Rye’s new County Legislator Anant Nambiar was sworn in at the Performing Arts Center at Purchase College on Thursday, January 1, 2026. Nambiar replaces longtime legislator Catherine Parker who was term limited out of the District 7 seat after serving 12 years. Nambiar lives in Larchmont and has logged time Town of Mamaroneck Councilman, former Mamaroneck School Board. Prior to public service, he spent over 25 years working in the financial industry including time at American Express, Mastercard, and Synchrony Financial. He is the first South Asian and Hindu County legislator.
The inauguration event also included the swearing-in of Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins, County Clerk Thomas Roach and County Legislator Jennifer Puja.
You can listen to Nambiar’s five minute speech or read his prepared remarks below.
County Legislator Anant Nambiar – remarks at January 1, 2026 inauguration:
Happy New Year & thank you! In the Hindu tradition, Thursdays are auspicious days to start new journeys. So it’s a very good sign that 2026 and my Inauguration for this amazing new role start on a Thursday.
I am so honored and proud to be here today. I first want to thank my family, my wife and 3 kids, who supported and encouraged me through my campaign. Spending time with them is the most enjoyable and important thing I do. I also want to thank all the leaders who believed in me and supported me – George Latimer, Ken Jenkins, Catherine Parker, David Imamura, Vedat Gashi, Shelley Mayer, Steve Otis, along with the dozens of District Leads and Chairs who supported me, knocked on doors for me, and more. Your endorsement was clearly the most valuable asset I had and continuously relied upon to win voter support. Voters trusted me because you trusted me, so thank you for your belief.
I am so honored to be chosen by over 68% of the voters in my District, as they believe in my commitment to “common sense leadership and logical decision making”. Being elected was the easy part, now the hard work begins to listen to my District’s residents, even the ones who didn’t vote for me, and start working on the hard problems that need fixing. That is the part I’m most excited about, working with my colleagues and Ken Jenkins and his team to do so.
I’m also proud to be the first South Asian and Hindu County legislator, joining David Imamura who was the first Asian legislator. Approximately 8% of Westchester is Asian, and in this time when immigrants are being targeted and negatively impacted, David and I are proud to represent an important and impactful community.
As someone who was not born in the US, I know how lucky we are to live in this Country, State, County. My family has lived in Westchester for 25 years and we love how we are accepted and loved here. We have always felt that we can truly be who we are – a mixture of our Indian, Canadian, American cultures. Across Westchester and my District, we all contribute in different ways to create our amazing community – by taking care of our families, by volunteering, by helping or serving others, by donating our energy or money. The most valuable thing I have is my time and I have given that time to solve important, difficult problems that affect my family and other families on the Mamaroneck School Board, the Town Board and now the County. I am very proud and excited to join the Board of Legislators and to represent both my District and my South Asian community. Thank you again for this honor.
