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Either we’re proud like that, or Maria Torres-Springer really is a source of inspiration and motivation for Filipinos, women, and just about everyone.
Torres-Springer, born to immigrant Filipino parents, was just appointed the new head of New York City’s Economic Development Corporation.
“Maria Torres-Springer, 38, is the first woman to run the agency, which manages the city’s assets and negotiates with companies seeking subsidies and other breaks from the city,” writes Patrick McGeehan on the New York Times.
The appointment, which was announced just on Monday, came from Mayor Bill de Blasio himself.
Before the appointment, Torres-Springer was in charge of NYC’s Small Business Services agency.
She’s pretty inspiring, if you ask us. She was born to Filipino immigrant parents in California. She “grew up there and in the Philippines,” the NYT report notes, and has degrees from both Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and Yale.
It sounds like she’s the kind of person we need in Manila — or the rest of the country actually. According to this report from Crain’s New York, Torres-Springer “expanded a program cutting red tape so that restaurants, retailers, and manufacturers can open more swiftly, and another to improve communications with business owners.”
Her appointment follows the November 2014 appointment of Carmelyn Malalis as commissioner of New York City’s Commission on Human Rights. Malalis is also of Filipino descent.
Photo: Crain’s New York
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