Commissioner Jessica Tisch is a lifelong New Yorker, appointed in April 2022 to lead the New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY). In this role, Commissioner Tisch is leading a trash revolution, changing the way New Yorkers interact with waste for the first time in generations by making meaningful progress on the long-elusive project of waste containerization. She has reoriented the nation’s largest municipal waste agency around cleanliness, regularly cleaning over 1,500 areas in the City – in every neighborhood – that had been ignored for decades: step streets, overpasses, walkways and medians. She has overseen the highest level of litter basket service in the City’s history, and under her leadership, DSNY is engaging in meaningful enforcement against the crime of illegal dumping for the first time, not only cleaning up, but making dumpers pay for what they have done to our neighborhoods. In addition, she designed and implemented the largest curbside composting program in the country, that is currently in the process of expanding citywide.

Prior to her service at DSNY, Commissioner Tisch ran the New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications. This role included significant efforts related to the transition to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic, acquiring tablets for students, running “Project Cupid” to allow remote marriages, and building the City’s vaccination and contact tracing systems. Commissioner Tisch began her career in City service with a dozen years at the NYPD, including several as Deputy Commissioner for Information Technology. She and her team built the Domain Awareness System, the City’s groundbreaking counterterrorism camera network, implemented the body camera program, and developed the service that allows New Yorkers to text 911.

Commissioner Tisch is a graduate of Harvard College, as well as Harvard Business School and Harvard Law.