Tracey Edwards

Tracey Edwards’ Long Island roots run very deep indeed, making her one of our most well-regarded and most-beloved public servants. Born in Huntington Station—her mom was a community leader and her dad was a Huntington policeman—she was raised in Elwood, where she later became vice president of the Elwood School Board. Currently a resident of Dix Hills, she’s been married for almost 40 years, and is a mother of three and a grandmother of two. In 1979 she got a job as a summer line operator for Verizon Communications and rose through the ranks to become region president, overseeing 3,800 employees with a $220 million annual budget and handling customers from Staten Island to the East End of Long Island. She finally retired from the corporate world in 2016, but she has never quit her civic engagement. After chairing the Town of Huntington Planning Board, she won her first term as a Huntington Town Councilwoman in 2014, building on her lifelong experience in business and community service, and she remains politically active today. A member of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Edwards also serves as the Long Island Regional Director of the NAACP. Given her focus on growing the Island’s economy, she’s a member of the New York State Economic Development Council for Long Island. Formerly, she was on the board of directors of the Long Island Association, chairing the economic development committee. For the town she calls home, she spearheaded the creation of the Huntington Opportunity Resource Center to help unemployed and underemployed residents get job training and other vital services they need to prosper. She’s also credited with expanding affordable housing for millennials and first-time homebuyers. No doubt about it, Edwards has a made a difference in many people’s lives.