Commissioner's Bio

Commissioner Nisha Agarwal

Nisha Agarwal was appointed Commissioner of the New York City Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities by Mayor Mamdani in February 2026. Throughout her career in public service, advocacy, and law, Commissioner Agarwal has worked to advance equity and expand opportunity for New Yorkers.

Most recently, she served as Executive Director for Policy and Communications at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in the Division of Mental Health. She previously served as Deputy Executive Director for Impact and Senior Advisor at the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), a global legal aid and advocacy organization.

Under the de Blasio administration, Commissioner Agarwal led the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, where she advanced major initiatives including IDNYC, the City’s municipal identification program, and Cities for Action, a national coalition of local elected officials advocating for immigrant communities. She also served as Senior Advisor to the Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives, supporting efforts to strengthen civic engagement and expand DemocracyNYC’s work across immigration, disability, and justice-involved communities.

Prior to her service in City government, Commissioner Agarwal led the Health Justice Program at New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, served as Deputy Director and Co-Founder of the Center for Popular Democracy, and was Executive Director of the Immigrant Justice Corps.

Commissioner Agarwal received her A.B., summa cum laude, in Social Studies from Harvard College. She was awarded a British Marshall Scholarship and earned a degree from the University of Oxford, St. Antony’s College. She later received her J.D. from Harvard Law School, where she was a Skadden Fellow.