Neil Foster has lived in the Village of East Hills for the past 20 years with his wife and three children.
Neil was born in the United Kingdom, came to the USA in 1994 and was thrilled when he was granted U.S. citizenship in 2012.
Neil has his own business in executive recruitment and specializes in health care and health care IT.
Having three children, Neil has been actively involved in community sports, serving on the Board of Albertson Soccer Club and the Roslyn Booster Basketball.
Neil is well known amongst his friends as the “go to guy” if anyone needs help. This attribute is one of the main reasons Neil decided to run for a position as trustee for the Village of East Hills.
Numerous people have asked Neil “why?
Why would you want to take on this job? Why does someone like you want to get into politics?”
So Neil wanted to clarify, Neil does not see this role as a political role, he sees it as a public servant role allowing him to serve all of the residents and give back to the people who welcomed him and his family into the community.
Neil feels very strongly that we live in a “community” and everyone should be afforded the opportunity to serve the village if they choose.
Foster wanted this to be quoted word for word. “The Village of East Hills is a village of incredibly smart and successful people who have extremely good ideas and those ideas need to be heard. I want the opportunity to be that voice”
Foster feels very strongly that its time for independent trustees to be elected to office.
Over the past decade only three independent residents have tried to become trustees but unfortunately they were not successful.
Foster says he can’t promise that he and his running mate Jana Goldenberg will be able to make immediate changes, however, they do give their word that the residents will understand what happens under the covers in Village Hall.
He also promises to hold in person open houses once a month where the residents can come and talk and express their concerns, comments and ideas.
Foster has trouble understanding why the village has a flurry of activity when incumbent trustees are up for election but we rarely hear from them throughout their four-year term.
Foster also thinks it’s unhealthy for a “business” not to have term limits and allow individuals to hold office for 16 plus years.
I asked Foster one final question, “What are your greatest accomplishments?
He answered as follows, “Great question, and thanks for asking. I actually have three; marrying my wife who supports me through good and bad times, my three kids and for co-foundi ng Shooting Stars.”
Can you tell us more about the Shooting Stars program? “Absolutely, Shooting Stars is a basketball program at the Sid Jacobson JCC for children with special needs. We started the program nearly ten years ago and we have participants from ages 3 to 24 and approximately 60 kids who participate.
The other incredible part of this program are the 100-plus high school volunteers from Roslyn, Wheatley, and Great Neck who get up early every week for the duration of the program and comedown to work with these kids. It is the highlight of my week!”
