Betsy Gotbaum honored with lifetime achievement award at City & State event

City & State hosted its annual Above and Beyond: Women awards ceremony on Thursday evening at The Prince George Ballroom in NoMad, celebrating leading women who go the extra mile to serve New Yorkers. Fifty women were honored, including Lifetime Achievement honoree Betsy Gotbaum, the former New York City public advocate who has spent decades advancing causes that matter to everyday New Yorkers. 

Sheshe Segar, executive director of finance at the New York City Commission on Human Rights, emceed the event, opening with a celebratory message of the power of women in creating change. 

“As we gather here tonight, let us take a moment to reflect on the powerful message we are sending today, that as women, our achievements deserve to be celebrated, that our voices matter, and that together we can continue to break down barriers and create a world of equality, opportunity, and respect,” she said.

Following the opening was the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement award, bestowed to Betsy Gotbaum, the former executive director at Citizens Union. 

Gotbaum briefly discussed her career, joking about her frequent job-hopping from leading role to leading role. Yet, for her, running the New York City Police Foundation remains dear to her heart. 

“One of the great moments in my career has been being able to raise enough money to be able to give every police officer a bulletproof vest,” she said. “When I was running for Public Advocate, I was campaigning in Queens (and) a police car pulled up. This cop got out of the car, ran over, hugged me; I almost fainted. He said, ‘I want to thank you for what you did.’”

In announcing her upcoming retirement, Gotbaum, who is 86, made it clear that she’s “not going to stop.”

“There’s too much going on and I am particularly hysterical about what’s going to happen to our seniors who are going to lose their benefits with social security, so I have a plot of something I’m going to do,” hoping to get to working on those plans upon retiring.

The event featured a series of keynote speakers, including New York City Public Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos and Emily Kadar, the senior director of constituency affairs for Gov. Kathy Hochul. Karen Alford, vice president of elementary schools at the United Federation of Teachers, also spoke on behalf of the UFT, the platinum sponsor organization for the ceremony. 

After the speeches, awards were given to the fifty women honored by City & State for their work towards creating a better New York.