Syracuse Mayor-elect Owens picks Walsh administration veterans to be her top aides

Syracuse, N.Y. — Sharon Owens will turn to current and former colleagues in Mayor Ben Walsh’s administration to help lead her team.
The mayor-elect on Friday announced senior leadership appointments that include the city’s finance commissioner, its economic development leader, a director responsible for its buildings and grounds, and an ex-commissioner of neighborhood and business development.
They will become part of the executive-level team in the Owens administration, which will take office on Jan. 1. Owens has worked with all of them during her time as deputy mayor since Walsh took office in 2018.
Michael Cannizzaro, the city’s finance commissioner, will be elevated to chief financial officer. He became Walsh’s finance department leader in 2023 after joining City Hall in 2020 as director of accounting and becoming first deputy commissioner of finance in 2022. As CFO, he’ll continue to lead the city’s finance department and add oversight of the Office of Management and Budget.
Cannizzaro, 36, is a certified public accountant with private sector experience at the global accounting firm Ernst & Young and Syracuse-based shopping mall developer Pyramid Management Group. He earned a bachelor’s degree in applied economics and management at Cornell University.
Eric Ennis will serve as the city’s chief development officer. Since 2021, Ennis, 34, has been Syracuse’s deputy commissioner of business development within the Department of Neighborhood and Business Development. Ennis will have specific oversight of the city’s Department of Assessment and its intergovernmental affairs operation. He’ll continue to lead the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency. More broadly, he’ll work with all departments to align their work with the city’s economic growth strategies.
Ennis’ current job was the same post held by Walsh when he worked in NBD under former Mayor Stephanie Miner. As deputy commissioner, Ennis oversees the city’s economic development efforts, a job that has included serving as executive director of the Syracuse IDA and the Syracuse Economic Development Corp. He previously was the business development director. Ennis has a master’s degree in public administration from Syracuse University and bachelor’s degrees in environmental design and social science.
Kevin Henry will be the city’s new chief operations officer. For 12 years, he has been the city’s director of building maintenance and operation, overseeing a team of 60 plumbers, carpenters, electricians and other staff who maintain all of the city’s roughly 200 facilities. In the new role, he’ll supervise leaders of the city’s public works, engineering, parks and recreation, water, fleet operations and facilities departments.
Henry, 52, has for many years been the board president of Syracuse Juneteenth, the nonprofit responsible for the city’s cultural celebration of the holiday that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. He also operates Henry’s Hen House, a mobile catering business specializing in authentic southern Caribbean food. It has operated at the New York State Fair for more than a dozen years.
Stephanie Pasquale will be the city’s chief strategy officer for Owens. Pasquale, 53, is the director of Neighborhood Advancement with the Allyn Family Foundation, a major regional philanthropic organization that has invested millions of dollars in the city of Syracuse on commercial and housing initiatives. She will oversee the Neighborhood and Business Development Department, constituent services, the Bureau of Research and the Mayor’s Office to Reduce Gun Violence.
Before joining the Allyn Family Foundation in late 2019, Pasquale was the city’s NBD commissioner. Walsh appointed her to that role after she had overseen housing efforts in the same department during former Mayor Stephanie Miner’s administration. Pasquale has also held leadership posts at Home HeadQuarters, Worcester Community Housing Resources and the United Way of Central New York. She has a master’s degree in public administration and a bachelor’s degree in policy studies, both from Syracuse University.
The four chief positions replace three senior aides in the Walsh administration who have different titles and areas of responsibility.
Walsh’s chief policy officer, Greg Loh, has decided to step away from government service and pursue work as an independent communications consultant. Loh will also have more time to spend with family after he became a grandfather for the first time earlier this year.
Connor Muldoon has been the city’s chief operations officer since January, a post he took after working as deputy chief innovation and data officer. He will return to the city’s Office of Analytics, Performance and Innovation to oversee that team.
The other senior-level chief for Walsh is Corey Driscoll Dunham, the city’s current chief administrative officer who will be deputy mayor and chief of staff for Owens. The mayor-elect announced her appointment last week.
The new titles for Cannizzaro, Ennis, Henry and Pasquale reflect a restructuring in responsibilities for the senior staff based on the expertise and experience each brings to the new administration. Under Walsh, the senior aides were paid between $144,000 and $146,000 in 2024.
In addition to the chief-level officers, Owens will keep Susan Katzoff as the city’s corporation counsel, leading the city’s legal team. Katzoff, 59, has held the position in the Walsh administration since 2022. Since 2007, she’s been counsel to the Syracuse IDA. Since becoming the city’s top attorney, she’s kept an “of-counsel” role for the law firm of Bousquet Holstein PLLC. She earned $164,000 in her city job in 2024.