Marcos A. Crespo

Marcos A. Crespo was appointed as a member of the SUNY Board of Trustees on July 23, 2020.

Marcos A. Crespo was elected to the New York State Assembly in June 2009 as one of the youngest people ever elected to the lower house of the New York State Legislature. His hard work and outcome proven approach allowed him to quickly move into leadership positions serving in various committees while also Chairing the Assembly Task Force on New Americans, Co-chairing the Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment, Chair of The Assembly Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force and Chair of the Assembly Standing Committee on Labor.

During his tenure, he authored numerous pieces of legislation affecting policy on education, environmental justice, health, transportation, consumer protections and disaster preparedness, and much more. Amongst his most recognized accomplishments, Mr. Crespo was the prime sponsor of major pieces of legislation that where signed into State law, including: the NYS Green Light legislation, which provides drivers licenses to all New Yorkers regardless of immigration status; the codification of the Office for New Americans; the ban on salary history questioning by prospective employers in effort to end gender pay discrimination; the creation of mandated financial literacy program within the NYS Summer Youth Program; the creation of the School Energy Efficiency Collaborative Act of 2016 which created a one-stop shop for school districts looking to retrofit their buildings with green energy; and he championed a NYS investment of $1.8 billion for the redesign of the Bruckner -Sheridan Expressway in The Bronx, addressing longstanding quality of life and health disparities. In addition, he was instrumental in coordinating the New York State response to the devastating impacts of Hurricane Maria and subsequent earthquakes in Puerto Rico as a Co-Chair of The Empire State Relief & Recovery Effort for Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

Mr. Crespo’s work to highlight and address generational poverty thru the $25 million dollar creation of the Empire State Poverty Reduction initiative which was preceded by his release of two reports on child and elderly poverty, statewide hearings and strong collaboration with his colleagues in the State Legislature. Mr. Crespo also helped expand and fund the work of the Albany Law School Immigrant Law Clinic which provides desperately needed legal assistance to immigrants in Upstate New York.

Mr. Crespo has been recognized by numerous statewide organizations for his leadership on public sector workforce diversity and inclusion efforts. As a member of the State legislature, he worked with the State University of New York system leadership to create and fund the Hispanic Leadership Institute (HLI) to help increase the number of Latino executive level managers on its campuses. Mr. Crespo’s secured funding for the Immigrant Integration Index program at the Center for Women and Civil Society at the Rockefeller School of Government/SUNY. The index is an interactive web-based tool that allows policymakers to measure how well immigrants are doing in ten regions of New York State.

From 2015 to 2020, Mr. Crespo also served as Chair of The Bronx Democratic County Committee. His tenure as Chair of Bronx County led to the election of diverse officials at all levels of government and particularly the election of a historic number of women to the judiciary in The Bronx. His support was instrumental also in the election of the Hon. Darcel Clark, the first African American woman to serve as District Attorney in the history of the entire state.

Upon stepping down from his elected position, Mr. Crespo joined Montefiore Health System in July of 2020 to serve as Senior Vice President for Community Affairs, a role that will allow him to continue his advocacy for improved quality of life and health outcomes for all New Yorkers.

Marcos A. Crespo was born in Puerto Rico, spent many years living, and studying in Arroyo, P.R., Lima, Peru, and New York City. He received his Bachelor of Arts from John Jay College of Criminal Justice.