Raised in the Rosewood Public Housing Development in Wichita Falls, Texas, Carl S. Richie Jr. has a four-decade career in public service and policy development. He has been a leader in improving public and affordable housing as well as strengthening housing ties to education, job skills and better healthcare. His firsthand knowledge of public housing fuels his passion and commitment to improving the quality of life for public housing residents.

Mr. Richie currently serves as chairman of the Housing Authority of the City of Austin (HACA) Board of Commissioners and senior vice president of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO). He was appointed to the Board in 1997. Within two years of his appointment, he helped turn HACA from a troubled agency to a high-performing agency. HACA has been named as a high-performing agency for the past 15 years.

Under his leadership, HACA has reduced the dropout rates among students who live in public housing and created a scholarship program. Since its inception in 2002, HACA has awarded more than $1 million in scholarships.

Additionally, HACA has created a business incubator to assist residents who want to start their own business. The agency has also successfully created a nonprofit, Blueprint Housing Solutions, to provide housing-related services to troubled housing agencies.

Mr. Richie has been active with NAHRO at the state, regional and national levels. He has chaired the NAHRO Commissioner’s Committee and during his tenure he helped rewrite the industry’s handbook for public housing board members, The Commissioner’s Handbook on Public Housing. Further, the Commissioner’s Corner was established in the NAHRO Journal of Housing and Community Development under his chairmanship. In addition, Mr. Richie was among the first commissioners to earn a NAHRO Commissioner Certification from NAHRO and he is certified to teach NAHRO training and educational courses to fellow commissioners. He also assisted in the revision of NAHRO’s Code of Conduct. Mr. Richie has represented NAHRO as a delegate to TRI-Country both in 2006 and 2008. He is currently serving his second term as parliamentarian for NAHRO’s Board of Governors.

He is a two-time recipient of the Texas NAHRO Commissioner of the Year Award. Southwest NAHRO Regional Council honored Mr. Richie with its Public Service Award and NAHRO presented him with its Elizabeth B. Wells Memorial Award, which recognizes deserving commissioners for excellence in advocacy for housing and community development programs. Most recently, Mr. Richie was inducted into the NAHRO prestigious Fellows program.

Mr. Richie earned a bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M University, a master’s degree in Public Administration from the Barbara Jordan/Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University, and a Doctorate of Jurisprudence from the University of Houston Law Center. In 1993, he was a Public Policy Fellow at the University of Texas School of Law Center for Public Policy Dispute Resolution.

While earning his master’s degree, he received a fellowship from the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and worked for Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA). This experience allowed him to learn about policies and programs administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Later, Mr. Richie worked for a member of the Houston City Council where he assisted in the development of the Houston Urban Homesteading Program, providing approximately 500 homes to first-time homebuyers residing in low-income neighborhoods.

Mr. Richie worked at three major Texas-based law firms, achieving the status of partner before starting his own firm. He has managed large and small external legislative teams for governmental and quasi-governmental clients, corporations, and trade associations on a wide range of public policy issues.

He has used his legislative advocacy expertise to pass state legislation expanding the term of service for Texas Resident Commissioners, and later assisted in passing legislation to eliminate term limits for resident commissioners. More importantly, he has worked to defeat legislation that would prohibit Texas public housing authorities from engaging in public advocacy, as well as ensuring that housing authorities fairly compete for tax credit dollars.

Considered among Texas’ top power lobbyists, Capitol Inside recently ranked Mr. Richie as the 23rd top lobbyist. In 2009 and 2011, the publication ranked him second and fourth respectively in the “Corporate In-House Lobbyists” category as the lead lobbyist for energy giant TXU Energy. Mr. Richie was also recognized as one of 2007’s Best Lawyers in America by Woodward/White and honored with the Healthcare Heroes Award by the Austin Business Journal.

Charles C. “Chuck” Bailey has been involved in government law for over 30 years. After receiving his law degree in 1974 from the University of Houston, he served as an assistant criminal district attorney in Lubbock where he tried close to 100 jury trials in three years, and was appointed felony chief. In 1978 he moved to Austin to serve as assistant general counsel, then as general counsel at the Texas Department of Public Safety. In 1981 he joined Gov. Bill Clements’ legal office as assistant general counsel where he helped pass portions of the governor’s legislative package.

After a tour as special assistant for Elections for the Texas Secretary of State, he was hired by the State Comptroller’s Office where he served in a number of capacities including chief administrative law judge and deputy comptroller for Legal Affairs and Tax Policy.

In 1993 Lt. Governor Bob Bullock asked Mr. Bailey to leave private practice to become general counsel and chief of staff. While working for the Lt. Governor, Mr. Bailey worked closely with the senators and the state leadership on a great number of issues.

Since late 1995, Mr. Bailey has maintained his own law office. He has served on a number of boards, both corporate and nonprofit and serves as a HACA commissioner. His first book, Texas Political Memorabilia was published by U.T. Press in 2007. He currently serves as the vice chair for the HACA Board of Commissioners and the Southwest Housing Compliance Corporation.

Tyra L. Duncan-Hall, Ph.D., retired in 2007 from her position as provost at Austin Community College (ACC). In this capacity, she directly supervised all ACC Campus managers, the ACC Police Department, and the ACC campus learning labs and testing centers. She also administered several ACC community outreach programs including the ACC Student Recruitment Program, the Office of Community Outreach, the ACC Summer Youth/Parent Academy Program, and the ACC Mentor Program. She was involved in the planning, design, construction and opening of several ACC campus projects: the Riverside Campus Frank Squires Building (1996), the Eastview Campus (1999), the Eastview Campus Health Sciences Building (2003), the South Austin Campus (Fall 2006), and the Cypress Creek Campus expansion (2007). Her previous administrative positions with ACC include serving as vice president of the ACC Riverside Campus, and provost of the ACC Riverside, Rio Grande and Eastview campuses.

Duncan-Hall received her bachelor’s master’s degrees in English from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. She received her Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in Higher Education Policy and Management Research.

Prior to joining ACC in 1994, Dr. Duncan-Hall held positions as an English instructor at Delta Community College in Michigan, the University of Hawaii, and City College of San Francisco. At City College of San Francisco, she held various teaching and administrative positions including English professor, department chair, founder and director of the CCSF Learning Assistance Center, executive assistant to the chancellor, acting vice president of Administrative Services, and dean of Instruction.

While in California, Dr. Duncan-Hall served on numerous state-level educational policy committees. She was elected president of the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges, a position in which she represented the faculty of the 107 California Community Colleges before the California State Legislature and California higher education boards. She also served as a member of the Western Association Accrediting Commission of Schools and Colleges, the body that accredits colleges and universities in California, Hawaii and the Pacific Basin.

Since her retirement from ACC, Dr. Duncan-Hall has remained active in Austin educational, community, and civic activities. She currently serves as second vice chairperson of the HACA Board of Commissioners, the Southwest Housing Compliance Corporation, and Blueprint Housing Solutions. She also chairs the Austin Affordable Housing Corporation. She served on the African American Quality of Life Resource Commission, and served as president of the Rotary Club of East Austin. She currently chairs the Rotary Club’s scholarship and community services committees. She is a former member of the Urban League, the Capital City African-American Chamber of Commerce, and Texas Association of Black Personnel in Higher Education. She has also chaired several community/civic collaboratives in east and southeast Austin, including the Montopolis Business and Community Leaders Group, the Booker T. Washington Collaborative, and co-chaired with Earl Maxwell, Champion Austin (2004-2006), a civic/community group focused on enhancing East Austin vitality and economic development. Dr. Duncan-Hall has received numerous recognitions for her educational and community contributions, including Skillpoint Alliance’s Educator Lifetime Achievement Award.

Edwina Carrington chairs SHCC, is vice chair for Blueprint Housing Solutions, and is second vice chair for AAHC. Ms. Carrington has more than 28 years of progressively responsible experience in leadership and executive level positions in the public and private sectors, including housing finance agencies, state and local governments, asset management companies, foundations, equity providers, and most recently as the office managing partner of the Austin office of Reznick Group (now CohnReznick), a national accounting and tax advisory firm. Ms. Carrington opened the Austin office in April 2006 as the office managing partner and was responsible for growing the office to profitability in four years of full operations. Ms. Carrington is currently the president of CHK Enterprises, LLC.

Prior to joining Reznick Group, Ms. Carrington served as executive director of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) where she oversaw the operations of a state agency administering more than $700 million in federal and state funds with a tax exempt bond portfolio of $1.5 billion. She is credited with turning around the operations of TDHCA and securing an eight-year extension from the Texas Legislature for the agency by creating an atmosphere of accountability, fairness and transparency. She held the position as the chief executive officer of the Texas Housing Finance Corporation, an affordable housing syndicator, and as the director of the Austin Housing Finance Corporation for the City of Austin.

Ms. Carrington’s board experience includes the Bank One and JPMorgan Chase Community Advisory Boards, the Fannie Mae Housing Impact Advisory Board, and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas Community Advisory Board. She is the immediate past chair of the Austin Community College Foundation Board of Directors, chair of the Texas State Affordable Housing Foundations Fund, past president of the Texas Affiliation of Affordable Housing Providers, and a member of the Housing and Community Development Council for the Austin Chapter of the Urban Land Institute. She previously served on the boards of the National Council of State Housing Agencies, the National Association of State and Local Equity Funds, serving as president, the National Association of Local Housing Finance Agencies, the City of Austin Arts Commission, and as a founding member of the Texas Affiliation of Affordable Housing Providers. She received a Texas Housing Award and was named the 2017 Commissioner of the Year by the Texas Chapter of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials for her commitment to improving affordable housing in Texas.

Mary Apostolou grew up on Rainey Street in Austin, and worked in childcare for most of her adult life.

In 2013, Ms. Apostolou moved into Chalmers Courts. Always looking to improve lives, Ms. Apostolou began attending Resident Council meetings. Within four months, she was elected president.

As Chalmers Courts Resident Council President, Ms. Apostolou has devoted herself to helping residents learn about the resources and opportunities available to them, like Jobs Plus ATX, through which Chalmers Courts and Booker T. Washington Terraces residents can take courses and apply for jobs.

Ms. Apostolou also ensures that everyone knows about upcoming events, such as the always popular bingo night.

As a Spanish speaker herself, Ms. Apostolou makes sure that Spanish-speaking residents do not let language barriers keep them from becoming involved. Residents who cannot attend meetings – often because of work or school – know they can count on Ms. Apostolou to keep them informed.