Mayor Bill de Blasio filled four leadership positions throughout his housing agencies on Saturday, putting in place the team he said would help fulfill his goal of significantly expanding New York City’s affordable housing stock.

The mayor appointed Shola Olatoye, a former executive of a nonprofit organization that invests in affordable housing, as chairwoman of the New York City Housing Authority, an agency that has struggled financially; and named Vicki L. Been, a housing scholar, to be the commissioner of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, which enforces city codes and oversees programs to finance and develop affordable housing.

Ms. Olatoye was formerly Vice president and market leader for Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. Previously, Ms Shola Olatoye was the deputy director and director of relationship management. She was in charge of leading production efforts and helping to develop new products and solutions, originating new business and overseeing relationship management for Enterprise’s many partners in New York.

Before joining Enterprise in 2009, Ms Shola was a vice president and senior community development manager with HSBC Bank USA, N.A.

In that capacity, she managed the bank’s Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) programme of lending, investment and service in low-and moderate-income communities in Washington D.C., and South Florida.

She also was the director of a prominent New York City real estate advisory and economic development consulting firm.

Her practice areas included urban neighborhood revitalization, real estate advisory services, park finance and strategic planning. She oversaw a cross-functional team of approximately 50, as they worked with community partners, the public sector and private capital sources to build and preserve approximately 3,000 affordable homes per year.

She also spent five years in New York as an advocate and policy analyst for urban school inance reform.
Olatoye received her bachelor’s degree in history with honors from Wesleyan University and her Master of Public Administration from New York University. (NAN)

2014-02-11