Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Met Council Names as David M. Frankel as New Director and CEO

Less than a week after firing its longtime head William Rapfogel amid a criminal probe, The Metropolitan Council announced today that David M. Frankel will take over the post as Executive Director and CEO.

Image by nyc.gov

Frankel will leave his post as Commissioner of the Department of Finance for the city of New York, a title he has held since 2009. He will officially join the Met Council on September 30.

“Met Council’s work has improved the lives of many thousands of New York’s neediest people for more than 40 years, and I am honored and excited by the opportunity to lead such a respected and vital institution,” Frankel said in a release from the organization.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg who has worked closely with Frankel said of him: “Always willing to make the tough decisions and never afraid to try innovative new solutions to stubborn old challenges, David is a leader any organization would be lucky to have.”

Before working for the city, Frankel worked in the private sector as Managing Director at Morgan Stanley from 2004 to 2009, and the head of global operations for the AIG from 1992 to 2004.

Frankel will take over less than two months after Rapfogel was fired for “financial irregularities.” In a release the board of directors said that they had “recently became aware of specific information regarding financial irregularities and apparent misconduct in connection with the organization’s insurance policies…the Board has terminated Mr. Rapfogel, effective immediately.”

Shortly after that release, New York State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman confirmed an that an ongoing criminal investigation is being conducted by his office into Rapfogel and the organization.

The city temporarily stopped all funding to Met Council after the firing of Rapfogel. There is currently no word on when funding will resume.

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.

In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.

At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.

Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.

Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly. 

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.