In this episode of More MPE, hosts Ray Horton and Sandi Wright speak with Rohit “Rit” Aggarwala ’00, the chief climate officer and commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) of the City of New York, a position he has held since being recruited in 2022 to the administration of Mayor Eric Adams.
The hat Aggarwala wears as commissioner of DEP puts him in charge of a major municipal agency, one with nearly 6,000 employees, a $1.5 billion operating budget, and a capital budget of $3.2 billion — and a long history. It performs three functions that are essential to the health of New Yorkers: supplying clean drinking water; collecting and treating wastewater; and reducing air, noise, and hazardous materials pollution.
The hat Aggarwala wears as chief climate officer no doubt brings an urgency to the department’s longstanding programs given his belief that New York City’s environment faces a “climate crisis.”
Aggarwala is a rare holder of three Columbia University degrees — a BA, an MBA, and a PhD — plus for 12 years and running an adjunct professor at the School of International and Public Affairs, where he teaches a popular course titled The Politics and Policy of Urban Sustainability.
Aggarwala discusses a series of issues with Horton and Wright in this conversation: the impact of his Columbia degrees on his career; whether different skills are required to perform leadership roles in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors; the importance of networking in his career; and finally, an issue that has largely escaped consideration in the literature of management — should you stay or leave when your boss is in hot water?
Mentioned in this episode:
- Rohit “Rit” Aggarwala ’00
