Elaine Phillips (née Reidman) is an American

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

who currently serves as Nassau County Comptroller, with a term beginning in January 2022. She was elected to the position in a landslide victory, defeating Democrat Ryan Cronin 61%-39% to succeed retiring incumbent Jack Schnirman. Phillips previously represented the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature, while the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Established in 1777 by the Constitution of New York, its members are elected to two-year terms with no term l ...

's 7th district, and had previously served as the 18th Mayor of

Flower Hill, New York Flower Hill is a village in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The eastern half is considered part of the Greater Roslyn area, which is anchored by the Incorporated Village of Roslyn. Western and north ...

. She is a Republican. Phillips was elected to the Senate in 2016 but was defeated in her 2018 re-election bid.

Life and career

Phillips was born and raised in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. She is the daughter of John Reidman, a steel worker who died when she was 12, and Betty Reidman, who worked as a cook at a local

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is an Voluntary association, organization of United States, U.S. war veterans headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. It comprises U.S. state, state, Territories of the United States, U.S. terr ...

post. Phillips attended

Penn State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

, where she earned both her bachelor's degree in political science and an M.B.A. in Finance. A former financial analyst, Phillips worked for large financial institutions for over 20 years, including

Met Life MetLife, Inc. is the holding corporation for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MLIC), better known as MetLife, and its affiliates. MetLife is among the largest global providers of insurance, annuities, and employee benefit programs, w ...

and

JP Morgan JPMorgan Chase & Co. (stylized as JPMorganChase) is an American multinational finance corporation headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. It is the largest bank in the United States, and the world's largest bank by mar ...

Securities. She later served as a vice president in Institutional Sales at

Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered in Lower Manhattan in New York City, with regional headquarters in many internationa ...

. Phillips and her husband, Andy, are the parents of three daughters.

Mayor of Flower Hill, New York (2012–2016)

Phillips served as the mayor of Flower Hill, New York from 2012 to 2016. During her tenure as Mayor, she cut taxes and stabilized the village's finances (which, under her predecessor's management, were criticized by the New York State Comptroller's Office). Phillips also implemented an environmental policy to expand the number of trees in the village, an effort which led the Village to be named

Tree City USA The Arbor Day Foundation is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit membership organization dedicated to planting trees. The Arbor Day Foundation has more than one million members and has planted more than 500 million trees in neighborhoods, communitie ...

by the National Arbor Day Committee. Phillips was the first female in Flower Hill's history to hold the position.

New York State Senator (2017–2018)

In 2016, State Senator Jack Martins decided to run for Congress, foregoing re-election to the Senate to do so. Phillips announced that she would seek the open Senate seat and was supported by Martins. Phillips ran on a platform which included cutting taxes, combating the heroin epidemic and strengthening state ethics laws in response to corruption scandals in Albany. Phillips was unopposed for the Republican nomination. With the Seventh district being one of the most competitive districts in the state, the race was projected to be close. In the end, Phillips defeated Democrat Adam M. Haber by a 51% to 49% margin. She was sworn in on January 1, 2017. In 2018, Phillips lost her re-election bid to Democrat

Anna Kaplan Anna Kaplan (née Monahemi) (born August 23, 1965) is an Iranian-American politician from Great Neck, New York. A Democrat, she was a member of the New York State Senate, representing New York's 7th State Senate district, which runs from the No ...

Nassau County Comptroller (since 2022)

In November 2021, Phillips was elected the first woman to serve as Nassau County Comptroller with 61 percent of the vote.

Election results

* November 2016

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

, New York State Senate, 7th Senate District : * November 2021

, Nassau County, New York, Comptroller :

References

External links

Senator Elaine Phillips
''official site'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Elaine People from Flower Hill, New York Living people Politicians from Nassau County, New York Republican Party New York (state) state senators 1959 births Pennsylvania State University alumni Goldman Sachs people Women mayors of places in New York (state) 21st-century mayors of places in New York (state) 21st-century members of the New York State Legislature