National Center for Healthy Housing Board of Directors
Biographical Information

Joan Cleary
Joan Cleary joined the Blue Cross Foundation in 1999 as Associate Director. In 2006, Ms. Clearly was promoted to Vice President, Foundation and Community Leadership. She has overseen its development of a new upstream health focus, and transition to grant making and operating programs that reflect the new focus. The Blue Cross Foundation is one of only a few foundations in the country to target social determinants of health, such as housing, early childhood education, environmental factors and social connectedness. It is Minnesota's largest grant making foundation focused on health improvement.

Previously, Ms. Cleary served on the staff of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and as a consultant for the Bush Foundation and Northwest Area Foundation. She has a lengthy career in health and human services, including government, community agencies, provider organizations and advocacy groups as well as philanthropy. Ms. Cleary earned a Master's Degree in Management from Northwestern University. She is also a 2004-2005 alumnus of the Humphrey Institute Policy Fellows Program. This program offers practical training in public affairs leadership for emerging leaders seeking new experiences and skills. The program equips participants with three core leadership competencies to inspire, organize, and work effectively with others to advance the public good. 

Dr. Jocelyn Elders
Dr. Elders became Surgeon General of the Public Health Service on September 8, 1993, appointed by President Clinton. She was the first African American to serve in the position. As Surgeon General, Elders argued the case for universal health coverage, and was a spokesperson for President Clinton's health care reform effort. She was a strong advocate for comprehensive health education, including sex education, in schools. She was outspoken in her views, and was forced to resign after only 15 months in the position as a result of a controversial remark about sex education. In 1995, she returned to the University of Arkansas Medical Center as professor of pediatrics. She holds a B.A. in biology from Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas, and an M.D. from the University of Arkansas Medical School where she completed her residency in pediatrics. She also holds an M.S. in biochemistry.

Elders began her career as a nurse's aide in a veterans hospital in Milwaukee until she enlisted in the Army in May 1953. She was sent to Brooke Army Medical Center at fort Sam Houston where she was the only black person in her class. She was stationed at Letterman Army Hospital in San Francisco treating returning combat wounded from the Korean War. In April 1954, Elders was licensed as a physical therapist and transferred to Fitzsimmons Hospital in Denver. She was one of two therapists who treated President Eisenhower after his heart attack.

In 1987, Elders was appointed Director of the Arkansas Department of Health by then-Governor Bill Clinton. Her accomplishments in this position included a ten-fold increase in the number of early childhood screenings annually and almost a doubling of the immunization rate for two-year-olds in Arkansas. In 1992, she was elected President of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers.

Marcheta Gillam
Marcheta Gillam joined the NCHH Board in March 2006. She is a housing attorney with the Legal Aid Society of Cincinnati.  Her primary responsibilities include all aspects of legal advocacy on behalf of low-income families living in substandard housing. Gillam's advocacy for tenants over the past 16 years has made her a strong advocate for lead poisoning prevention and healthy homes.  Gillam served on the 2000 Legislative Working Group for Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention in Ohio and on the 1995 Ohio Governor's Committee on Environmental Lead Abatement.

Art Godi
Art Godi, a REALTOR from Stockton, California, was the 1996 president of the National Association of REALTORS, the nation's largest professional trade association, representing nearly 750,000 members. Godi is a principal broker of Art Godi REALTORS, a Stockton, California firm specializing in residential and commercial brokerage. Godi is a graduate of Stanford University, where he served as a student body president. Since entering real estate in 1961, he has taught at the University of the Pacific, Humphreys College, and San Joaquin Delta College, as well as being a master GRI instructor in California and senior instructor in both the CRS and CRB programs. He was named Outstanding Real Estate Educator in the U.S. in 1987. He has also taught in six countries in Eastern Europe for EERPF (Eastern European Real Property Foundation) over the past five years. Godi has attended most FIABCI Congresses since 1962, and he also represented the United States as a delegate at the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements, known as "Habitat II," in Istanbul, Turkey. He co-authored the original CRS courses and the video-based training series, The Real Estate Success Series. One of the modules he wrote was "Train the Trainer." Godi conducts his own Instructor Development workshop. He has authored several publications, and has written and served as technical director of two real estate films. Godi's involvement at the local level includes being named REALTOR of the Year for California and twice for the Stockton Board.

Kelvin J. Holloway, M.D.
Kelvin J. Hollway joined the NCHH Board in June of 2003. Dr. Holloway is an associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM), and vice president of medical affairs and deputy chief of staff for Grady Health System. Dr. Holloway is also medical director of Hughes Spalding Children's Hospital. Black Enterprise Magazine named him one of America's Outstanding Physicians in 2002. He is board certified in pediatrics. Dr. Holloway is on the boards of theGeorgia chapter of the Allergy & Asthma Foundation, the Georgia chapter of the American Lung Association, and the Asthma Care Advisory Board of Cigna Healthcare of Georgia. He is national spokesman for the American Lung Association and a consultant to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Atlanta Public Schools, Georgia Medical Care Foundation and the Breath With Ease Asthma Educational Program. He has been honored as one of America's Outstanding Young Men (1978) and received the Project Catalyst Award (1993), the Caring Award in Pediatrics (1978), and the Excellence in Pediatrics award (1981).

Dr. Holloway is a graduate of Georgia Institute of Technology and Howard University College of Medicine. He also received an MBA from Kennesaw StateUniversity in 2003. From 1980-81 he was chief resident at Howard University Hospital, where he also completed an Allergy and Immunology fellowship. He was in private practice in Atlanta from 1984 to 1991.

Sandra Brock Jibrell joined the NCHH Board in February 2006. Currently, she is a Senior Advisor to the President of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a national philanthropic organization, which seeks to improve environments and life outcomes for disadvantaged children and their families.  She was previously the Director of Civic Investments with the Casey Foundation. Before joining the Casey Foundation, Sandy was a Senior Program Officer at the Academy for Educational Development in Washington, D.C., where she directed a national, multi-site education demonstration program sponsored by the Ford Motor Company, and worked as a technical consultant and evaluator on youth development initiatives. Her previous national positions include Senior Research Associate with the National Governors' Association's Center for Policy Research, and Program Officer with YouthWork, Inc., a DOL intermediary research and development organization.

Sandra holds a B.A. degree from Virginia StateUniversity and an M.A. degree from Trinity College in Hartford. She is a gubernatorial appointed Trustee of the Reginald R. Lewis Museum of Maryland African-American History and Culture, and is a member of the D.C. LISC Advisory Board, the Capital City Charter School Board, The D.C. African-American Womens' Giving Circle, and she Co-Chairs the Washington Area Women's Foundation Program Committee. Sandra is a strong advocate for children and youth, for equity and excellence in the systems that serve them, and for safe and supportive environments where they live.

Judith Kurland
Judith Kurland, of Boston, Massachusetts, joined NCHH's Board of Directors in June of 2003. Ms. Kurland served as the Region I Director for the Department of Health and Human Services during the Clinton Administration where she was responsible for guidance and coordination of HHS policies. Prior to that she was the senior policy advisor and associate for health care at McDermott/O'Neill & Associates in Boston, where she provided counsel, direction, and strategic advice to public and private clients on healthcare issues.

Prior to joining McDermott/O'Neill, Kurland was the first female commissioner of the Boston Department of Health and Hospitals from 1988 to 1993 where she managed a department of 3,700 employees with an average annual budget of $180 million. While commissioner, Kurland was the principal architect of Healthy Boston, a city-wide initiative that sought to improve the health of the city, its neighborhoods and its people by recognizing the power of communities and residents to rebuild their neighborhoods through a multi-sectorial partnership for change. She was also director of federal-state relations and chief of staff in the Lieutenant Governor's office, Commonwealth of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1983. A graduate of Mount Holyoke College with an A.B. in political science, Kurland is a faculty member of the Harvard School of Public Health, Simmons College and the Medical Schools of Boston and Tufts Universities. Born in New York City, Kurland received Distinguished Service Awards from the Massachusetts Pediatric AIDS Society and the National Society to Prevent Blindness.

Ellen Lazar
Ellen Lazar serves as a partner in Venture Philanthropy Partners (VPP), and will lead a number of VPP investment partnerships with high performing area nonprofits serving youth and families. VPP is a philanthropic investment organization that concentrates investments of money, expertise, and personal contacts to improve the lives and boost the opportunities of children and youth of low-income families in the National Capital Region. Most recently Ms. Lazar served as Senior Vice President for Housing and Community Initiatives at the Fannie Mae Foundation where she was responsible for grantmaking of approximately $35 million. Prior to this position, she served as Executive Director of the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation (dba NeighborWorks America). During the Clinton Administration, she was Director of the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund ($95 million) of the U.S. Treasury department. She also held leadership positions at the National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders and Enterprise Community Partners, where she served as Vice President and General Counsel. Throughout her career, Ms. Lazar has been active in the community. She currently serves on several national boards including CFED, the Nonprofit Finance Fund and Community Wealth Ventures, a subsidiary of Share Our Strength. She also serves on the Board of the OpenDoor Housing Fund and the Montgomery County Affordable Housing Task Force. Ms. Lazar is a graduate of Queens College of the City University of New York, and of the Indiana University School of Law at Bloomington.

JoAnne Liebeler
Since 1987, television personality JoAnne (JoJo) Liebeler has been delivering practical home improvement and design information in a humorous, down-to-earth manner. She has logged years of experience and gained tons of expertise by working with some of the best professionals in the how-to business. Her goal is to help homeowners understand the workings of their homes without all the confounding jargon and high-tech terminology. For many years she performed improvisational and sketch comedy with troupes in Los Angeles and the Twin Cities. She also worked as a writer for a syndicated sketch comedy program called The Newz. Her educational background is in Journalism. She stars in several home improvement shows including, Home Savvy, Hometime, Room for Change, and Passport to Design. JoJo participated in a public service announcement on healthy homes in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Healthy Homes Initiative.

To learn about JoJo's new book, Do It Herself, please visit www.jojosdoitherself.com.

John T. Monahan
John T. Monahan is Executive Director of the O'Neill Institute on National and Global Health Law and Visiting Professor of Law at Georgetown University. He brings professional skills honed in public service, philanthropy, law, and political campaigns to a broad range of initiatives aimed at improving outcomes for low-income populations and disadvantaged communities. Since 1999, Monahan has served as Senior Fellow to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, advising the Baltimore-based grantmaker on strategies for increasing the relevance and impact of their programs for federal, state, and local policymakers. His projects have included recommending and devising grantmaking approaches in tax and budget policy, welfare reform, income security, strategic communications, as well as building partnerships with a range of national organizations; representing Casey in collaborations with other funders (including Living Cities: National Community Development Initiative); and securing public and private resources for community development in a low-income neighborhood in East Baltimore. Monahan also has appointments as a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution's Center for Urban and Metropolitan Policy and as a Senior Fellow with the Center for the Study of Social Policy. From 1993 to 1999, Monahan held senior positions at the federal Department of Health and Human Services. In 1993-1996, he served as Director of Intergovernmental Affairs and represented the department before governors, mayors, and other state and local officials, playing a major role in negotiating innovative health and welfare waivers with states. In 1996-1999, he also served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Children and Families, the second-ranking official in an agency that has an annual budget exceeding $35 billion and that oversees TANF, child support, Head Start, and more than thirty other programs serving low-income families and communities. From 1990 to 1992, Monahan worked as Legal Counsel to Senator David Pryor, including providing staff support to the senator in his service on the Senate Ethics Committee during the Keating Five case. In 1989, he was an Investigator for the Senate Special Committee on Aging. He also clerked for Chief Judge John Grady of federal district court in Chicago and worked for the law firm of Hopkins and Sutter. A veteran of numerous campaigns, Monahan served as field director in the Clinton campaign in 1992 and held senior positions at the Democratic National Committee and in the Presidential Transition in 1992-1993. He began his career as field organizer for Mondale for President in 1983-1984. Monahan serves on national advisory committees for the Catholic Charities USA and Corporate Voices for Working Families.

His volunteer activities include service on the boards of the U.S. Committee on Refugees and Immigrants, Covenant House Washington (Chair 2004-2005) and his parish's school, as well as coaching baseball.

Oramenta Newsome
Oramenta F. Newsome is Executive Director of the Washington, DC office of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC). Ms. Newsome has been working in the field of neighborhood revitalization and community development for over 20 years. Prior to joining LISC, Ms. Newsome worked as a Program Director for the Enterprise Foundation, City Planner and Homeless Services Coordinator for the City of Fort Worth Texas, and Planner for Cobb County, Georgia. She has traveled extensively across the United States, writing funding proposals and providing technical assistance to small and mid-sized towns. She was a Fannie Mae Fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government Program for Senior Executives. The Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation recognized Ms. Newsome as an Emerging Leader. She is a graduate of Leadership Washington, a member of the Class of 1999. Mayor Williams selected Ms. Newsome to receive the Mayor's Quality Partner Award as one of the City's Caring for Children Champions. She also served as member of the District of Columbia's Comprehensive Housing Strategy Task Force. Ms. Newsome serves on the board of directors of the Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington, Washington Grantmakers, Open Door Housing Fund, DCTV, and the Advisory Board for the DC Fiscal Policy Institute. Ms. Newsome lectures to undergraduate and graduate classes as well as conducts training in the field of community development and neighborhood revitalization. She holds a Bachelors of Science in Public Administration from Auburn University and a Masters of Science in Community Development and Planning from Georgia State University.

Saul Ramirez, Jr.
Saul N. Ramirez, Jr. is Executive Director of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials. Mr. Ramirez brings a great deal of housing and community development experience to NAHRO. He came to NAHRO from Greystone and Co., a leading financial services and trading company located in New York City that provides debt and equity financing for the development, rehabilitation, acquisition, and refinancing of multi-family and economic development projects. His primary duty at the Bethesda, MD office was as a mortgage banker. He served as HUD's Deputy Secretary from 1998 to January 2001. He also served as HUD's Assistant Secretary of Community Planning and Development in 1997-1998.

Prior to his tenure at HUD, he was Mayor of the City of Laredo from 1990-1997. He used housing and community development programs as tools to encourage the major growth and development of Laredo. He was a city council member in Laredo from 1982-90. Mr. Ramirez has 20 years' experience as an insurance industry executive in Texas and served as a Board member of the Texas Municipal League Inter-government Risk Pool with over $300 million in assets.

Mike Rizer
Michael P. (Mike) Rizer joined Wachovia Corporation in 1996 and has been its Director of Community Relations since 2005. In that capacity he manages the corporation's community development, philanthropy, environment and employee involvement programs. Under Mike's leadership, Wachovia published its first integrated Corporate Social responsibility Report highlighting the Fortune 500 company's commitment to conducting business responsibly, strengthening neighborhoods, contributing to communities, preserving the environment, providing a great place to work and embracing diversity, engagement and inclusion. Prior to his current position, he led Wachovia's Fair Lending and CRA Programs teams, managing all fair lending products, services and marketing initiatives for low- to moderate-income customers. Rizer was Senior Compliance Manager and Counsel for PNC Bank Corporation from 1991-1996. He started his professional career as an attorney with the Legal Aid Society of Cincinnati. He received his BA cum laude from the University of Dayton and his JD from the University of Cincinnati. He is very active in the community and serves on the boards of the National Center for Healthy Homes, North Carolina's Equal Access to Justice Commission, Mecklenburg Citizens for Public Education and the Foundation for the Carolinas.

Mike resides in Charlotte, NC. with his wife Jo and two teenage daughters, Clare and Rachel.

Anne Romasco
Anne Romasco, has served on NCHH's Board since 1998. She is currently serving as Secretary and is assisting with fund development and marketing activities. Ms. Romasco was formerly the Managing Director of the James C. Penney Foundation, which focused on empowering politically and economically disenfranchised people to take a more active role in decision making processes and issues affecting the community. Ms. Romasco resides in Brooklyn, New York.

Don Ryan
Don Ryan is one of NCHH's founding Board members and has served on the NCHH Board of Directors since 1992. Mr. Ryan plays a key role in NCHH decision making by serving on multiple Board committees including the executive committee and the finance committee. He was Executive Director of NCHH's sister organization, the Alliance for Healthy Homes) for 15 years. Under Ryan's leadership, the Alliance became the foremost national advocacy organization working to protect children from lead poisoning. Mr. Ryan played an instrumental part in Congress' enactment of the landmark federal lead poisoning prevention law in 1992. Mr. Ryan chaired the Congressionally chartered Task Force's Implementation Committee, which developed workable and protective standards for property maintenance and lead safety that gained broad support. Ryan has a Masters Degrees in Urban Planning from George Washington University and a B.S. in Economics. He is a principal on the Council for Excellence in Government.

Peter Simon, M.D., MPH,
Peter Simon, MD, MPH, Assistant Medical Director, RI Department of Health, is currently the Deputy Medical Director, Divisions of Family, Community Health and Equity. Dr. Simon is a graduate of Cornell University and the State University of New York, Upstate Medical School in Syracuse. He received his MPH from Johns Hopkins University in 1976. He is certified by the American Board of Preventive Medicine and the American Board of Pediatrics. After working as a private pediatrician in Pawtucket, RI, he joined the RI Department of Health as a Medical Epidemiologist in 1984 after having served for seven years as a Consultant Medical Epidemiologist for the state's Immunization and Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Programs. He has had multiple roles with the Title V Program at the state, regional and national level as well as serving the American Academy of Pediatrics at the state and national levels. Dr. Simon served as the Chapter Chairman for the local chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and as the "CATCH" (Community Access to Child Health) Coordinator. Dr. Simon has been a national leader in setting standards for the Prevention of Childhood Lead Poisoning and Newborn Screening in the US. He is a national trainer for all health professionals working with children's environmental health and has been the Medical Director of the RI Childhood Lead Poisoning Control Program since 1977. Since giving up his private practice in 1985, Dr. Simon continues to see pediatric patients at the Providence Community Health Centers and volunteers at the Hospital Albert Schweitzer in rural Haiti. He serves on the Board of CityMatCH and the National Center for Healthy Housing and as a consultant to the CDC Advisory Committee to the Center for Environmental Health, Childhood Lead Poisoning Control Program.

Dr. Simon has been a Red Sox fan since the Dodgers left Flatbush. Together with his sons Aaron and Ben, he founded the Post 56 American Legion Baseball Team in Providence. 

Thomas M. Vernon, Jr., M.D.
Thomas M. Vernon, Jr., Chair of the NCHH Board of Directors, has served on NCHH's board since 1993. Dr. Vernon has played a key role in NCHH activities, serving as a long standing member of NCHH's executive committee, and more recently chairing the nominating committee. Dr. Vernon recently retired from his position as Vice President for Policy, Public Health and Medical Affairs for the Merck Vaccine Division, where he was responsible for policy matters as they relate to state, Federal, and international public health agencies, including state health departments, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the World Health Organization. Dr. Vernon's roots are in the South, in North Carolina, Virginia and Florida (West Palm Beach).  He graduated magna cum laude from Duke University and subsequently from Harvard Medical School (in 1964).  Dr. Vernon is board certified in internal medicine.  He spent several years with the Centers for Disease Control as an epidemiologist including two years in Nepal as a part of the global malaria eradication effort. In 1972, Dr. Vernon joined the State Health Department in Colorado as State Epidemiologist.  In 1983, he was appointed Executive Director of the department by Governor Richard Lamm and was re-appointed in 1987 by Governor Roy Romer. After seven and a half years as Executive Director, Dr. Vernon moved east to become Director of Health and Human Services for the Pew Charitable Trusts.  He joined the Merck Vaccine Division in May, 1993.

Charles S. Wilkins, Jr.
Charles S. Wilkins, Past Chair of NCHH's Board of Directors, has served on NCHH's Board since 1996. Mr. Wilkins played a key role in board strengthening and development by serving as Chair of the nominating committee in 2003. Mr. Wilkins is a Principal with the Compass Group. He is a financial advisor to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Mark to Market program, and is a member of the Public Housing Operating Cost Study team. He is the author of Shelter From The Storm: Successful Market Conversions of Regulated Housing, which explores the public policy, affordability, operational and financial consequences of introducing more market forces into affordable housing. As a senior executive with the National Housing Partnership (NHP), Mr. Wilkins was responsible for asset management of NHP's 60,000 units of affordable housing, and for its relationships with Congress and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). He teaches asset management to government housing professionals through the University of Maryland. Mr. Wilkins was a member of the Senate Banking Committee working group on Mark to Market and president of the National Affordable Housing Management Association.