Masters in Business: BONUS — NY Comptroller Candidate Drew Warshaw on Changing the NY State Pension Funds

Host: Barry Ritholtz (Bloomberg)
Guest: Drew Warshaw, NY State Comptroller Candidate
Aired: February 11, 2026

Episode Overview

In this bonus episode, Barry Ritholtz sits down with Drew Warshaw, Democratic candidate for New York State Comptroller ahead of the pivotal June 2026 primary. Warshaw—a public servant with experience rebuilding the World Trade Center, a career in renewable energy, and leadership in affordable housing—lays out a vision to overhaul the $300 billion NY State pension fund, revitalize state audits, and make the office far more impactful and visible to everyday New Yorkers. The conversation is candid and wide-ranging, tackling both the technical details and the broader mission of public service.

Drew Warshaw’s Background and Path to Public Service

[02:22 - 08:15]

• Origins: Bachelor’s in history/government (Cornell), MBA (Columbia)
• Started in NYS government for Governor Spitzer; moved to NYC during the 2008 Bear Stearns collapse
• Became chief of staff at Port Authority—oversaw the rebuilding of the World Trade Center (“The Pit”), negotiated with developer Larry Silverstein, and achieved landmark progress on memorials and leases
  • "Experience of a lifetime, especially for a lifelong New Yorker, to have an opportunity to rebuild my hometown, there's really nothing like it." — Drew Warshaw [04:34]
• Transitioned to the private sector, working for a Fortune 250 power company, building a renewable energy platform
  • “When I do things, I want them to be meaningful and transformational. To do that, you need experience… not just build on high.” — Drew Warshaw [06:59]
• Pivoted to affordable housing as co-CEO of a leading nonprofit (Enterprise Community Partners), driven by the affordable housing crisis

The Affordable Housing Crisis

[08:15 - 15:26]

• Severity: Crisis is national, not just NYC—massive undersupply, millions of homes short
  • “We have, I think, the most serious domestic policy crisis in this country—the fact that people cannot afford their own home.” — Drew Warshaw [09:43]
• Barriers: Financing complexity, excessive building codes (“the silent killer”), expensive construction and capital, bureaucracy at every level
  • “Even if a piece of land is perfectly zoned, it’s still hard to get the math to work… the building code…is a fortune to build.” — Drew Warshaw [12:13]
• NIMBYism: Incumbent homeowners are incentivized to block more supply (not-in-my-backyard syndrome), but data shows new supply doesn’t crash home values
  • “Much too much is made from a very small but very loud group of people who, to your point, say ‘not in my backyard.’” — Drew Warshaw [14:04]

The NY State Comptroller: Hidden Power, Untapped Potential

[15:26 - 21:05]

• Role: NY’s chief financial officer, chief auditor, and sole trustee of the pension fund (nearly $300B), third-largest in the US
• Visibility: “Unfortunately, too few New Yorkers have ever heard of it. And the ones who have can barely pronounce the title.” — Drew Warshaw [16:02]
• Accountability: Only one other state (CT) has such solo authority; suggests moving to a board structure, but warns about politicizing the board
  • “If it becomes a politicized board, I think we have a problem.” — Drew Warshaw [19:21]

NY State Pension Fund — Fees, Performance, and Warshaw’s Vision

[23:16 - 45:12]

1. How the Fund Works & Who It Serves

[17:21 - 19:13]

• 1.25 million beneficiaries: public teachers, firefighters, cops, nurses, government workers
• Funded mainly by taxpayers (property and income tax)
  • “All 11 million New York tax filers pay into our public pension fund. So everyone is impacted.” — Drew Warshaw [17:54]
• Uniquely, the NY Comptroller is sole fiduciary—no oversight board like NYC pension funds

2. Criticisms of Current Stewardship

[26:09 - 33:56]

• Incumbent Tom DiNapoli: “not corrupt, no sex scandal”—but Warshaw argues “the bar has to be a bit higher than that” [27:05]
• Claims the pension lost ~$60B through underperformance and excessive fees; public taxes plugging the gap
  • “$59.1 billion of additional taxes, what we call the DiNapoli tax, has had to subsidize that 39% underperformance over the last 18 years.” — Warshaw [30:04]
  • “If you and I didn’t do our job for 18 straight years, what would happen to us? We’d be fired.” — Warshaw [32:11]

3. Warshaw’s Proposal — Radically Sensible Reform

[32:40 - 45:12]

• Fire 664 active managers; invest through diversified low-cost index funds
  • “Focus on asset allocation… Once we do that, the picking and choosing… That’s a loser’s game.” — Warshaw [32:40]
• Open to private markets for true diversification, but not for “volatility washing” or gaming the marks:
  • “Let’s not have that be the reason we put money in private asset classes… if there are idiosyncratic opportunities…great.” — Warshaw [36:41]
  • "For purposes of a $291 billion fund managed…in Albany, I do not believe that fund…should try to pick the pickers." — Warshaw [34:44]
• Pointed to CalPERS, Nevada, BlackRock, and Vanguard as models for passive indexing
  • “It is radical common sense.” — Warshaw [43:37]
• Warns of “one of the largest wealth transfers that no one knows about—$59.1B from ordinary taxpayers to Wall Street bankers who didn’t do their job.” — Warshaw [43:37]

Beyond the Pension: Auditing and Leveraging State Power

[47:20 - 55:39]

The Audit Authority

• 3,000 staff, power to audit anything touching a state tax dollar—but audits too diluted across 2,000 targets/year
  • “If you audited 2,000 things every single year, it’s very difficult to get to the root cause of any one of them.” — Warshaw [27:08]

Three Audit Targets Warshaw Would Prioritize

[49:51 - 55:39]

1. Department of Financial Services: Largest insurance regulator, never audited—insurance companies make it “really, really hard to get your money back.”
2. Department of Public Service/Public Service Commission: Regulates gas/electric monopolies, failed to rein in rising rates.
   • “This is the one thing that ensures monopolies actually serve the public interest, and it’s broken.” — Warshaw [50:06]
3. NY/NYC Building Code: Gold-plated, outdated, adds ~15% to all construction. Would create a model code to reduce costs statewide.

Making the Comptroller's Office Visible and Accountable

[55:39 - 57:55]

• Warshaw criticizes incumbent's low profile; wants to make the office louder and central to New Yorkers’ lives
  • “The job cannot be keeping the job… We need to address this cost crisis, but after four years, you better have heard of the NY State Comptroller.” — Warshaw [56:24]
• Data: 62% of Democrats don’t know incumbent’s name; 20% view him favorably

Public Works & Infrastructure: Are We Getting Value?

[57:55 - 62:02]

• Major projects (LaGuardia, Penn Station expansion, highways) praised for improvements, but Warshaw points to lack of service standards at agencies (Department of Buildings etc.)
  • “You should not have to hire an expediter to have an expedited project…that’s a layer of cost and friction that admits the status quo makes no sense.” [61:27]

Measures of Success for a Warshaw Comptrollership

[62:02 - 64:42]

1. Taxpayer Relief: Lower property/state income taxes due to slashed fund management fees and better investment strategies
2. Housing: $10B housing investment fund to spur 100,000 affordable homes; auditing building code to streamline construction
3. Unclaimed Funds: Return $20B “unclaimed fund” money directly and automatically to New Yorkers (“decommission the website, send people their money”)
   • “It is New Yorkers’. We have your neighborhood, name, how much you’re owed, your last known address—we are in 2026… Why can't we figure out how to get you your money back automatically? We can and we will.” — Warshaw [64:42]

Memorable Quotes

• “The cavalry is not coming. The cavalry is us.” — Drew Warshaw [10:17]
• “You have got to step aside when one out of every seven NYC public school students do not go home because they don’t have one, and you are sitting on the third largest pool of public capital in the US.” — Drew Warshaw [56:24]
• “Radical common sense… turns out it’s really, really hard to beat the market net of fees.” — Drew Warshaw [43:37]

Notable Timestamps

• [04:34] — World Trade Center rebuild and government dysfunction
• [09:43] — The severity of the affordable housing crisis
• [17:54] — How taxpayers foot the bill for NY pension fund
• [30:04] — The so-called “DiNapoli tax” explained: $59B in extra taxpayer fees
• [32:40] — Index fund investment strategy for public pensions
• [43:37] — “Radical common sense”: why indexing makes sense for NY
• [49:51] — Three big audits Warshaw would prioritize
• [56:24] — Making the Comptroller office visible and relevant

Summary Takeaways

Drew Warshaw brings a reform-minded, action-oriented perspective to a relatively hidden but powerful state office. He proposes to move New York’s pension into a low-cost, indexed strategy—saving billions—while simultaneously using the office’s audit powers to drive real-world change for affordability and efficiency. Warshaw’s vision is to leverage the Comptroller’s authority and make the role a visible force for financial optimization and social good in New York.

For those wanting a deeper dive into New York public finance, housing, and how state assets can impact everyday lives, this candid and detailed episode is not to be missed.