Valley Stream trustee tapped for NIFA board

Valley Stream village Trustee Dermond Thomas has been tapped by New York state leaders to serve as a member of the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, a seven-member board which oversees Nassau County’s finances.

Thomas, 35, was elected to the village board in March on the United Community Party ticket. The registered Democrat was nominated for a vacant seat on the NIFA board by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and is the first new member appointed to the board under Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Recommended for the position by some members of the state Assembly, Thomas said he is looking forward to the challenge. “It wasn’t something I had considered applying for but this was something I had watched,” he said of NIFA’s recent oversight of county finances. “It’s a good board that can actually do something useful.”

Thomas explained that the purpose of NIFA is to help the county’s elected officials achieve a balanced budget. Although the county had challenged NIFA’s takeover earlier this year, Thomas said he hopes the two sides can work together. “It’s not supposed to be a contentious relationship,” he said. “We should all be working toward the same goal.”

He has experience as a corporate finance lawyer and, until recently, was with Arnold & Porter in New York City. He has since joined MSC Industrial Supplies in Melville. Thomas said after years of working for a firm, he wanted to be an in-house lawyer for a company. “I went in-house mainly so I could focus on one client,” he said, adding that he enjoys his new job.

At MSC, Thomas deals with mergers, acquisitions and business strategy, and works closely with the company’s accountants. When he was with Arnold & Porter, he did a lot of work with sovereign debt finance and dealt directly with the treasury departments of Brazil and Turkey.

Thomas said he believes his background can be an asset to the NIFA board and Nassau County residents. He explained that he has experience in creating efficiencies at the corporate level, a practice that can also be applied to government.

The goal of NIFA, Thomas said, is to find solutions. “By nature, I’m a problem solver,” he said. “That’s what I do all day long for a living.”