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Paul Francis is an American business executive and politician who has served under three Governors of New York, holding such positions as the Director of State Operations for the State of New York. In that position he oversaw the state's eight major departments, along with the other offices and divisions of the Government of New York. He has been described as “one of Albany's most influential behind-the-scenes players.” [1]
Born in Santa Monica, California, Francis was raised in Chappaqua, New York. He graduated from Yale College and New York University School of Law in 1980 and worked for Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom alongside Silda Wall Spitzer, Eliot Spitzer's wife. [2]
Francis worked as an associate at Shearman & Sterling LLP in New York from 1980 to 1983. From 1983 to 1986, he was an associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP & Affiliates in New York. From 1986 to 1993 he was Managing Director at Merrill Lynch in New York. From 1993 to 1997 he was Chief Financial Officer of Ann Taylor Stores Corporation in New York. From 1997 to 2000, he was CFO of Priceline.com in Norwalk, Connecticut. From 2001 to 2004 he was Managing Partner of the Cedar Street Group in Larchmont, New York. From September 2008 to May 2001 he was COO of the Financial Products Division of Bloomberg LP.[ citation needed ] [3]
During Spitzer's 2006 gubernatorial campaign, Francis worked as policy director. Francis and Spitzer met volunteering for the congressional campaign of Edward Meyer, a former Westchester assemblyman who switched his registration from Republican to Democrat in the wake of the Watergate scandal. [2]
Francis was nominated by Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer to replace John Cape in 2007. [2] He had previously served as State Budget Director.
He continued to serve as director of state operations under Gov. David Paterson, who succeeded Spitzer on March 17, 2008. Francis left this position in July 2008. [4]
He was an advisor on budget and policy issues during Andrew Cuomo's successful 2010 campaign for Governor of New York. He then served as director of agency redesign and efficiency from 2011 to 2012, during Governor Cuomo's first term. In July 2015, Governor Cuomo appointed Francis as Deputy Secretary for Health and Human Services for New York State.[ citation needed ]
Since 2013, he was Distinguished Senior Fellow at the New York University School of Law.
In 2012, Francis fell suddenly ill a few hours after Governor Cuomo delivered his second State of the State address, which Francis had helped write. He was hospitalized in Albany, developed sepsis, and spent two weeks in a medically induced coma that necessitated the amputation of his left arm below the elbow. He now has a metal hook in place of a left hand. After this experience, he became an advocate for paraplegics, serving as an Albany lobbyist for New Yorkers to Cure Paralysis. Since losing his hand, he uses voice-recognition software to write. “My disability seems so trivial compared with those who are completely paralyzed,” he has said. “It was my left arm and I'm right-handed. It seems so small. But it made me appreciate how your life can change in an instant and how important this research is.” [1] [5]
Francis is a member of the board of the Citizens Budget Commission, which criticizes Albany's budget process and spending plans. [6]
Francis and his wife, Titia Hulst, have two children, Charles and Eleanor. [5]
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates is an American multinational law firm headquartered in New York City.
Judith Ann Kaye was an American lawyer, jurist and the longtime Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals, serving in that position from March 23, 1993, until December 31, 2008.
David Alexander Paterson is an American politician and attorney who served as the 55th governor of New York, succeeding Eliot Spitzer, who resigned, and serving out nearly three years of Spitzer's term from March 2008 to December 2010. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first legally blind person to be sworn in as governor of a U.S. state, and the first African-American governor of New York.
Dewey Ballantine LLP was a corporate law firm headquartered in New York City. In 2007, Dewey Ballantine merged with LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae to form Dewey & LeBoeuf. Dewey Ballantine underwent numerous name changes throughout its history as partners left to serve in government positions or form new firms.
John D. Feerick is a law professor at Fordham University School of Law in New York City. He served as the school's eighth dean from 1982 to 2002. From 2002 to 2004, he was the Leonard F. Manning Professor of Law at Fordham, and in 2004 was named to the Sidney C. Norris Chair of Law in Public Service.
Clifford Sloan is an attorney and American diplomat who served as Special Envoy for Guantanamo Closure at the United States Department of State. Sloan is currently a Dean's Visiting Scholar at Georgetown University Law Center and retired partner for Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates. Previously, Sloan was the publisher of Slate magazine.
Preeta D. Bansal is an American lawyer who served as the General Counsel and Senior Policy Advisor to the federal Office of Management and Budget from 2009 until 2011. Prior to her work in the Obama administration, she served as a law partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and as the Solicitor General of New York during Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's first term. She also has been a member and past chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). She is currently a lecturer at MIT and senior advisor at the Laboratory for Social Machines based at the MIT Media Lab.
Silda Alice Wall Spitzer is an American businesswoman and lawyer who was the First Lady of New York from January 2007 until March 2008, when her then husband, Eliot Spitzer, was governor. She has worked in the private, nonprofit, and public sectors in the areas of green/sustainability issues, youth service/education, and human rights and women's financial and other empowerment.
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Gregory Bestor Craig is an American lawyer and former White House Counsel under President Barack Obama, from 2009 to 2010. A former attorney at the Washington, D.C. law firm of Williams & Connolly, Craig has represented numerous high-profile clients. Prior to becoming White House Counsel, he served as assistant to the President and special counsel in the White House of President Bill Clinton, where he directed the team defending Clinton against impeachment. Craig also served as a senior advisor to Senator Edward Kennedy and to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
Christina M. "Tina" Tchen is an American lawyer and a former official in the President Barack Obama Administration. She was CEO of Time's Up from 2019 to 2021, when she resigned following allegations that she provided legal aid to former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo when sexual harassment allegations were made public. Her work centers on issues related to gender inequity, sexual harassment, and lack of diversity in the workplace.
Eliot Laurence Spitzer is an American politician and attorney who served as the 54th governor of New York from 2007 until his resignation in 2008. A member of the Democratic Party, he was also the 63rd attorney general of New York from 1999 to 2006.
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Mark N. Kaplan is an American lawyer and business executive who is the former CEO of Drexel Burnham Lambert and senior partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates.
John Hampton Slate was an American aviation lawyer and founding partner of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom.