Thomas R. Gleason announced that he would retire as executive director of MassHousing, effective Dec. 31. The agency’s board voted to name Timothy C. Sullivan, MassHousing’s deputy director for finance and rental programs, as Gleason’s successor.
MassHousing is the leading provider of affordable housing financing in Massachusetts and one of the largest housing finance agencies in the country. It provides resources for moderate-income homebuyers to buy or refinance their homes and to developers of mixed-income rental housing who seek to build new or preserve existing affordable housing. To date, the agency has provided more than $19 billion in financial resources for housing since it was created by the Legislature in 1966.
Gleason has served as executive director since 2001, having served previously in several roles at MassHousing as well as the commonwealth’s Executive Office of Communities and Development.
“It has been an honor to have served as the leader of this great organization since 2001 and to have worked here for nearly 30 years,” said Gleason. “We have accomplished some great things during that period and have touched the lives of literally tens of thousands of families in Massachusetts as a result of our financing and programs. I can think of no one better than Tim Sullivan to take the reins of leadership.”
Gleason is also president of the National Council of State Housing Agencies, a Washington, D.C.–based trade organization that represents the housing finance agencies in all of the states and territories. He was elected to a two-year term as the group’s president in 2014 and plans to serve the remainder of his term, which is up in September.
Sullivan has served as deputy director for finance and rental programs since 2013 and assumed that role after more than 10 years as the agency’s director of rental lending and CFO. He has held a number of senior budget and finance positions in Massachusetts government, including state budget director and director of finance for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
“I have committed the better part of the past 15 years to MassHousing and am honored to be selected by our Board to lead us into the future,” said Sullivan. “People are still challenged to find adequate housing that they can afford at a reasonable price, and I am focused on delivering on this administration’s housing priorities.”
