News & Stories

Mayor Steven Fulop of Jersey City Will Keynote SIPA Alumni Day

Posted Mar 10 2014

Mayor Steven M. Fulop MPA ’06 of Jersey City, N.J., whose path to public service took him from investment banking to the armed forces and then to SIPA, will be the keynote speaker at SIPA Alumni Day on April 12.

The 37-year-old Fulop, a Democrat, was elected as Jersey City’s 49th mayor in May 2013. Since taking office on July 1, Fulop has enacted New Jersey’s first paid sick day legislation and focused his efforts on development, affordable housing, recreation programs, and employment and training.

Fulop served as a Jersey City councilman for eight years before winning the mayoralty. According to his official biography, he advocated for greater transparency in government, fiscal responsibility, and education reform. He also sponsored and passed a prevailing wage ordinance to increase pay and underwrite health care for certain contract workers in city-owned and -leased buildings and city-subsidized developments.

A first-generation American from Edison, N.J., Fulop attended Binghamton University and worked at Goldman Sachs for several years after graduating from college. He was inspired by the aftermath of September 11, 2001, to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps, and eventually served in Iraq for six months. Upon his return he enrolled at SIPA and also NYU’s Stern School of Business, where he earned an MBA.

Fulop is a former board member for the Columbia Alumni Association and a trustee of the Liberty Science Center.