William B. Eimicke

William B. Eimicke is the founding director of the Picker Center for Executive Education of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. The Picker Center runs the School’s Executive MPA program, university partnerships, and non degree professional training programs. Eimicke teaches courses in public management, applied policy analysis, and management innovation. He also teaches at Peking University, the National University of Singapore and the Universidad Externado de Colombia.

Through the Picker Center, Eimicke has helped create and directed a number of major executive training programs including the Hong Kong Civil Service Leadership Program, the Guangdong Province Executive Management Program, the Northern Ireland Community Builders Program, and the 92nd Street Y International Fellows Program. He has also developed a variety of leadership, management, and case study based executive programs for CCTV, the FAA, EPA, UJA, UNDP, and the Algeria-ENA civil service training initiative. He has served as a management consultant to numerous government and private organizations, including the city of Indianapolis, the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the San Francisco Giants and the New York Racing Association.

Eimicke served as the Deputy Fire Commissioner for Strategic Planning and Policy from 2007 through the spring of 2010. He led numerous innovations to reduce response time to fires, establish a computerized risk-based inspection program, and provide advanced management training for senior Fire and EMS officers (FOMI). The FDNY Officers Management Institute (FOMI) was designated as a Top 50 Innovations in American Government for 2008 and 2009 by the Kennedy School of Government.

Eimicke previously served as housing “czar” of New York State for Governor Mario Cuomo, managing the state’s six housing management, finance, and regulatory agencies. He also provided housing policy and management consulting services to Vice President Al Gore’s National Performance Review.

As New York Governor Cuomo’s deputy secretary for policy and programs, he represented the governor on all matters concerning housing, community and economic development and sports. He played a central role in the passage of several landmark programs including the first homeless housing program, the Housing New York program, the construction of several stadia, the construction of a convention center, and the first thoroughbred racing simulcast statute. Eimicke previously served as director of fiscal studies for the New York State Senate, assistant budget director of the City of New York, and deputy commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Eimicke also served on the transition teams for NYS Attorney General-elect Andrew Cuomo and NYC Mayor-elect Giuliani, and as an advisor to former Indianapolis Mayor Stephen Goldsmith.

In 2008, he was named to the Irish Voice newspaper’s inaugural Irish Education 100, a listing of leading figures in education across North America.

Eimicke holds an MPA and PhD from the Maxwell School of Syracuse University. He previously taught at Syracuse University, Indiana University, Russell Sage College, the State University of New York at Albany, and Baruch College of the City University of New York.