Julie Menin

Julie Menin
File:Julie Menin, Portrait.jpg Menin in 2016
Commissioner of The Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment
Incumbent
Assumed office February 2016
Appointed by	Bill de Blasio
Preceded by	Cynthia Lopez
Personal details
Nationality	American
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Bruce Menin
Residence(s)	New York City, New York, USA
Alma mater	Columbia University Northwestern University School of Law
Profession	Former small business owner, regulatory attorney, non-profit executive director
Website	juliemenin.com

Julie Menin is an attorney and civic leader who has over two decades of experience in the private and public sectors. She currently serves as the Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME), an agency encompassing the economic and creative sectors of film, TV, theater, music, advertising, publishing, digital content and real estate as it relates to these industries. Taken together, these industries account for over 305,000 jobs in New York City, and an economic output of $104 billion. Commissioner Menin also oversees NYC Media, the largest municipal broadcasting entity in the country including five TV Stations and a radio station with a reach of 18 million households in a 50-mile radius and all regulatory compliance issues for the agency. She is also an Adjunct Professor at Columbia’s SIPA where she teaches a class on the legal role cities play as regulators. She was formerly Commissioner of New York City's Department of Consumer Affairs.

Career

Menin began her career in 1992 as a regulatory attorney at Wiley, Rein & Fielding in Washington D.C., and worked as senior regulatory attorney at Colgate-Palmolive in New York City beginning in 1995. As an attorney, she specialized in regulatory law. In 1999, she opened and operated Vine, a restaurant, market, and catering operation in lower Manhattan, which had more than 75 employees.

Nonprofit founder and president

Following 9/11, Menin founded and was the president of the nonprofit Wall Street Rising, a leading catalyst in the recovery of the downtown neighborhood. She helped small businesses access grants, insurance, and other monetary aid; grew the organization to 30,000 members; and created a variety of programs, including the Retail Attraction Program, which helped more than 600 small businesses stay in lower Manhattan.

Under her leadership, the organization launched the “Music Downtown” and “Art Downtown” series, which provided cultural and entertainment amenities to local residents in an effort to revitalize Lower Manhattan. Menin worked with artists including Mikhail Baryshnikov on these programs.

Chairperson for Community Board 1

Beginning in 2005, Menin served as Chairperson for Community Board 1, where she was unanimously elected for three consecutive terms totaling seven years, and was widely recognized for her role in revitalizing lower Manhattan following the upheaval of 9/11.

As chair of CB1, Menin worked on numerous land use and zoning issues, led a successful campaign to build New York City’s first "green" school and other initiatives to revitalize Lower Manhattan. Menin has been recognized for her “solution-based” approach to controversial issues in the wake of 9/11 and as chair of CB1.

She successfully pushed to move the trial of 9-11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed out of Lower Manhattan, while maintaining the importance of a federal trial. resulting in the Obama Administration backing out of New York City

On May 25, 2010, Menin presided over the Community Board's historic 29-1 vote in favor of a proposed Islamic cultural center and mosque, preserving the fundamental principle of freedom of religion and used a solution driven approach to urge the interfaith center (where all different religions can worship) be part of the plans.

She advocated for the construction of a performing arts space as a part of the redevelopment of Ground Zero.

In 2011, Menin spearheaded efforts to balance the rights of Occupy Wall Street protesters with quality-of-life concerns of residents. This position was praised in a New York Times editorial as a "good approach."

Candidate for borough president

Menin ran in the Democratic primary for Manhattan Borough President in September 2013, but finished fourth behind New York City Council Members Gale Brewer, Jessica Lappin and Robert Jackson.

Commissioner of DCA

From 2013 to 2016, Menin served as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA), the nation’s largest municipal consumer affairs agency. As DCA Commissioner, she presided over the settlement of the agency’s largest case (a debit collection case involving 4500 consumers), launched groundbreaking initiatives to protect consumers and was instrumental in implementing the Paid Sick Leave Law, the Small Business Relief Package to reduce fines on businesses, and the Living Wage Executive Order. Under Commissioner Menin’s stewardship, DCA achieved a remarkable turnaround by reducing fines on businesses by one third while increasing consumer restitution by 70 percent. She also launched investigations into not-for-profit colleges, fraudulent auto loans, debt collectors, and other industries preying on New Yorkers. In addition, she launched the City's first expanded Earned Income Tax initiative, creating an outreach program that resulted in an extraordinary 50 percent increase in New Yorkers using the City's free tax centers and returning $260 million to low-income New Yorkers.

Commissioner Menin also conducted DCA’s first study of gender pricing disparities between goods sold in New York City, and published a report, “From Cradle to Cane: The Cost of Being a Female Consumer.” Through a comparison of nearly 800 products with clear male and female versions from more than 90 brands sold online and in stores at two dozen New York City stores, the study found that, on average, products for women cost seven percent more than similar products for men and women’s products were priced higher 42 percent of the time.

Commissioner of MOME

In February 2016, Menin was appointed Commissioner of The Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME), an agency which comprises the Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting and NYC Media. The Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting serves as a one-stop shop for the entertainment industry, a sector that contributes nearly $9 billion to the City of New York’s economy and employs over 130,000 New Yorkers. NYC Media is responsible for managing and programming all of the media assets for the City of New York, which includes a television broadcast network reaching over 18 million people, a radio station and six local cable stations.

With Menin’s appointment, Mayor Bill de Blasio expanded MOME to encompass the full scope of the industry, including music, advertising, publishing, digital media and real estate as it relates to the creation of creative content. Under her leadership, the Office of Media and Entertainment has launched several groundbreaking initiatives. A five-part women’s initiative, including a $5 million fund for women filmmakers and playwrights, is the first municipal program in the country designed to promote equality behind and in front of the camera in film and television, as well as onstage. The One Book, One New York program is the largest community read in the country. NYC Film Green is the first sustainable production designation program in the U.S. administered by a governmental entity. Commissioner Menin also spearheaded the negotiations to being the Grammy awards back to New York City after a 15-year hiatus, which is expected to generate $200 million in economic benefit to the City.

Personal life

Menin earned her B.A. magna cum laude at Columbia University and her J.D. at Northwestern University School of Law. In 1999, she married Bruce Menin in a Jewish ceremony at the Metropolitan Club. She resides in Manhattan with her husband and three children.

Awards

Menin has received numerous awards recognizing her leadership, including City and State New York’s Power 100 award, the National Association of Women Business Owners Community Service Award, the Women’s City Club of New York “City Spirit Award,” the New York League of Conservation Voters “Public Service” award, the Women’s Campaign Fund’s “Rising Star” award, the New York State Senate’s “Women of Distinction” award, City and State’s “40 Under 40” award, and Citizen Union’s “Civic Leadership” award. Menin has served on the boards of the Municipal Art Society, Governor’s Island, the National September 11th Memorial & Museum, the World Trade Center Performing Arts Center, and is currently on the board of Public Service at Harvard College, the Columbia College Board of Visitors, the Paley Center for Media and NYC & Company.