Ashwini Bhide, a 1995-batch IAS officer, has been appointed the BMC's first woman Municipal Commissioner. She began her career in Kolhapur as Assistant District Collector from 1997 to 1999 and later held key administrative roles in Sindhudurg and Nagpur. She also served as Additional Metropolitan Commissioner of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) from 2008 to 2014.