Gale Brewer: The matriarch of Manhattan

It’s unclear exactly how many interns Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer has had in her career – some estimate 1,000, others guess the number is as high as 10,000. When you have up to 150 interns at one time, it’s easy to lose track.

No matter how many there have been, Brewer’s former interns have graduated to myriad powerful positions both inside and outside of New York, extending Brewer’s influence beyond the borough president’s office.

Emma Wolfe

As New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s chief of staff, Emma Wolfe has the ear of a whole host of New York politicians, but it’s Brewer who Wolfe credits with sparking her interest in politics and community organizing after she took a class by Brewer at Barnard College.

Mark Peters

Once an intern for Brewer when she served as chief of staff to then-New York City Councilwoman Ruth Messinger, Mark Peters was New York City’s top investigator – until he was fired Friday. Peters took office as Department of Investigation commissioner in 2014, where he had oversight of more than 300,000 city employees.

Jonathan Bing

Before he was a assemblyman representing the 73rd District from 2003 to 2011, Jonathan Bing was another Brewer intern. Bing is now a principal at Jackson Lewis P.C., extending Brewer’s reach to the private sector.

Sam Wong

Sam Wong is just one of Brewer’s former interns who have branched out beyond New York – he worked as a data scientist at New York City Transit before lending his expertise to the Bay Area Rapid Transit system in San Francisco.

Richard David

Now a district leader in Queens, Richard David is part of a contingent of former Brewer interns who are ready to run for office themselves. Last year, David lost a close Democratic primary race for New York City Council to Adrienne Adams.

Benjamin Howard-Cooper

Another of Brewer’s interns who has migrated to the private sector, Benjamin Howard-Cooper is an assistant vice president and manager at Moody’s Investors Service. Now stationed in Moody’s Paris office, Howard-Cooper is well-suited to be a part of Brewer’s international alumni network.

Hiro Senda

Like Howard-Cooper, Hiro Senda is in the class of former interns who have moved beyond both politics and the United States – Senda now works in Netflix’s legal department in Tokyo.