Alair Townsend was Publisher of Crain’s New York Business for 18 years, and continued as Columnist for the paper until mid-2015. Her tenure at Crain’s follows a public service career in New York and Washington, D.C. Under Mayor Ed Koch, Ms. Townsend served as New York City’s Deputy Mayor for Finance and Economic Development from February 1985 to January 1989. Before becoming Deputy Mayor, she served three-and-a-half years as New York City’s Budget Director, responsible for managing the City’s expense and capital budgets, and was the first woman to hold that post. Before coming to New York City, she served in Washington, D.C. Among her posts were: Associate Director of the Budget Committee of the House of Representatives; Assistant Secretary for Management and Budget of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, and Staff Director of the Subcommittee on Fiscal Policy of the Joint Economic Committee of Congress. Ms. Townsend is a native of Elmira, New York, a phi beta kappa graduate of Elmira College, and holds a masters degree from the University of Wisconsin.