NYSAC President Boykin Will Never Forget Humble Roots

By Joe Mahoney
Contributing Author

Raised in a farming community in eastern North Carolina, Benjamin Boykin II was considering becoming a pharmacist when he switched his major to business at the University of North Carolina campus at Chapel Hill.

That pivot has paid tremendous dividends to Boykin, whose subsequent corporate career as a Certified Public Accountant culminated in him becoming the highest ranking African American at RJR Nabisco, a Fortune 500 company.

Boykin's background in finance and accounting has also been an asset in his distinguished career in government.

Comfortable with being called "Ben" by his colleagues and constituents, he has been elected six successive times to the board, serving as Chair from 2018 to 2022. In September, he will take the helm as president of the New York State Association of Counties - a term that will coincide with the statewide umbrella organization celebrating its centennial anniversary in 2025.

In a telephone interview, Boykin discussed why he has become immersed in county government in the most recent chapter of his lengthy and varied career.

"The county government touches so many different aspects of individuals' lives," he explained.

In Westchester County, he added: "We have 18,000 acres of park land. We have offices all over the county. We have an operating budget of $2.44 billion. Around $700 million of that budget is for social services, trying to tend to the needs of the people. Obviously, we fund public safety. We fund probation. We fund programs for seniors. We have our public health department. Cities and towns don't have public health departments. Our county government serves the needs of over a million people. We have a $580 million capital budget that works to preserve our infrastructure and our roads and our buildings. County government is vast."

During the most perilous public health crisis of the past century, the COVID pandemic during which New York counties played a critically important role in providing vaccinations and protective equipment to residents, it was Boykin who was at the helm of Westchester County government. That experience, he noted, helped to cement his conclusion that county government is vital throughout New York state.

Boykin has had his own financial consulting practice in White Plains after moving to New York. He joined the Westchester County Legislature in 2014 following 14 years of service on the White Plains City Council. He was elected Council president three times. Before running for the City Council seat, he served for seven years as a member of the White Plains School Board.

His financial acumen and familiarity with budgeting and achieving fiscal efficiency has been an asset in all of these governmental roles.

"As a business executive, I am keenly aware that the most valuable resource will ever have are the people we serve," he said. "We have got to engage our stakeholders, meet them where they are, foster an environment of growth and collaboration."

As he takes the helm as president of NYSAC, he said his focus will be on "enhancing productivity and ensuring transparency while we continue to serve our constituents."

Reflecting on his more than three decades of public service, Boykin said he looks forward to serving as NYSAC's president during its upcoming centennial celebration.

"For me this is really a crowning achievement, with the combination of some 30 years of dedicated public service and over 50 years of working for equality and social justice for everyone," he said.

Each time he has become involved in an organization, he has studied its mission, and, using his abilities with collaboration and communication, looked for ways to deliver services in more effective ways.

Born in Garland, North Carolina, Boykin's leadership abilities were evident at an early age.

He became student council president at his segregated high school. He began his studies at the University of North Carolina in 1968, a tumultuous year for a nation coping with the Vietnam War, the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy of New York and raucous protests at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Before becoming a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the university, Boykin cut his teeth in politics by volunteering for the campaign of Howard Lee, who would become the first African American mayor of a majority white city (Chapel Hill) in the South. At the campus, he would also become one of the founders of the Black Student Movement. He went on to earn an MBA at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. He then went to work as a CPA for a firm then called Deloitte, Haskins and Sells.

Boykin's humble beginnings from a sharecropping family in North Carolina continue to be a prism through which he sees the world.

"You have to remember where you're from, because if you don't know where you're from, you don't know where you are and you don't have an idea of where you're going. You have to be rooted in something," he said on a day when he was preparing to go to a meeting of the local Meals on Wheels Board and reading stories aloud to children at a White Plains park.

He said he believes it is incumbent upon public officials to be accessible to their constituents and visible in their communities. He has served on numerous community and non-profit and educational boards "We have to use all sorts of mediums to connect with people because that is so critical to what we do," he said. "People want to be able to see you in person. They want to call you and email you. They may want to hit you up on Facebook."

Boykin's involvement with NYSAC over the past several years has made him keenly aware of the common challenges each county government faces. He was elected to the NYSAC Board of Directors in 2019.

"We have some counties that are very small and some have millions of people," he said. "But the issues we face are very similar. You are provided with limited resources to protect and enhance the lives of individuals. As president of NYSAC, I envision a journey where we can reflect on the past century's progress and start a course of action for the future, given the rapid change that is going to take place."