Leadership - Senior Leadership - Maya Wiley, Senior Vice President for Social Justice | The New School in New York City

MayaWiley is a nationally renowned expert on racial justice and equity. She has litigated, lobbied the U.S. Congress, and developed programs to challenge structural racism in the United States and South Africa. Wiley is currently the senior vice president for Social Justice at The New School and the Henry Cohen Professor of Urban Policy and Management at The New School’s Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy. She is also the chair of the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB), the independent oversight agency for the city’s police department.

Prior to her roles with the New School and the CCRB, from 2014 to 2016, Wiley served as counsel to the mayor of the City of New York. As Mayor Bill de Blasio’s chief legal advisor and a member of his Senior Cabinet, Wiley was placed at the helm of the Mayor’s effort to expand affordable broadband access across New York City, advance civil and human rights and gender equity, and increase the effectiveness of the city’s support for minority- and women-owned business enterprises. During her tenure, she also served as the mayor’s liaison to the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary. 

Earlier Wiley was the founder and president of the Center for Social Inclusion. She has also worked for the Open Society Foundation in the United States and in South Africa; the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.; the American Civil Liberties Union; and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. 

City & State New York magazine named Wiley one of the 100 most powerful people in New York City in 2014 and 2015. Wiley was named one of 20 Leading Black Women Social Activists Advocating Change by TheRoot.com in 2011 and a Moves Power Woman by Moves magazine in 2009.

Wiley holds a JD from Columbia University School of Law and a BA in Psychology from Dartmouth College. She lives in Brooklyn with her two daughters and her partner.