PHA Tech Center Advisory Board

Meet the Members of the Tech Center Advisory Board

The members of the Tech Center Advisory Board are career professionals in the public housing field. These dedicated individuals represent enormous wisdom and experience. They maintain high-performance agencies that respond to the needs of their communities by providing low income housing unequaled by any other provider. There is an adage that says "learn from the mistakes of others, you can't live long enough to make them all yourself." In public housing, there is no greater resource than the guidance of those who have built a successful career in the field.
	Dave Baldwin Dave has worked in the public housing field since 1978. He is currently the executive director of the Bristol, Virginia housing Authority. Before taking the Bristol position he was the Hope VI director with the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority where he led the agency to be the first in the nation to have a staff generated submission funded. Dave is Past President of the Virginia Association of Housing and Community Development Officials. He is extraordinary in the public housing field in many ways not the least of which is that he holds a Masters Degree in Linguistics from the University of Virginia.
	DeWitt Boozel DeWitt is the executive director of the Mercer County Housing Authority in Pennsylvania.He also directs the agencies non-profit development arm, Community Homebuyers, Inc. and is the liaison between the housing authority and the municipalities and county officials.DeWitt also serves on the Board of Trustees for PHADA and chairs the Finance Commitee of that organization. Not only has he served the public housing field for more than thirty years, he is a Certified Public Accountant and has nearly two decades of small business consulting and development experience. DeWitt serves on the Mercer County Affordable Housing Fund Board; is a member of the Shenango Valley Urban League; the Pennsylvania Association of Housing and Redevleopment Agencies (PAHRA) where he co-chairs the Member Services Committe and is a member of the Training Commitee and a member of the Board of Trustees of Phada. DeWitt serves as an advisor to the Tech Center-Phada partnership.
	Frank Chavers Frank served as the Executive Director of the Brevard County Family of Housing Authorities for more then 30 years. He has successfully worked with three Boards of Commissioners during that time while investing heavily in the guidance and development of his staff. He will be leaving the housing authority(s) at the end of this year to head the Florida Insurance Fund which he helped to establish.
	Carl DeChellis Carl as been an Executive with the Beaver County Housing Authority for thirty years. The agency, under his leadership, can point to an impressive inventory of innovative and exceptional program developments. He is an officer with the Pennsylvania Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (PHARA), the Western Pennsylvania Chapter of NAHRO and the Western Pennsylvania Housing Directors Association (WPHDA). Carl is also the advisor to the Tech Center-Phara partnership.
	Dan Farrell Dan is the Executive Director of the Allentown Housing Authority in Allentown,Pennsylvania. Dan has worked in public service for twenty years and has been part of the public housing program for the past twelve. The home ownership program developed by his agency has served as a model throughout the field. Although his agency is recognized by HUD as high performing, Dan has taken the initiative to tackle the maintenance management program in his agency and has been active in sharing with his colleagues the lessons he has learned in the process.
	Ken Finlayson Ken Finlayson is currently the Executive Director of the City of Yuma, Arizona housing authority as well as the Executive Director of the Arizona Housing Development Corporation. Ken has been in the field for over 30 years. He served as the Regional Administrator of HUD in Region III for seven years during the mid and late 80s. In that capacity, he began HUD’s work in developing performance standards for public housing, known as the “Venture for Quality Public Housing”. The work resulted in HUD Decontrol Program and eventually resulted in the creation of PHMAP. Ken, however, does not claim any authorship of HUD’s current performance measurement standards. Ken began his career in 1971 starting up the New Castle County Housing Authority in Delaware and the Section 8 program when it began in 1975. He has served as the Director of Operations in Jacksonville, Florida; as well as executive and board member in Wilmington, Delaware.
	John Hurt John W. Hurt has over 32 years of experience in the public housing and property management industries. He was the Deputy Executive Director of the Detroit Housing Commission; responsible for day to day operations including Management and Maintenance, Section 8, resident services and modernization. He was the Director of Housing Management at the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority for 10 years responsible for management and maintenance operations, admissions, resident services and security. As a Consultant, Mr. Hurt has also provided Technical Assistance around the country to Housing Authorities on issues such as Housing Operations, Maintenance, Asset Management, Section 8, HOPE VI, Section 3, and Relocation. Mr. Hurt has worked with Troubled Housing Programs in smaller Housing Authorities as well as Indianapolis, Detroit, Atlanta and New Orleans. As a private sector Regional Property Manager, Mr. Hurt has managed portfolios in multiple states and has even been a site manager. He has been responsible for residential portfolios from 500 to 7500 units. Mr. Hurt is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, and is a Certified Public Housing Manager (PHM) and Certified Manager of Maintenance (CMM).
	Gail Livingston Gail has worked in the public housing field for more than 25 years. She is currently working as a Director with the Operations unit of the Boston Housing Authority. She has worked as the Director of the Legal Office, Director of Planning, Interim Director of the Cuyahoga County Housing Authority. Gail has extensive experience as a consultant, trainer, and writer in the public housing field. Gail has published many articles, participated in the design and development of training and certification programs with the National Center for Housing Management and co-authored the recently released Commissioners Guide to Public Housing
	Dave Madden Dave has been the director of the Ozark Alabama housing authority for more than a decade. He has worked within the public housing field for more than twenty five years. He has served as a leader within the state and has taken his committment to the field nationally through Phada where he is a past president. Dave has been consistent in his deep career interest to professional development for public housing executives. He was instrumental in forging the relationship between the New Jersey certification program for executives and Phada.
	Shaler Roberts Shaler Roberts has been the executive director of the Florence, Alabama housing authority since 1990. He has been an aggressive leader in managing the massive change within his agency from a highly centralized to a completely decentralized organization His was among the first agencies to submit the request to stop the loss his agency was scheduled to experience as a result of the funding changes that have been made by HUD. He is also a consistent contributor to the material published in the BUZZ as he has chronicled his experiences with decentralization.
	Joe Schiff The President of The Schiff Group, Joseph G. Schiff, has over 30 years of housing experience. In addition to 14 years as a Realtor in Louisville, Mr. Schiff served 7 years in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development -- three years as the Kentucky Field Office Manager and four years as America's top public housing official, HUD's Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing. He has an unequaled knowledge of HUD rules and regulations, a national perspective on what is happening in public housing, and a private sector orientation of what's practical for housing authority management. He has worked with housing authorities of all sizes and from all parts of the country.
	Paula Ledford Paula has been employed by the Dyersburg Housing Authority for 33 years, serving as its Executive Director since 1988. A member of PHADA's Board of Trustees since 1996, she presently serves on the Finance and the Professional Development committees. Paula has served on the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Association of Housing and Redevelopment Authorities, as well as numerous other state and regional housing committees. Locally, she serves on the Workforce Investment Area Board and the WIA Youth Council. With a staff of 20, DHA manages 502 public housing units in six Northwest Tennessee counties. The housing authority has consistently attained "high performer" designation under the Public Housing Assessment System (PHAS). Paula is an active member of the Hillcrest Baptist Church.

The founders of the Public Housing Technical Resource Center believe that the mission of public housing agencies is to provide shelter for those citizens who are not able to effectively compete for housing in the private marketplace.