Hastings Democratic Committee
VOTE DEMOCRATIC
Nicola (Niki) Armacost has served as Mayor for two years and before that as Village Trustee for nine years. She has lived in Hastings since 2002 with her husband, Tim, and sons Zak and Cole, who both passed through the Hastings school system.
Niki is Founder and Managing Director of Arc Finance, Ltd., a not-for-profit organization that finances clean energy and water in the developing world. She is also an advisor to a number of solar companies and microfinance organizations that work in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Both as Mayor and Trustee, her focus has been on village finances. She led efforts to keep taxes low, increase financial transparency, and build a solid reserve fund. She championed responsible investments in our village infrastructure, from accelerating road and sidewalk repairs, to creating an earmarked reserve fund for our parks. She has also been a champion of sustainability, promoting energy efficiency and stewardship of our natural resources. Niki is a member of the Executive Committee of the Westchester Municipal Officials Association (WMOA).
Niki has been active in the Hastings community, working with the Cub and Boy Scouts, the Take Me to the River music festival, the Hastings Education Foundation and the Hastings Co-op Nursery School.
She holds a BA from the University of Toronto (Canada), an LLB from Queen’s College Law School (Canada) and an LLM from Osgood Hall Law School (Canada).
Mary Lambert was born and raised in New York City. She and her husband Nils moved to Hastings in 2005, when their eldest daughter was one. She and Nils, and their three daughters, have called Hastings their home for sixteen years.
Mary has worked for over 20 years in technology and media, specializing in marketing, business development, and general administration. She has been the Executive Director of the Weeden Family Foundation, specializing in biodiversity preservation, and has held senior management roles at Google, Opera Software, Lucent Technologies, and at Volta Charging, the country’s most utilized electric vehicle (EV) charging network. Currently she has her own marketing consulting business, Closed Loop Consultants.
Mary has been active in the community for many years, serving on the Hastings Conservation Commission and the Hastings PTSA. She was a co-founder of the Hastings Girls on the Run program.
Mary was appointed to the Board in January of 2020 and has focused much of her time on sustainability issues. She is passionate about protecting the remarkable parks and open spaces of Hastings; to preserving its unique character; building a strong, safe, and resilient downtown; and to helping Hastings mitigate and adapt to climate change. She served as the Chair of the Climate Smart Communities Task Force, which has completed projects such as a Village Natural Resources Inventory, a Climate Vulnerability Assessment, and a Heat Emergency Plan, which have allowed the Village to obtain silver status as part of the Climate Smart Communities program.
She holds a BA from Yale University and an MBA from Columbia University.
Tom Drake is a true son of Hastings. He was born in St. John’s Hospital; grew up in Hastings; graduated from Hastings High School; and married Hastings native Julia DiSalvo. They now live in Tom’s childhood home where they are raising their three children: Joseph, Grace and Timothy.
Tom served honorably as a Hospital Corpsman in the US Navy, then entered into a more than twenty-three year career in law enforcement until his retirement from the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office in August of 2020. Tom now serves as a consultant in emergency management for school districts. During his career, Tom’s experience ranged from street patrol, to SWAT duty, to investigating organized and financial crime and public integrity/corruption. He was also a member of the NYPD Band (playing the saxophone). Tom is an experienced law enforcement instructor and has taught everything from cultural awareness to basic recruit training, officer survival and firearms.
Tom has an extensive background of volunteerism in the Hastings community. He has been a member of Riverview Manor Hose Co# 3 for more than twenty-five years. He served as Captain of both the Riverview Manor engine company and the Ambulance Corps. Tom is the Past Commander of Admiral Farragut American Legion Post 1195 and is a member of the Hastings Little League Board. Tom is also a member of the Hastings Police Reform and Reinvention Committee.
Tom comes from a background of civic engagement and civil service and wants to extend this experience into a position as Trustee in a village that is so dear to him and his family. Tom is passionate about public safety and improving our village’s infrastructure to better serve our residents, business owners and visitors.
Tom holds a BS from Excelsior College and an MPA from Pennsylvania State University.