Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Deputy Mayor for Operations Stephen Goldsmith today announced that Wayne A. Rustin has been appointed to oversee human capital planning, policy and operations of all mayoral agencies as the City's first Chief Human Capital Officer. Mr. Rustin will lead the implementation of the human resources management and civil service reforms called for in the shared services report the Mayor and Deputy Mayor Goldsmith issued in July. That report calls for new human resources measurement tools and a new organizational structure to increase efficiency, save money and improve internal customer service. Mr. Rustin is uniquely suited for this effort; he has extensive experience in various human resources, employment law and employee and labor relations positions in government and the private sector. He has served as Director of Human Resources for a 55,000 employee global business unit of IBM, as well as IBM's Director of Global Workforce Diversity; Vice President both in Human Resources and Employee Relations at the J.C. Penney Company; a senior attorney at the National Labor Relations Board; and as a Municipal Court Judge for the City of Fort Worth, Texas. Mr. Rustin will work in the City's Department of Citywide Administrative Services and report to Commissioner Edna Wells Handy. 

"It's a pleasure to welcome Wayne Rustin, who will lead our efforts to transform our human resources systems," said Mayor Bloomberg. "Right now each agency does its own back-end work while decision making is centralized in DCAS. I have asked Wayne to reverse this - so transactional work is centralized and performed more efficiently while decisions are made at the agency level, where the needs are understood the best."

"New York City has an exceptional workforce and Wayne is going to help it reach its full potential by creating a more efficient system that has better testing, training and promotions," said Deputy Mayor Goldsmith. "Wayne will help us consolidate human resources paperwork and bookkeeping in a new shared services center, freeing up agency human resources workers to focus on improving the experience for front line workers."

"I want to welcome Wayne Rustin to the DCAS team," said Commissioner Handy. "Together, we will build the infrastructure to deliver world-class service to our sister agencies, and make government better, faster, cheaper and greener. I want to thank James G. Hein, who recently retired as Deputy Commissioner, Division of Citywide Personnel Services, for his 37 years of excellence and dedication in City service."

"I am excited to join DCAS and put my decades of human resources experience to work to improve the City's systems," said Chief Human Capital Officer Wayne A. Rustin. "I look forward to helping the City attract and retain top talent while coming up with creative new ways to support our workforce." 

Mr. Rustin has a Master of Laws degree in Comparative & International Law from the Georgetown University Law Center, a Juris Doctor degree from the Howard University School of Law and a Bachelors Degree in Political Science from Virginia State University. He is also a Former Board Member of the Dallas, Texas Urban League.

The shared services report found that City human resources staff are highly decentralized and that an estimated 70 percent of the human resources work being performed is transactional in nature. Under the shared services initiative, various human resources functions, such as benefits, leaves and separations will move to a new Shared Services Center. This will free up capacity for smaller, more strategic human resources offices within each agency to focus on workforce development, recruiting decisions and other agency-specific matters.

The Chief Human Capital Officer will have direct oversight of service level agreement enforcement, human resources analytics, and human resources transformation program management.  The Chief Human Capital Officer will be supported by an advisory board comprised of DCAS, the Mayor's Office of Operations and the Offices of Labor Relations and Management and Budget.

The Mayor thanked Deputy Mayor Goldsmith, Commissioner Handy, Counselor to the Mayor Anthony Crowell and Special Advisor to the Mayor Andrea Shapiro Davis for their efforts in the appointment search.