Zach Iscol

On February 17, 2022, Iscol was appointed commissioner of New York City Emergency Management by Mayor Eric Adams.

On January 26, 2021, Iscol filed paperwork to drop out of the mayor’s race, and run instead in the 2021 New York City Comptroller election. As of the end of January, he was the second-biggest fundraiser in the race. Iscol said his goal was to help the city recover economically from the pandemic, focusing on the performance of city agencies. He also said he would require companies that contract with New York City to describe their commitment to the five boroughs and that he would push to reinvest some pension fund monies in local job creation. Candidates who raised at least $125,000 from at least 500 donors qualified for matching city funds from the New York City Campaign Finance Board, on an 8-to-1 match basis. As of February 16, 2021, he was one of three candidates who had qualified for matching funds, along with Brian Benjamin and Brad Lander.

Iscol served as a Deputy Director of a temporary field hospital in the Javits Center during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City in the spring of 2020.

Iscol was one of a number of candidates looking to succeed New York City mayor Bill de Blasio. He launched his campaign in the 2021 New York City Democratic mayoral primary on October 21, 2020, and was initially entered in the June 22, 2021, Democratic primary. Iscol's campaign staff included Joe Trippi, a national political strategist. As of mid-January 2021, he had raised more than $746,000 from donors, spent just over $261,000 on his campaign, and had about $485,000 left.

Iscol co-founded Task & Purpose in 2014. It is a military-focused digital media company. Its parent company is Grid North Group. In 2018 managing editor Adam Weinstein resigned after CEO Zachary Iscol requested that he change the title of a ProPublica investigation into undue influence over the Department of Veterans Affairs featured on the site. Weinstein contended that Iscol strongly disagreed with both the title and the factual accuracy of the reporting done by ProPublica which Weinstein felt was undue influence on the publication's editorial independence. Weinstein also said that this was not the first time that management, specifically Iscol, had interfered in the editorial process in an effort to make the publication appealing to more conservative readers.

In 2014 Iscol also founded and became CEO of Hirepurpose, a hiring platform job website for military veterans and relatives.

Iscol launched the Headstrong Project in 2012. It is a New York City-based nonprofit organization that provides veterans and their families in 25 cities with free mental health care.

He returned to Iraq to make a film, The Western Front, which was shown at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival, and explored in what ways the US changed its tactics in Iraq over time. Iscol served as screenwriter, cast, director, and producer.

Iscol served two tours and fought in Iraq from 2001 to 2007 as a Captain in the U.S. Marine Corps, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines. After returning from Iraq, he successfully lobbied to bring his threatened Iraqi translator to the United States.

He graduated Phillips Exeter Academy in 1997. He graduated Cornell University in 2001 with a major in government and competed in lightweight football.

Zach Iscol (born August 18, 1978) is an American civil servant, non-profit executive, politician, and armed forces veteran who serves as Commissioner of New York City Emergency Management. Iscol is a United States Marine veteran and was a Democratic candidate in the 2021 New York City Comptroller election.