People news: Syracuse mayor appoints director of neighborhood grants

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh has announced the appointment of Tanya Eastman to director of neighborhood grants in the Department of Neighborhood and Business Development (NBD).

Eastman is responsible for providing leadership and strategic oversight of the department’s portfolio of federal, state, and local-sector grants aimed at increasing safe, quality affordable housing, and advancing neighborhood-development goals, per a release from the mayor’s office. She also works to ensure grant strategies and programs align with the city’s priorities for neighborhood and economic development and inclusive growth.

Eastman has more than two decades of experience leading programs and building talent, data, and administrative systems in the nonprofit, private, and philanthropic sectors. Prior to joining City of Syracuse government, Eastman served as the director of Partners for Education and Business (PEB) at the Manufacturers Association of Central New York (or MACNY). In this role, she led a team committed to closing the gap between education and the STEM industry by engaging local employers in work-based learning programming for secondary schools across the region, according to the release.

Prior to MACNY, Eastman worked as the director of education and training at United Way of Northern New York, where she was contracted to design and implement a training and leadership development program for the regional nonprofit sector. She also spent almost a decade as director of operations and career services at On Point for College, a community-based organization in Central New York known nationally for breaking down barriers that prevent young, underserved individuals from achieving post-secondary education and career success. Before returning to Syracuse, she started her career and spent more than 10 years working on Wall Street at Merrill Lynch on its equity derivatives and commodities teams.

Eastman received her bachelor’s degree in finance and computer information systems from Manhattan College, MBA degree in strategy and management from Columbia University, and her doctorate in the Ed.D. Program in Executive Leadership at St. John Fisher University. She continues to serve as an adjunct instructor at St. John Fisher University and at Le Moyne College. Eastman is also a course facilitator in eCornell’s Women in Leadership Program.