Brings Extensive Leadership Experience in Senior Roles with the Offices of NYC Comptroller and Manhattan Borough President along with Experience in the Private and Nonprofit Sector
The City University of New York has appointed Sascha Owen, a seasoned leader in public affairs, as Senior Vice Chancellor for Strategy and Policy Implementation. A former top official in the offices of the New York City Comptroller and the Manhattan Borough President, Owen joins the senior leadership team of CUNY from Pursuit, an organization that helps low-income New Yorkers gain access to career pathways in the tech industry.
Owen’s appointment was approved today by the CUNY Board of Trustees and is effective August 19.
“Sascha Owen is a talented leader with an impressive record as a strategist, problem-solver and innovator. She will be an outstanding addition to CUNY’s senior leadership at a transformational time for our University,” said Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez. “With her impressive resume in the public, private and nonprofit sectors, Sascha brings the demonstrated experience and commitment to help fulfill CUNY’s mission of educating New Yorkers of all backgrounds and lifting our city and state.”
Owen’s responsibilities will include oversight of the Chancellor’s office, government affairs, University advancement and executive search. She will also play a leadership role as a member of the Chancellor’s executive team, supervising projects that require interdepartmental collaboration and assisting the Chancellor in meeting the goals of the University’s 2023-2030 strategic roadmap, CUNY Lifting New York.
“It is an honor to support the vision and work of Chancellor Matos Rodríguez and the outstanding team at CUNY,” said Owen. “CUNY is core to the fabric of New York City, uplifting hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers regardless of where they started and helping drive its economy, diversity and generations of leaders. I am thrilled to play a role in meeting CUNY’s mission and strategic goals.”
Owen served as chief of staff in the New York City Comptroller’s Office from 2014 to 2021. In that role, she oversaw 16 bureaus as well as public and external affairs, executive office operations, advocacy, communications, and relations with city, state, and federal government. In developing strategy for legislative and policy initiatives, Owen led advocacy that resulted in the overhaul of the New York City Housing Authority’s inventory management system, city funding to expand arts education in public schools, a successful ballot proposal to place a chief diversity officer in every city agency, and the passage of a law to prohibit discrimination against women-, minority- and LGBTQ-owned firms bidding on city contracts. She also drove negotiations for a historic overhaul of the decision-making process guiding investments for the City’s $260 billion pension system.
As Deputy Chief-of-Staff and Director of Intergovernmental Affairs in the Manhattan Borough President’s Office from 2007 to 2013, Owen was responsible for the office’s relations with city, state, and federal elected officials and government agencies, and helped shepherd major land use decisions.
As Senior Vice President for Policy and External Affairs at Pursuit over the past year, Owen oversaw the organization’s engagement with policymakers, business associations, nonprofits, and key employers, forging partnerships with stakeholders to expand opportunities for low-income New Yorkers. Owen also gained valuable experience navigating the complex regulatory environment of the tech sector with the third-party delivery app Doordash in 2022, where she was senior manager for government relations in New York, New Jersey, and Puerto Rico.
A lifelong New Yorker, Owen holds a JD from Brooklyn Law School and a BA from Oberlin College, where she majored in Religion and Judaic and Near Eastern Studies.
The City University of New York is the nation’s largest urban public university, a transformative engine of social mobility that is a critical component of the lifeblood of New York City. Founded in 1847 as the nation’s first free public institution of higher education, CUNY today has seven community colleges, 11 senior colleges and seven graduate or professional institutions spread across New York City’s five boroughs, serving more than 233,000 undergraduate and graduate students and awarding 50,000 degrees each year. CUNY’s mix of quality and affordability propels almost six times as many low-income students into the middle class and beyond as all the Ivy League colleges combined. More than 80 percent of the University’s graduates stay in New York, contributing to all aspects of the city’s economic, civic and cultural life and diversifying the city’s workforce in every sector. CUNY’s graduates and faculty have received many prestigious honors, including 13 Nobel Prizes and 26 MacArthur “genius grants.” The University’s historic mission continues to this day: provide a first-rate public education to all students, regardless of means or background. To learn more about CUNY, visit https://www.cuny.edu.
– Courtesy of CUNY Media Relations
