Clarissa M. Rodriguez, Esq. is an attorney, strategic executive and bilingual public speaker who is passionate about inspiring executives, young lawyers and aspiring leaders to embrace a new paradigm of conscious leadership.
From 2017 through the summer of 2025 she served as Chair and Commissioner of the New York State Workers' Compensation Board and as a member of the Governor's Executive Cabinet. She led an agency of more than 1,000 employees and roughly 100 administrative law judges, with a budget of over $227 million, through legislative reforms, multi-year modernization and a culture transformation. She currently serves as a full-time Member of the Board, confirmed by the State Senate through 2029.
Her path there was anything but typical. A first-generation college student, she began as a community organizer in the Northwest Bronx, spent eight years as a Legal Aid Society litigator protecting New Yorkers from foreclosure and predatory lending, and rose to statewide leadership. That lived experience, told with honesty and humor, is what she brings to every stage.
She has keynoted for the NYS Department of Civil Service Women's History Month ceremony, the PEF Health & Safety Conference, NYSIA's bi-annual conferences and La Liga's 50th Anniversary conference, and has spoken at SOMOS (Albany and Puerto Rico), the Workers Compensation Research Institute, universities, bar associations and chambers of commerce across the state. She presents in English and Spanish.
Clarissa lives in Orange County, NY with her husband, daughters Gabriella and Luna, and Labradoodle Lucy.
