ALBANY, NY — Three of the five people who will decide the location of the four casinos in upstate New York have been named by the New York Gaming Commission.

The siting panel, which is officially called the Resort Gaming Facility Location Board, will include three people named by Gov. Cuomo.

One of the three is Paul Francis. According to a commission press release, “Francis is a business executive with more than 25 years of private-sector experience and has served as a senior policy advisor and appointee under three consecutive New York State governors.

“He currently serves as a Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Guarini Center on Environmental and Land Use Law at NYU Law School. Mr. Francis came to public service in 2007 as budget director for Gov. Eliot Spitzer after serving for two years as a policy adviser to the Spitzer campaign. In 2008, Spitzer made him Director of State Operations, overseeing all state agencies.

“In December 2010, Governor Andrew Cuomo named Francis the state director of Agency Redesign and Efficiency, a new post, and installed him as chairman of the Spending and Government Efficiency Commission (SAGE). Francis retired from state employment in 2013.”

Also on the panel will be Stuart Rabinowitz, president of Hofstra University. The release says, “Rabinowitz has held positions with a number of government and community organizations, including the Judicial Advisory Council of the State of New York Unified Court System, County of Nassau. He currently serves as a member of the board of directors for the Long Island Association and as co-vice chair of the Long Island Regional Economic Development Council.

“He has also served as a trustee of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities and on the board of directors of the Long Island Technology Network. He is a former member of the Nassau County Blue Ribbon Financial Review Panel, former chair of the Nassau County Local Advisory Board and a member of the Nassau County Commission on Government Revision, which was charged with drafting a new charter and a new form of government for the county.”

The third appointee is William C. Thompson Jr., chief administrative officer and senior managing director at Siebert Brandford Shank & Company LLC. The release says, “Thompson served as the comptroller for the City of New York from January 2002 to December 2009, where he was custodian and investment advisor to the $100 billion-plus New York City Pension Funds.

“During his tenure, Mr. Thompson also worked with leaders of the financial services industry to reform the operations of the New York Stock Exchange and spearheaded the city’s innovative Banking Development District program. Mr. Thompson also served as a senior vice president in public finance in the mid-1990s.

“Prior to his work as comptroller, he had served as Brooklyn Deputy Borough President and as a member and five-term President of the New York City Board of Education. Mr. Thompson is from the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, attended Midwood High School in Brooklyn and graduated from Tufts University in 1974. He resides in Harlem.”

The two remaining members of the committee will be selected by the state legislature. The committee is expected to send out requests for proposals in March, and applicants will have 90 days to respond.