Our Leadership
Jay Jacobs
New York Dems State Chair
State Chairman Jay Jacobs grew up in Forest Hills, Queens and graduated with a BA degree from SUNY Oneonta and a JD from Northwestern University Law School. With his interest and involvement in politics, Chairman Jacobs' statewide record of accomplishment and professionalism culminated in his recent election to fill the remainder of resigning Chair June O'Neill's term in September 2009.
Chairman Jacobs is committed to building a strong, institutional State Party organization that is built on the foundation of our 62 County Chairs. A permanent staff will provide an effective campaign field organization, along with a host of other resources for Democratic candidates running at every level in every part of the State.
Since becoming Chairman of the Nassau County Democratic Committee in 2001, Chairman Jacobs has overseen the election of the first Democrat in over 30 years as County Executive, the first Democratic Comptroller, District Attorney and County Assessor. During his tenure, Nassau Democrats have held the Legislature through 4 elections, elected more judges than in all prior years combined, raised and spent over $12 million, and built a formidable field organization. For the first time in history, in 2008, Nassau could boast more registered Democrats than Republicans.
Chairman Jacobs' political work is completely voluntary and he takes no compensation, nor expenses, for either of his roles, and holds no governmental office. He earns his living operating the TLC Family of Camps, which runs three sleep-away camps (Timber Lake Camp, Timber Lake West and Tyler Hill Camp), three day camps (North Shore Day Camp in Glen Cove, Hampton Country Day Camp and Teen Hamptons, both in East Hampton) and a NYS chartered preschool (North Shore Day School in Glen Cove). His past professional affiliations include serving on the New York State Camp Health and Safety Council, President of the American Camping Association's (ACA) NY section, and President of the New York State Camp Directors Association.
Chairman Jacobs' charitable organization, Timber Lake Foundation, is instrumental in raising and donating funds for programs to help children in need. He is the founder of SCOPE (Summer Camp Opportunities Provide an Edge), a program that sends inner city children to not for profit camps. In 2001, he founded and currently serves as Chairman of Project Heal the Children, an ACA program that provides free summer camp experiences for the children of victims of the 9/11 tragedy.
Chairman Jacobs lives in Laurel Hollow, NY, with his wife Mindy. He has two daughters, Jessica and Jacqueline.
June O'Neill
New York Dems Executive Committee Chair
Executive Committee Chair June O'Neill has spent more than thirty years working in Democratic politics and New York state and local government. June served in St. Lawrence County government for more than 16 years in a variety of capacities including Clerk of the Board, County Auditor, County Budget Officer, Election Commissioner, and Head Social Welfare Examiner. She was also the first person to hold the position that has now become County Administrator.
June first served as St. Lawrence County Democratic chair from 1978-1983 when she was credited with electing Democratic candidates to countywide office for the first time in history. She joined the administration of Governor Mario Cuomo in 1983 as the Governor's North Country Regional Representative and then served as a member of his Cabinet in the post of Director of the NYS Office of Rural Affairs.
June worked as former Comptroller H. Carl McCall's Director of Training and Intergovernmental Relation, and upon retiring from her full time job in 2001, she was again elected St. Lawrence County Democratic chair. Under her leadership, the County Democrats made great strides, including 'flipping' the majority on the County Legislature from 10 Republicans and 5 Democrats to 10 Democrats and 5 Republicans in November 2006.
She was a delegate to both the 1980 and 2004 Democratic National Conventions and was a Super Delegate to the historic 2008 Convention in Denver. June was a member of the 2004 and 2008 Electoral Colleges in New York. In 2005, June was elected to the office of Assistant Treasurer of the New York State Democratic Committee before serving as State Chair from 2006-2009. She was unanimously elected Chair of the State Democratic Party's Executive Committee on September 30, 2009.
On the National level, June is the Finance Committee Chair of the Association of State Democratic Chairs. In addition to being a member of the Democratic National Committee, serves on the DNC Executive Committee. She was just re-elected to a second term representing the Eastern Region. June is an active member of the Democratic Rural Conference. She is a member and past chair of the SUNY Potsdam College Council and has served on numerous boards and commissions including: the Albany Law School Government Law Center Advisory Board; the Cornell Local Government Program Executive Committee; the NYS Government Finance Officers Northeast Regional Council.
June attended the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam. She and her husband, Ronald, reside in the town of Canton near their daughter and son-in-law, Robert and Victoria Hayes and their granddaughter, Delaney Rose.
