Dirk McCall de Palomá is the Executive Director of Sunnyside Shines Business Improvement District. Previously, Dirk served as the Director of Civic Engagement for Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz and as the Director of External Affairs to Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. 

He has an over twenty year career in government, non-profits and political activism, and has worked in such roles as the Director of Communications at Gay Men’s Health Crisis, the Executive Director of the Bronx Community Pride Center, the Executive Director of the Greenwich Village-Chelsea Chamber of Commerce (GVCCC) and as Chief of Staff to NYC Councilmember Alan Jay Gerson. 

In his political work, Dirk served as the President of the Stonewall Democratic Club of NYC, the largest LGBTQ club in NYS State, and has been a member of their Board of Directors for more than 30 years.  Dirk ran the campaign of NYC Councilmember Mark Weprin in 2009, and served as Deputy Campaign Manager for Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney in 2010.  For over a decade, he served on the Board of the Lesbian and Gay Democratic Club of Queens, and served for 10 years as President of the Powhatan Democratic Club in Astoria. 

Dirk currently runs AstoriaCentric – a local dining group in Astoria, and is the Co-Founder of Out Astoria. McCall stays involved in organizing within the LGBTQ communities.  During his work at the Greenwich Village-Chelsea Chamber of Commerce, he launched Out to Work, NYC’s LGBT Career Fair, which continues now under the LGBT Center.  During his time at the NYC Council, Councilmember Gerson empowered Dirk to fight for LGBT concerns.  Dirk helped coordinate the fight to secure an additional 1.3 million for services for homeless LGBT Youth in the city budget, served as the point person inside the Council for DASA (Dignity in All Schools Act), which was introduced by his boss, Council Member Gerson.  McCall worked with LGBT Veterans to secure passage of a resolution calling for the repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Policy which has since been replicated in cities across the nation.  Dirk serves on the board of Government Affairs Professionals, a trade association, for over 2 decades, where he currently serves as Event Chair. 

A transplanted Southerner living in NYC for over 30 years, Dirk was raised in a military family, growing up on Army bases throughout the South. A longtime resident of Astoria, in Western Queens, Dirk was one of the Grand Marshalls for the 2005 Queens Pride Parade.