Jasmine A. Higgins is a Partner and Chief Operating Officer at GLS, an Albany-based economic development and public affairs consulting company. Before working in the private sector, Higgins held various roles within Mayor Kathy Sheehan’s office, including Chief Equity Officer, and prior to that, Special Advisor to the Mayor. Higgins is a proud graduate of Albany High School, holds a bachelor’s in philosophy from Siena College, and completed her Master of Public Administration at Marist College. Higgins has generational roots in Albany, her great-grandparents John W. and Alma Jennings were responsible for integrating the Pine Hills neighborhood. Higgins remains deeply committed to investing and improving her hometown, drawing her commitment and passion for economic opportunity, racial and social equity from her family. 

Higgins is the daughter of John E. Higgins Esq., the namesake of the John E. Higgins Esq. New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) Diversity Trailblazer Award, the great-granddaughter of one of Albany’s first Black attorneys, John W. Jennings Esq., and the great-great-granddaughter of Albany activist Ida J. Yarbrough, the namesake of the Ida Yarbrough Affordable Housing complex located in Albany’s Arbor Hill neighborhood. Higgins is a first-generation Italian, dual American-Italian national and speaks fluent Italian.