ArmorAll, among others, and launched Edelman Studios, a virtual studio pairing content creators with brands looking for new ways to reach consumers; clients Burger King, Butterball, Expedia and Philadelphia Cream Cheese sourced hundreds of concepts from a community of nearly 1,000 emerging and established storytellers. Before MATTER, Andy served as executive vice president of brand partnerships at Hypnotic, a multi-media production company backed by Universal Studios, where he specialized in bridging the Madison and Vine divide. While there, Andy launched several pioneering branded entertainment initiatives including Reebok’s Terry Tate, Office Linebacker, recently voted one of the top ten best Super Bowl ad campaigns of the last decade; the Chrysler Million Dollar Film Festival, as well as programs for Ford, Coca Cola, and Nintendo. Prior to Hypnotic, Andy was director of Advertising and Sponsorship Sales at the Hollywood Stock Exchange (HSX), a simulated online stock market where consumers can buy and sell fictional “shares” in movies and stars. He spent five years as a producer and professional actor with roles in TV, feature films and theatre. He began his career at the Chubb Group in property and casualty insurance underwriting and risk management. He holds a B.A. in geology and environmental studies from Colgate University and resides in New York City with wife Nanette and their two children.

Rob Donnell, Founder and President of Brand Arc: An award-winning veteran of the advertisingindustry, Rob Donnell is Founder and President of Brand Arc, a Los Angeles-based firm responsible for developing groundbreaking product integrations for major brands such as Toyota and Lexus across TV, film, video games, mobile and digital platforms. Brand Arc is a three-time winner of Madison & Vine’s “Five Best Integrations of the Year,” a 10-time winner of iTVX’s “Featured Placement of the Week” a highlight of the ANA’s “Best Practices in Branded Entertainment.” Most recently, the agency has been honored with a 2012 One Show Entertainment Gold Pencil in the Television Scripted Series category for its Toyota Prius integration on the HBO series “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” Donnell’s deals for longtime client Toyota include three consecutive seasons of highly visible integration into ABC’s Emmy-winning comedy, “Modern Family,” nine consecutive seasons in Bravo’s hit competition show, “Top Chef,” and recent car giveaways to recession-wracked guests on the syndicated talk show “Ellen.” Donnell and his team created the first-ever co-promotion between a pharmaceutical marketer, Roche, and a feature film, Warner Bros.’ blockbuster “Happy Feet.” In other firsts, he helped integrate the Toyota Yaris into five separate sketches on Fox’s late-night comedy, “Mad TV,” created the first brand-financed “mobisodes” with Sprint for the action thriller, “Prison Break,” and initiated the first-ever brand-sponsored DVD prequel for Fox’s hit drama, “24.” Though Donnell launched Brand Arc in 2005 primarily to service Toyota, he has also worked with an impressive list of clients including Lexus, AT&T, Roche and GSW. Other Brand Arc services include strategic brand development, creative development, media planning, co-promotion and event marketing.

Peter Bray is currently Director of Digital at Saatchi & Saatchi NY. The largest agency within the global network is home to a diverse portfolio of global and US brands, including: Tide, Pampers, Cheerios, Head & Shoulders, Iams, Yoplait, Miller Lite as well as Chase Sapphire, Lenovo, Folgers, Capri Sun, Theraflu and Triaminic. Peter finds himself fortunate to have built a 17 year global career around the business of digital, ensuring it fits within not just integrated communications offerings, but is also used to transform business and unleash growth opportunities. In addition to agency life, he has also been a Director of CHOICE (the Australian Consumers’ Association) and was the National President of Australia’s peak digital industry body AIMIA (the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association). Currently, he is also an Executive Academy Member of the IADAS. In 2001, Peter founded the multi award winning agency Clear Blue Day, with offices in NYC, Melbourne and Sydney. Clear Blue Day was founded around expert digital strategy and branding, with clients including Subaru, Macquarie Bank and Diageo. In 2007 this was sold to ASX listed entity Q Limited. In mid 2009, he joined The Brand Shop initially as Director of Digital to ensure that the agency created a digital strategy offering. A little over 4 months later, Peter was given the additional role of leading the agency with a talented ECD to a successful 2010, reporting directly to the CEO of the WPP owned STW Group (ASX: STW), a group that owns over 70 different agencies including JWT and Ogilvy, and soon after had a role at STW Group “central” working across all agencies.

Harry Kargman is the Founder and CEO of Kargo, the leading mobilepublisher platform. Founded in 2003, Kargo delivers advertising and integrated rich media across its proprietary platform of major media mobile websites, apps and tablet experiences. Kargo has been recognized with numerous awards including a Mobi and an OMMA for its advertising campaigns as well as a Red Herring Top 100 winner in 2013, an AlwaysOn OnMobile Top 100 winner in 2013 and an AlwaysOn OnMedia Top 100 in 2013. Harry has been featured on Bloomberg TV, 20/20, The Today Show, the New York Times, and NPR and in business publications around the world. He has been a keynote speaker or panelist at CES, Mobile Marketing Association, Digital Hollywood, Mobile Media Summit and the AlwaysOn Conferences. CTIA, GSM, the CDMA World Congress, COMDEX, Columbia University and other events. Previous in his career, Harry worked at Intel in Corporate Business Development, Intel’s venture arm, and at the Boston Consulting Group. He also held positions at Intertainer, a broadband content provider and Zefer, an Internet strategic consulting firm, as one of its first employees. Harry lives in New York City and holds seven patents on wireless technology. He graduated with honors from Harvard College.

Frank Kavilanz is General Manager of Partnerships and Revenue for Bedrocket to develop and scale best practices across all Bedrocket video platforms. Prior to joining Bedrocket, Frank was Senior Vice President of Strategy and Business Development at NowThisNews, a Bedrocket partner company. While at NowThis News, the digital news network for the mobile and social generation, he managed all growth and revenue efforts. Previously, Frank worked for the NBC Universal News Group where he served as Vice President of Strategy and Partnership for NBC News overseeing business development for NBCNews.com, Today.com and MSNBC.com. Earlier in his career, Frank worked at Disney ABC Television Group as Head of Business Development for ABC News Digital where he led initiatives for ABCNews.com, GoodMorningAmerica.com and GMA on Yahoo!.

Neil McGinness, CEO, Weekly World News: Led by Neil McGinness, Weekly World News, has inspired hit feature films, television shows, and musicals. Rooted in the creative success of over thirty years of supermarket tabloid publishing, the company recently joined forces with Steven Spielberg’s Dreamworks Television to develop new entertainment properties. Bat Boy first debuted as a Weekly World News cover story on June 23, 1992, and the original front-page photo of Bat Boy was the second bestselling issue in the tabloid’s history; it has since evolved into a pop-culture icon. Bat Boy currently stars in his very own musical, Bat Boy: The Musical, which in 2010 will be performed over 200 times in over 20 different states and countries. The original off-Broadway production of the musical won wide acclaim and awards, including both the Lucille Lortel Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award.

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