Gary J. Rich Sr. was elected to the Board of Chosen Freeholders in November 2011. He was sworn in to office on Jan. 5, 2012.
Freeholder Rich, a resident of Spring Lake, began his career as a schoolteacher working at St. Rose in Belmar, Freehold Borough Middle School and Marlboro Middle School. In 1979 he left teaching and began working for several major corporations in the computer business, becoming President of Atlantic Systems.
Throughout the years, Mr. Rich was elected to public office four times. In 1980, he was elected to the council in South Belmar, which today is called Lake Como. After moving to Spring Lake, he was elected to the Borough Council where he served for three terms.
Mr. Rich served on the Spring Lake finance committee for several years and helped Spring Lake avoid tax increases and increases in the municipal budget. This effort was accomplished maintaining a superb level of public services while rebuilding an aging infrastructure that had a 100-year-old water and sewer system. Additionally, as a councilman he served on many committees including Public Safety, Traffic Safety, Planning Board, Beach Committee, Board of Health and the Water Sewer Advisory Committee.
As a freeholder, Mr. Rich aims to help Monmouth County to become more effective with a focus on controlling taxes and providing efficient and transparent government.
Mr. Rich currently works at Dell, Inc. as an Account Executive. He lives in Spring Lake with his wife, Ann, of 31 years. They have three children, Gary Jr., Steven and Devin.