Jorge I. Montalvo

Jorge Montalvo has distinguished himself as one of the most entrepreneurial thinkers in public service. He employs his training as a chemist to take a “systems-based approach to make change and open opportunities for hard-working people.”

Jorge currently serves in New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration as Associate Commissioner for the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance. In this role, he is the program lead for Governor Cuomo’s Empire State Poverty Reduction Initiative, a first-of-its-kind community effort to fight poverty with 16 localities throughout New York State. Jorge also serves as a policy advisor on immigration and refugee issues affecting New Yorkers.

Prior to his current promotion, Jorge served as New York State Deputy Secretary of State for Economic Opportunity. In this role, he is responsible for the oversight of many of the State’s anti-poverty programs and the State Division of Consumer Protection. Jorge created and oversaw the New York State Office for New Americans. The Office’s Opportunity Centers – 27 in total – have been heralded as the model for immigrant integration policy in this country. In their first three years of operations, the Opportunity Centers served more than 120,000 immigrants with English-for-Speakers-of-Other-Languages training; naturalization and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals assistance; federal immigration law and policies information and referrals; and business development training.

Previously, Jorge helped lead two state government agencies, created and oversaw the State’s Safe Toy NY toy testing program and served as the policy advisor to the NYS Council on Interactive Media and Youth Violence. Additionally, he managed the New York City’s 2012 Olympic Bid’s corporate relations and volunteerism efforts and served in New York City Mayor Bloomberg’s economic development office. Jorge graduated from Dartmouth College with a degree in chemistry and spends his weekends teaching free GED and SAT prep classes to disconnected youth in the South Bronx.