Dara Kovel has been appointed CEO of Beacon Communities, one of the nation’s largest affordable housing firms.
She succeeds Pam Goodman, who is retiring after more than 20 years of helping to grow the Boston-based company into a diversified multifamily housing owner and developer. Goodman will continue to consult with Beacon on a part-time basis.
“Obviously, we have worked exceptionally hard to create a great company, and I am confident that Dara will continue to focus and expand on what has made us successful,” she said in a statement.
Kovel joined Beacon in 2015 as president of Beacon Communities Development. As head of Beacon’s development company, she has been overseeing the management of major projects, including the recent phases of redeveloping the Old Colony public housing community with the Boston Housing Authority; the rehabilitation of Quincy Tower in Boston; North Square, a new construction project on an old mill site in Amherst, Mass.; and Montgomery Mill, a historic rehabilitation in Windsor Locks, Conn.
“Beacon has created an exceptional track record for improving the lives of residents through creation of quality housing and exceptional property management. I am thrilled to be leading the company into its next era,” Kovel said.
Kovel, a native of New Haven, Conn., started her career in California with nonprofit Mercy Housing, another leading affordable housing organization. “At Mercy I developed my belief that housing is a human right, like food, health care, and education,” Kovel said. “This is where the policy and resource conversation should start.”
She joined Beacon from the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority, where she ran the multifamily and single-family lending and tax credit allocation divisions. She had returned to the East Coast to earn an MBA degree at Yale University, where she also earned her undergraduate degree in English. She also had worked for Jonathan Rose Cos., a New York real estate development and investment company.
Kovel lives in Brookline, Mass., with her husband, 14-year-old daughter, and 12-year-old son.
Beacon Communities owns over 140 communities with more than 18,000 units of housing, from suburban new construction to urban historic rehabilitation.
