Anna Kelles

Dr. Anna Kelles represents the 125th District, including Tompkins County and the southwest of Cortland County, in the New York Assembly. Assemblymember Kelles is a member of the Assembly Committees on Environmental Conservation, Agriculture, Housing, Correction, Mental Health, and Local Governments. Kelles has brought national and international attention to the environmental concerns of consolidated cryptocurrency mining using proof-of-work validation methods. In her first term she secured state protection for thousands of acres of critical lakefront forestlands and park land and passed legislation to increase state investments in plant pollinator species on state owned land. Prior to serving in the Assembly, Kelles served on the Tompkins County Legislature from 2015 to 2020. As a Legislator, she chaired the Planning Energy and Environmental Quality and the Housing and Economic Development committees effectively championing for affordable housing access, natural resource conservation, protections for immigrant rights, and public health issues, including mental health and supportive social services. Kelles earned a PhD in Nutritional Epidemiology from the University of North Carolina, exploring the relationship between urbanization and multi-generational health-related behavior patterns in the Philippines.