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Clarissa M. Rodriguez, Esq.
Professional Biography

CLARISSA M. RODRIGUEZ, ESQ.

STRATEGIC EXECUTIVE · SOCIAL IMPACT LEADER · BILINGUAL SPEAKER

Clarissa M. Rodriguez, Esq. is a strategic executive and social impact leader with extensive experience translating equity and inclusive growth principles into smart operational outcomes and public policy. As a former cabinet-level agency head, she brings proven ability to design and execute high-impact programs, build cross-sector partnerships and align her interest in advancing equity with policy objectives. She brings deep cultural fluency and lived experience to her servant leadership and compassionate management skills.

Mrs. Rodriguez most recently served as a full-time Member of the New York State Workers' Compensation Board, having been appointed by the New York State Governor and confirmed by the State Senate in 2016. In 2023 she was reappointed and again confirmed by the Senate to serve through 2029.

EXECUTIVE
EXPERIENCE

Previously, Mrs. Rodriguez served as Chair/Commissioner of the Board and a member of Governor Hochul's Executive Cabinet from 2017 through the summer of 2025. In this strategic leadership role, she functioned as both a program operator and cross-functional integrator, managing day-to-day operations while aligning agency initiatives with broader state policy and economic development goals. As a respected Executive cabinet member, she served on the Governor's NYS Interagency State Workforce Group and the prior Gubernatorial Administration's Task Force on Women and Girls. As a member of the Governor's cabinet, she twice testified before the New York State Senate during the legislative budget process and represented the Governor in public appearances across the state, positioning agency programs as strategic assets for government policy objectives.

As agency head, Mrs. Rodriguez oversaw the more than $227 million-dollar administrative adjudication agency with more than 1,000 employees and approximately 100 administrative law judges. She oversaw the execution of complex programs from strategy through implementation, managing performance tracking, governance structures, as well as impact and regulatory reporting. During her tenure, she led the agency through several important legislative reforms, multi-year enterprise-level modernization efforts and transformed the agency's culture while ushering significant improvements to the workers' compensation system. The Board is tasked with regulating several worker benefits in New York, including an $8 billion-dollar workers' compensation program, short-term disability and New York's landmark Paid Family Leave.

In this role, she built trusted strategic partnerships, bringing together industry and employer associations, labor groups, government and elected officials, community-based organizations and healthcare providers with the common goal of system improvements and better delivery of benefits for vulnerable New Yorkers. She designed and implemented stakeholder engagement mechanisms including listening sessions, regional roundtables, advisory forums, and convenings that surfaced community needs, built trust, and translated insights into actionable policy and program decisions to advance both social impact and operational efficiency.

LEGAL &
COMMUNITY ROOTS

Before joining the Board, Mrs. Rodriguez worked as a litigator for the Legal Aid Society of New York in their Foreclosure Prevention and Predatory Lending and Housing units for eight years. Upon graduating law school in 2007, she served as a fellow with the Supreme Civil and Matrimonial Parts of the Nassau County Supreme Court of New York. During her legal studies she served with the Civil Rights Bureau of the New York State Office of the Attorney General, the CUNY Office of General Counsel, the Municipal Employees Legal Services at District Council 37, and the Urban Justice Center's Homelessness Outreach and Prevention Unit, and held a legal internship with the Integrated Domestic Violence Part of Queens County Criminal Court.

Prior to joining the Bar, Mrs. Rodriguez was the project editor/legislative liaison of the National PTA in Washington D.C. Earlier in her career she was a community organizer with the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition and with the Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation, before serving on its Board of Directors for several years. She also worked as a social services counselor at the West Side Campaign Against Hunger and interned with the Economic Justice Project at Make the Road, NY in Queens.

PUBLIC
SPEAKING

Mrs. Rodriguez is a bilingual communicator and dynamic public speaker who is passionate about inspiring other executives, young lawyers and aspiring leaders to embrace a new paradigm of conscious leadership. She has shared her personal story on numerous stages and delivered several keynote addresses — including keynotes for the New York State Self Insured Association's bi-annual conferences, the New York State Workers Compensation Association's annual awards gala, the New York State Department of Civil Service's annual Women's History Month ceremony, the Public Employees Federation's annual Health and Safety Conference, and La Liga's Spanish Action League 50th Anniversary conference, among others.

She has been a featured speaker in several political and news outlets and podcasts as well as with the New York State Division of Budget. She has spoken on numerous industry panels at conferences, including the SOMOS Conference (Albany, NY and Puerto Rico), the Injured Workers Bar Association, the Workers Compensation Research Institute and the International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions' conferences, and before several Latin American Consulates. In addition, she has presented for numerous national, state and local Chambers of Commerce, non-profit organizations and universities.

RECOGNITIONS
& AWARDS

Mrs. Rodriguez is recognized for designing meaningful listening mechanisms — community forums, roundtables, town halls, and stakeholder advisory processes — that elevate community voice and translate it into policy, programs, and system improvements. She led multi-year modernization initiatives that expanded virtual access, enhanced user-centered services, and improved navigation of complex systems for marginalized communities.

Most recently she received the "2026 Hon. Thomas S. Boyland Award" during the 55th Annual Community Awards at the NYS Association of Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislators Annual Legislative Conference, and was named in City & State's "2025 Who's Who in Insurance" power list. She also received the "2024 Community Trailblazer Award" of the Dominican Bar Association of NY, the New York State Bar Association Torts, Insurance and Compensation Law Section's 2024 Mary M. Russo–John Sciortino Award, and Advance Grow Accelerate's 2024 Eleanor Clark Diversity Leadership Award in Washington, D.C.

She has received Proclamations from the NYS Executive, the NYS Senate and Assembly Chambers, the Nassau County Executive, and the Kings County District Attorney, and has been recognized by City & State's "2024 Trailblazers in Law", "2022 Law Power 100", and "2022 State Labor Power 100" lists, with nominations for the Schneps Media "Leaders of Labor" awards in 2022 and 2023.

She is featured in the book "Dominicanas de Voluntad en la Diáspora" (BanReservas) and has been interviewed by countless U.S. media outlets and podcasts as well as several Dominican television outlets, namely TeleNoticia and TeleUniverso. Earlier in her career she received El Diario La Prensa's 9th Annual "Outstanding Latina Award," and was recognized by the Latino Lawyers of Queens County Bar Association for "Paving the Way for Diversity and New Opportunities." During her academic career she was awarded Fellowships with the CLEO Inc. Pre-Law Summer Institute and the New York State Unified Court System's Legal Fellowship program.

PUBLIC
SERVICE

Mrs. Rodriguez is currently a mentor and Steering Committee member of the Governor's NYS Latina Mentoring Initiative. She serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law Foundations Board and of the Board of Directors of the Bellas Fashionistas Foundation Inc. She is also Chair of the Dominican Bar Association of NY's Judiciary Committee and a member of the NYS Bar Association, the Hudson Valley Hispanic Bar Association of NY and 100 Hispanic Women Inc.

Earlier in her career she helped victims of domestic violence obtain Temporary Orders of Protection in Bronx County, volunteered with The Young Debaters Inc., served on the Board of Directors of the Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation, and co-founded the Washington Heights Community Arts Project.

EDUCATION
& ADMISSIONS

Mrs. Rodriguez is admitted to the New York State Bar (2008) and the United States Supreme Court Bar (2025). She obtained her Juris Doctorate from CUNY School of Law in 2007 and holds a BA in Political Science and Women's Studies from SUNY Purchase College (2000), as well as an Executive Leadership certificate from the Yale School of Management (2023). She lives in Orange County, NY with her husband, two beautiful daughters Gabriella and Luna, and Labradoodle Lucy.

BRING CLARISSA TO YOUR STAGE

Keynotes, workshops and panels — in English or Spanish.

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