New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announced new appointments to his administration Tuesday afternoon.

New York City Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst CEO Helen Arteaga Landaverde will serve as Deputy Mayor of Health and Human Services, former Social Services Commissioner Steve Banks will serve as the city's corporation counsel, and CUNY law professor Ramzi Kassem will serve as chief counsel.

"My sincere hope is that New Yorkers who have long felt on the margins of this city — the homeless veteran straining to survive, the patient searching for the care that they need, an immigrant trying to get by — will feel that they now have leaders in their corner who understand their struggles and care to fight for them," Mamdani said at a press conference at Elmhurst Hospital. "That is the city I want to build, the prosperity I intend to deliver, and the leadership that has too long been lacking."

What to know about the newest members of Mamdani's administration

Arteaga Landaverde was appointed CEO of Elmhurst hospital in February 2021, and was the first woman of color and the first Latina to lead the hospital's executive team.

"I promise you today that I will work so hard to ensure that you are seen and that we are thinking big and courageous about solutions that will allow you to thrive in the city that we love," she said. "I see you because your struggles are mine. I am who I am because of them."

Banks, who will be the city's top attorney, said he has a unique perspective on the law department after working as a Legal Aid Society lawyer for over 30 years and a city commissioner for eight years. He said he's the first Legal Aid lawyer to ever be nominated as corporation counsel.

"I know firsthand the key role that the staff of the law department can play in supporting the mayor-elect's vision and agenda for transformative change to help New Yorkers in every community of the city," Banks said.

Kassem served as a senior policy advisor for President Joe Biden from 2022-2024, Mamdani said.

"I will turn to Ramzi for his remarkable experience and his commitment to defending those too often abandoned by our legal system," Mamdani said. "City Hall will be stronger with him in it, and our work of building a more prosperous city for all will have a powerful advocate."

"Service is what I look to do and what I hope to do alongside the mayor-elect and his team at City Hall. To defend the rights of all New Yorkers without exception and to create space for the mayor-elect and his team, this administration, to deliver on the promises and the agenda that was so enthusiastically embraced by our fellow New Yorkers," Kassem said.

The mayor-elect was asked if he plans to announce his transportation commissioner and schools chancellor before he takes office Thursday.

"I will give you the answer you don't want to hear, which is wait and see," he said.

Preparations continue for Mamdani's inauguration celebration

Meanwhile, preparations are underway for Mamdani's inauguration on Thursday. From a block party to two different swearing-in ceremonies, it's expected to be a jam-packed day.

Mamdani's transition team said he'll be sworn in just after midnight on New Year's Day during a private ceremony at the Old City Hall subway station. Mamdani said the underground setting is meant to recognize the working people who keep the city moving.

Later that day, Mamdani will be publicly sworn in at City Hall with a large public celebration planned nearby.

Tuesday, the transition team announced Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will deliver opening remarks at the afternoon inauguration ceremony.

"For the many New Yorkers who have long felt betrayed by a broken status quo, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez embodies a new kind of politics that puts working people at the heart of it," Mamdani said in a statement. "I've been so proud to count her as a partner across the many stages of our people-powered movement — from the primary campaign to our Forest Hills rally in October to the very first day of the transition — and I'm honored that she'll be a part of our historic City Hall inauguration."

The transition team also announced Pulitzer Prize finalist Cornelius Eady has been chosen as the inaugural poet and will deliver an original poem titled "Proof."

New York Attorney General Letitia James will deliver the oath of office to Mamdani during the private ceremony, and Sen. Bernie Sanders will deliver the oath at the public inauguration ceremony.