Editor’s note: Get reacquainted with City & State’s advisory board

In 2021, City & State established its first advisory board, a panel of experts which has helped maintain and improve our focus on diversity, equity and inclusion within our editorial coverage, power lists and rankings.

Over these past three years, this now 10-member board has helped ensure that City & State has reflected its diverse communities while continuing to deliver the best political news coverage in New York. In recognition of their hard work, we are publishing the bios and images of our latest lineup of board members and want to say thank you for your commitment and service. Please read on to learn more about this exciting group. 

Sheryl Huggins-Salomon, Advisory Board Chair

Sheryl is the advisory board chair for City & State and a contributing editor. A veteran journalist, she held editorial leadership positions at several online news outlets which provided political, cultural and justice coverage for Black audiences — as managing editor of The Root and AOL Black Voices, as well as editorial director of NewsOne.com. Sheryl is an Executive Council Member of the Deadline Club - Society of Professional Journalists New York City Chapter. She has been a contributor to Livestrong.com and a contributing writer for Everyday Health, for which her work has garnered silver and bronze Digital Health Awards. She also is the Director of Strategic Communications for the NYU Silver School of Social Work. Prior to that, she was the Chief Communications Officer for the NYU McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research.

Gregg Bishop

Born in Grenada and raised in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, Gregg serves on several boards including at the Red Hook Initiative, Pursuit (formerly New York Business Development Corporation), the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, Association for a Better New York, and the Grenada Investment Development Corporation. He currently is executive director of the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation’s Social Justice Fund, which is focused on economic mobility and racial justice in Brooklyn. He has worked extensively in the nonprofit world and served as the commissioner of the New York Department of Small Business Services, where he connected small business owners to more than $200 million and certified a record 9,000 minority- and women-owned business efforts. He also developed and launched several initiatives aimed at removing barriers women and people of color face, including Black Entrepreneurs NYC and Women Entrepreneurs NYC. 

Larry Scott Blackmon

Larry is the CEO of political consulting and communications firm The Blackmon Organization, has 20 years of experience in public service. Larry served as vice president for public affairs at FreshDirect, and before that he was a deputy commissioner with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Larry has served under New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, former Mayor Michael Bloomberg and worked with former Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields, former New York City Council Speakers Christine Quinn and Gifford Miller. He also has worked on the staffs of Sen. Chuck Schumer, and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her 2000 Senate campaign.  Larry is the Chair of the board of the Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan New York, Board Secretary of 100 Black Men of New York, and is the New York State President of the New York Association of Chapters of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated, the first Black Greek Letter Fraternity in the U.S.  

David R. Jones

David is president and CEO of the Community Service Society of New York (CSS), a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization that promotes economic advancement and full civic participation for low-income New Yorkers. He has led CSS since 1986. From 1983 to 1986, he served as Executive Director of the New York City Youth Bureau. David was Special Advisor to Mayor Koch from 1979 to 1983. Prior to his nonprofit and public service careers, he specialized in corporate antitrust cases and contract litigation at the law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore. He has served on transition committees for former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, former Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. He also served as a member of the Moreland Commission. In June 2016, the State Senate confirmed David to fill a city seat on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA).  

Andrew Kirtzman

New Yorkers have gotten to know Andrew Kirtzman from his years as a political journalist and work in public service. He currently serves as a managing director at Actum, the global consulting company, which in 2023 acquired his public affairs and communications firm, Kirtzman Strategies. He previously served as a vice president at Global Strategy Group and senior adviser to New York City Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott in 2013. Andrew often appears as a political analyst on CNN and MSNBC and is a frequent contributor to the New York Times and Washington Post. He recently published his third book, “Giuliani: The Rise and Tragic Fall of America’s Mayor,” which the New Yorker named one of the best books of 2022. He is the former host of NY1’s “Inside City Hall'' and WCBS-TV’s “Kirtzman and Co.” He served as contributing editor at New York magazine, government reporter for the Daily News, investigative reporter for the Houston Post, and city editor for the Hudson Dispatch in New Jersey. He is a native of Manhattan’s Lower East Side and currently lives in Noho.

Tara L. Martin

Tara is the Founder + CEO of TLM Strategic Advisors, a boutique social impact strategy firm through which she has forged partnerships with clients from various sectors to drive sustainable social change. With over 20 years of experience in public affairs, Tara has lent her expertise to tech start-ups, sports, music, and entertainment companies, worker's rights organizations, and nonprofits. Among her significant roles have been serving as the Political Director and Chief Lobbyist of the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) and Director of Communications of the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU/UFCW). Throughout her career, Tara has had the privilege of working alongside influential figures such as Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke, former City Councilmember Dr. Una Clarke, former Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, and Westchester Deputy County Executive Ken Jenkins. Additionally, she has contributed her skills to presidential campaigns, supporting the likes of former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, former Sen. John Kerry, Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Michael D. Nieves

Michael is President and CEO of HITN, one of the first non-profit Spanish language television networks in the U.S. During his first two years as CEO (2015-2017), HITN added more than 10 million Latino Households to its subscriber base. Under Michael's leadership, HITN has received three Emmy nominations and has won the prestigious Telly Award for the Public Affairs show Estudio DC and a Telly Award for Tu Cuentas Cine Youth Fest. He has served as strategic and policy advisor and consultant to numerous elected officials and campaigns across New York City and New York State, including Assemblyman and former Bronx Democratic leader José Rivera, Assemblyman Robert Rodríguez, New York City Council Member Robert Cornegy, former Congressman Charles Rangel (D-NY), New York City Civil Court Judge Lisa Headley, and Transit Workers Union Local 100. He has served as Senior Advisor to the Majority Leader of the New York City Council; as Deputy Chief of Staff to the Council Speaker; as Director of State and Federal Affairs for the Council; and as Deputy Director of Council Services. 

Juanita Scarlett 

Juanita is a partner at Bolton St. Johns, where she advises clients in the healthcare, energy, economic development and education sectors on their public policy and public affairs objectives. Before joining Bolton St. Johns, Juanita was a Managing Director at Park Strategies, a government relations firm and a Managing Director at McKenna Long & Aldridge, an international law and public policy firm. Previously, Juanita served in the administration of Governor Andrew Cuomo as Executive Vice President for Strategy, Policy, and Public Affairs at the Empire State Development (ESD) Corporation.  She also was the Director of Intergovernmental Affairs to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Juanita served in the administration of Governor Eliot Spitzer as the Executive Advisor for New York Government Affairs at the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey. She was press secretary to Attorney General Eliot Spitzer from 2000 – 2006, and served as speechwriter for the Department of Law. She began her career in public service as Press Officer to former New York Governor Mario M. Cuomo.

Lupé Todd-Medina

Lupe is the founder of Effective Media Strategies, a full-service communications and public relations firm in New York City. Born in the Republic of Panama, Lupe's first-hand knowledge and understanding of many of the social issues affecting immigrant populations has helped her shape and implement communications campaigns in diverse communities. As director of communications for the first Black district attorney of Brooklyn, Lupe was charged with raising the profile of DA Kenneth Thompson's office. Before returning to government, Lupe spearheaded communications for the successful campaigns of Democratic Congressional Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Lupe was also the first press secretary for then-Newark Mayor Cory A. Booker and the chief spokesperson for the city of Newark. Lupe has been a spokesperson for national, state and city elected officials for over 25 years. Her background in strategic campaign communications, crisis management and rapid response aided the winning political campaigns for New York State pro tempore Assemblyman Jeff Aubry (D-NY, 35), Assemblymember Grace Lee and others. Lupe recently served as a senior communications consultant for the re-election campaign for the first female governor of the state of New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Trip Yang

Trip is the founder of Trip Yang Strategies, a political strategy, direct mail and paid media consulting firm, which has helped to elect dozens of Democratic candidates to office. A New York-based Asian-American-owned consulting firm, Trip Yang Strategies has been a consultant on many high-profile wins, including the elections of Council Members Gale Brewer and Shekar Krishnan; NY Assembly Members Grace Lee, and Steven Raga; NY State Senator Cordell Cleare; U.S. Congress Member Dan Goldman and former Congress Member Max Rose. In work on independent expenditure campaigns, Trip Yang Strategies has successfully turned out AAPI voters in Congress Member Tom Suozzi’s competitive 2024 special election, as well as serving as the direct mail consultant for Governor Wes Moore’s win in Maryland. Before he started his own firm, Trip spearheaded NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams' landslide win, as the campaign manager, and served as Senior Advisor for Tish James’ 2018 NY Attorney General win and Eric Gonzalez’s 2017 Brooklyn District Attorney’s victory. Trip started his career in electoral politics as a field organizer for President Obama's campaign in Iowa. He is a veteran of three presidential campaigns.