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 (“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 1000 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 a $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.
Previous Professional Experience
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 Mrs. Rodriguez 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. She also 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. She also served as a community organizer with the Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation before serving on its Board of Directors for several years. Mrs. Rodriguez 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. These include keynotes during 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 (PEF) labor union’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 and 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. As a result, she has received numerous recognitions throughout her career.
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 and 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 Accelerates 2024 Eleanor Clark Diversity Leadership Award in Washington, D.C.
She has received Proclamations from NYS Executive, the NYS Senate and Assembly Chambers, the Nassau County Executive, and the Kings County District Attorney. She has also been recognized by City & State’s “2024 Trailblazers in Law”, “2022 Law Power 100”, and “2022 State Labor Power 100” lists, and nominated for the Schnepps’ Media “Leaders of Labor” awards in both 2022 and 2023.
She is featured in the book “Dominicanas de Voluntad en la Diaspora,” BanReservas (National Bank R.D.) and has been interviewed by countless U.S. media outlets and podcasts as well as several Dominican-based television media outlets; namely TeleNoticia and TeleUniverso. Earlier in her career she received NY’s El Diario La Prensa’s 9th Annual “Outstanding Latina Award.”
At the start of her legal career Mrs. Rodriguez was recognized by the Latino Lawyers of Queens County Bar Association, NY, for “Paving the way for Diversity and New Opportunities” in 2018. 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. In addition, she serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors of the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law Foundations Board, and the Board of Directors of the Bellas Fashionistas Foundation Inc. She is also the Chair of the Dominican Bar Association of NY’s Judiciary Committee and is a member of the NYS Bar Association, the Hudson Valley Hispanic Bar Association of NY and 100 Hispanic Women Inc.
Earlier in her career Mrs. Rodriguez helped victims of domestic violence with Temporary Orders of Protection in Bronx County and volunteered with The Young Debaters Inc. She served on the Board of Directors for the Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation and co-founded the Washington Heights Community Arts Project (now defunct).
Education
Mrs. Rodriguez is admitted to the New York State Bar (2008) and the United States Supreme Court Bar (2025). She is an alum of and obtained her Juris Doctorate from CUNY School of Law in 2007. She holds a BA in Political Science and Women’s Studies from the State University of New York (SUNY), Purchase College, 2000. Mrs. Rodriguez holds an Executive leadership certificate from the Yale School of Management, 2023. Mrs. Rodriguez lives in Orange County NY with her husband, two beautiful daughters Gabriella and Luna, and Labradoodle Lucy.
