Sheena Wright

Sheena Wright (born January 6, 1970) is an American nonprofit executive and civil servant. She was the First Deputy Mayor of New York City and was previously the president of the United Way of New York City. In August 2021, she was appointed chair of New York City mayor-elect Eric Adams's transition team. On December 6, 2022, Adams named her Deputy Mayor for Strategic Initiatives, a role she assumed in January 2023. Wright later resigned amid investigations into the Eric Adams administration.

Early life and education Wright was born and raised in the South Bronx, the daughter of Debra Fraser-Howze, an AIDS activist who founded of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS and the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica. She also established Choose Healthy Life, a network of churches dedicated to providing coronavirus testing and administering vaccines. Wright’s sister, Tanya Wright, is an actress.

Wright attended the George School in Pennsylvania before enrolling at Columbia University, where she was a member of the varsity track and field team. She graduated from Columbia College in 1990 and later earned her Juris Doctor degree from Columbia Law School in 1994.

Career After graduating from law school, Wright worked as a lawyer at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. She also worked in private equity firms and served as general counsel for Crave Technologies, a minority-owned software startup.

Wright served as the president and executive director of the Abyssinian Development Corporation, the economic arm of the influential Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. On April 1, 2013, she was subpoenaed by federal prosecutors regarding her tenure at Abyssinian, specifically concerning the sale of a townhouse—intended for buyers earning less than $130,000—to Todd Hunter, the son of NBA union executive Billy Hunter, through an Abyssinian subsidiary. During her tenure, she was actively involved in Hurricane Sandy and COVID-19 relief efforts. She also led the ReadNYC initiative, aimed at improving child literacy.

In August 2021, Eric Adams appointed Wright to lead his mayoral transition team. as the First Deputy Mayor of New York City but resigned amid investigations into the Eric Adams administration.

Personal life On January 5, 2013, Gregg Walker, Wright's former husband and an executive at Sony at the time, called Harlem's 30th Precinct to report that Wright had assaulted him. Both Wright and Walker were arrested; however, Wright's charges were dropped the same night, while Walker's charges were not dropped for several weeks.

Wright's husband, David C. Banks, served as the New York City Schools Chancellor from January 2022 to October 2024 in the Adams administration.