About Tim
Tim Foley has been a Scarsdale Democratic District Leader for the past eleven years, and an organizer in Democratic and union politics for much longer.
He has organized and fought for union workers and business owners, doctors and patients, and those who struggle to afford the housing and health care they need. He has a well-earned reputation for serving capably and intelligently and transforming any role he’s served in inside and outside government with leadership, action, and empathy.
Born in Massachusetts, Tim’s father, grandfather, and uncle all served in the Boston Police Department. To this day, one of his treasured possessions is a framed picture from the 1970s when all three of them were working out of the same precinct. His father was a union rep with the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association and his stepmother was a Boston public school teacher and a proud member of the Boston Teachers Union. Their influence shaped Tim’s career path and enthusiasm for public and community service, as he eventually spent over a decade working in the labor movement and even volunteered for a time as an Auxiliary Police Office with the Auxiliary NYPD.
In March 2007, Tim was among the first campaign staffers for Obama for America in the first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire, and in 2008, Tim began working for the Committee of Interns and Residents-SEIU, a labor union for resident physicians with members in seven states and the District of Columbia. There, Tim coordinated advocacy and political campaigns for the union, including the national fight to pass the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), passing Paid Sick Days in New York City, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Westchester and Paid Family Leave in New York State; preventing hospital closures in New York, the struggle over comprehensive immigration reform, and taking on the National Rifle Association when they opposed Dr. Vivek Murthy’s nomination as Surgeon General over his intention to treat gun violence as a threat to public health.
Tim then became Director of the SEIU Connecticut State Council. Working with the SEIU locals in the Nutmeg state, including 32BJ, 1199 New England, CSEA SEIU Local 2001, the 4Cs and CEUI Local 511, he focused on The Fight for $15 to increase the minimum wage, ensuring the state’s budget gap was not balanced on the backs of state employees and working families, and standing against Trump and Republicans in Congress as they tried to take access to healthcare away from millions of Americans.
Tim then served as the Communications Director for Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, learning firsthand the round-the-clock work of delivering top-notch constituent services while fighting for progressive policies like curbing gun violence, cracking down on domestic violence and sex trafficking, supporting unionized workers, and helping constituents after increasingly frequent extreme weather events, including the March 2018 nor’easters. In particular, Tim was the point person for the Assemblywoman’s legislative and legal responses to the cap on the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction.
Currently, Tim is the CEO of the Building & Realty Institute, a real estate trade association with members throughout Westchester and the Lower Hudson Valley. He is only the third executive to run the non-profit in its 78 years, shepherding the organization through the initial shock of the COVID pandemic to a thriving, booming membership, including a wide range of businesses and organizations with housing as their connective tissue.
Under Tim’s leadership, the BRI launched the Welcome Home Westchester campaign launched spring of 2021, expanding it in 2023 to be a true multi-stakeholder campaign. The campaign combines several companies involved in the home building and development of housing with economic leaders like the Westchester County Association and Nonprofit Westchester, academics and think tanks that have extensively examined the housing question, organizations dedicated to fighting against homelessness and supporting families in need, faith leaders and community advocates to drive forward a new conversation around housing in the county.
Tim lives in Scarsdale with his wife, Susan Lee, his teenage son Thomas, and his elementary school daughter Eleanor.