28. Patrick Foye

In another era, the silver-bearded Patrick Foye would easily be mistaken for a Union general in the Civil War. But in our time, he’s leading a civilian army with billions of dollars in capital projects at stake as the head of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The decisions he makes—or doesn’t make—affect the lives of millions of people in our region, whether it’s rebuilding the World Trade Center, expanding Penn Station, modernizing LaGuardia Airport or hiking bridge and tunnel tolls. It seems like only yesterday when Foye was a voice of fiscal sanity in Nassau County. Now that he serves both Gov. Chris Christie and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, he must miss those good old days in Mineola. Come back anytime!