As a member of Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s Cabinet, Chief Dillon acts as advisor to Mayor Walsh on housing issues in the City, including the execution of the Walsh Administration’s housing plan Housing a Changing City: Boston 2030, and its Action Plan to End Veteran and Chronic Homelessness in Boston 2015-2018. She oversees the management of the Boston Home Center, the Neighborhood Housing Development team, the Real Estate Management and Sales team, and spearheads the City’s efforts around housing Boston’s homeless. In addition, she leads the Office of Housing Stability, which Mayor Walsh created in 2016 and charged with protecting residents’ tenancies in Boston’s competitive real estate market. This work includes managing a staff of 150 and a budget of $83 million, which includes federal grants from the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Prior to her appointment as Chief of Housing, Sheila served as the Director of the Bureau of Rental Assistance at the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development. She has also served as Deputy Director of DND’s Neighborhood Housing Division and as Deputy Director of Housing for the Boston Redevelopment Authority.

Prior to her work in government, Sheila was the Director of Real Estate at the Massachusetts Housing Partnership and the Director of Development for the Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation.

Ms. Dillon received her undergraduate degree from the State University of New York, an M.B.A. from Suffolk University, and a M.A. in Psychology from Pepperdine University. She currently lives in Boston with her husband and two children.

As President and CEO, Toby Bozzuto provides strategic and day-to-day leadership for more than 3,400 employees across the country and guides future growth of Bozzuto’s homebuilding, multifamily development, construction and management divisions. Bozzuto manages 105,000 apartments and 3.5 million square feet of retail space across the U.S. The company has been nationally recognized as a Great Place to Work and named a Top Workplace by The Washington Post for nine consecutive years and a Top Company for Executive Women by Seramount for four consecutive years.

In July 2024, Toby was named Chair of Colgate University’s Board of Trustees, becoming the youngest person to serve in that position. An active contributor to his community, Toby serves as an executive committee member of the Policy Advisory Board for the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University and a member of the Board of Visitors for the Shock Trauma Center at The University of Maryland Medical Center and M&T Bank’s Directors Advisory Council. He previously served as a member of the Board of Trustees for The Gilman School and Kennedy Krieger Institute, on the National Advisory Board for ULI’s Terwilliger Center for Housing, as a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization and as a gubernatorial appointee to the Maryland Health and Higher Education Facilities Authority. A regular guest lecturer at Harvard Business School, Harvard Business School Executive Education program, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate, Georgetown University, Cornell University, the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University, Toby strives to share his insight and passion for creating community.

Toby has been featured in leading media outlets such as CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, Bloomberg, The Washington Post, the Washington Business Journal, Huffington Post and the MIT Sloan Management Review.

Maintaining a culture of kindness in the workplace is essential to Toby's vision for the company. He proudly joined the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion pledge as well as Catalyst CEO Champions for Change, committing himself to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion throughout all levels of the workplace. In recognition of these efforts, he received the Champion of Immigration Award from the Washington English Center. Most recently, Toby was named to Washington Business Journal's Power 100 list and The Daily Record’s Power 100 List for the third year in a row. In 2022, he received the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Washington’s Martin K. Alloy Excellence Award. He was recognized as one of Washington D.C.'s 25 Most Powerful Real Estate Players in 2020 by the Commercial Observer, named a 2019 Commercial Real Estate Influencer by The Business Journals and was ranked in the Baltimore Business Journal’s Power 10. His many recognitions also include Developer of the Year by the District of Columbia Building Industry and Maryland Building Industry Association, Commercial Property Executive Rising Leader and the William Donald Schaefer Industrialist of the Year Award from the Baltimore Museum of Industry, which he accepted alongside his father, Tom Bozzuto, in 2016.

Toby is happily married and the proud father of three beautiful children. He is an avid musician, a rare book collector and enjoys cooking for his family.

Bart Mitchell is the president and chief executive officer of The Community Builders (TCB), the country's largest nonprofit developer of mixed-income housing, with regional hub offices in Boston, New York City, Washington D.C, Columbus and Chicago. Mitchell leads the company's development; property management; and community life operations with a reach of 13,000 apartments in 15 states. He was appointed to his current leadership position in 2012 and previously served as TCB’s chief operating officer.

Mitchell has a distinguished career in community development that began as a housing and economic development advisor to the mayor of the city of Boston in the 1980s. He first joined TCB in 1989 as the director of finance and served as project manager for complex urban developments at TCB for six years. In 1996, he left TCB to serve as chief operating officer of Beacon / Corcoran Jenison Partners, developing HOPE VI communities. He later founded Mitchell Properties LLC, a developer and owner of high-quality residential and mixed-use real estate ventures. Mitchell returned to TCB in July 2010 as the company's chief operating officer.

With a master’s degree in public policy from the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government with a concentration in finance and urban development policy, Mitchell also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Williams College with highest honors in political economy. He serves on the board of directors of New Lease for Homeless Families, Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future, the Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition, the Affordable Housing Developers Council, and serves as co-chair for 2020 of the Housing Partnership Network’s CEO Forum. He has previously served on the boards of trustees for Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., The Park School in Brookline, Mass., The Winsor School in Boston and the Boston Air Pollution Control Commission.

Jeff Sacks is a leading community development attorney. His clients include large community development corporations, senior housing providers and housing authorities as well as a variety of large institutional service providers. He often represents nonprofit organizations that are embarking on major real estate projects that allow their organizations to deliver their services in new and innovative ways.

Bruce A. Percelay is chairman and founder of The Mount Vernon Company, a real estate investment firm considered among the leading apartment landlords in Massachusetts. The company has grown over the past 30 years to include approximately 1,600 apartments, 5 hotels, as well as select commercial and vacation properties.

The company received the Community Excellence Award from the Rental Housing Association of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board, the Paragon Award for Industry excellence by the National Apartment Association, Best Landlord in Boston by Boston Magazine and Best Places to Work in Boston by the Boston Business Journal.

Percelay created the Allston Green District, an eleven building assemblage which was the largest new construction project in Allston in over half a century. The three centerpiece buildings in the Green District set a new standard for environmentally sensitive living and have won over nine awards for their forward- thinking sustainable design.

Percelay began his career in advertising and helped manage the marketing efforts for Parker Brother's Games, Keds Sneakers, and Converse Athletic Shoes. He is also credited with the development of the idea for Sunkist Orange Soda, the most successful new soft drink launch in the history of the industry.

Combining his marketing savvy with his real estate experience, Percelay next authored the top selling business book, Packaging Your Home for Profit, published by Little Brown and Company. The success of the book prompted appearances on CNN, Good Morning America and over 50 newspapers and magazines around the country. Percelay pioneered the concept of marketing and staging homes for sale and has used the theories in his book to build The Mount Vernon Company to where it is today.

Percelay has recently created a boutique hotel division of The Mount Vernon Company including 21 Broad, rated by Conde Nast as the top new boutique hotel in the world. The hotels are strategically located in resort communities including: Nantucket, Newport, Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Camden, Maine as well as a 200- room hotel in Boston.

Extremely active in support of the communities in which he lives, Percelay was the driving force behind the construction of Nantucket's new whaling museum, the most significant new building on the island in the last 100 years and is chairman of the $120 million capital campaign for the new Nantucket hospital. He is also a Presidents Council Board Member of Massachusetts General Hospital. Percelay was the chairman of the Massachusetts chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, helping it to become the most successful in the country, and chairman of Habitat for Humanity in Boston where he launched the largest urban project ever built in America during his tenure.

Percelay is the publisher of N Magazine, a publication he co-founded 15 years ago. The magazine is the leading publication of its kind on the island, has won national awards for its quality and boasts the highest income demographic of any seasonal magazine in America

In recognition of his significant service to his community, Percelay was the recipient of the Ten Outstanding Leaders award from the Boston Chamber of Commerce, as one of Boston’s top leaders in The Boston Globe’s Leaders of Boston book and received the Outstanding Achievement Award from YouthBuild Boston. Percelay received a special commendation by former Senator John Kerry for his contributions to Boston which appear in the permanent archives of the United States Congressional Record and was recently honored by the Children’s Advocacy Center for his support of children’s issues.

Percelay currently serves on the board of the Rappaport Institute at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and is honorary chairman of the Nantucket Cottage Hospital capital campaign.

Bruce shares his time between Nantucket and Boston with his wife Elisabeth and two sons William and Charlie. He is an avid boater, tennis player, and is a collector of vintage automobiles.

Gemma Sanders Geldmacher is a Senior Director and loan originator specializing in multifamily debt financing, with a specialty focus on affordable and HUD/FHA transactions. Prior to her originations career, Gemma was a Fannie Mae and FHA underwriter for over 10 years, most recently as part of Berkadia’s FHA underwriting management team and loan committee.

Her well-rounded commercial real estate experience also includes stints at a bridge/mezzanine lender, a property management firm, and real estate consulting. She resides in Hingham, Massachusetts with her husband, adorable daughter, and once she has a house plant that lives more than a year, she might break down and get a dog as well.

Beverly Gallo joined Peregrine in 2012 as the lead principal in the Peregrine Urban Initiative, a new business line focused on the pursuit of development opportunities in emerging, transitional and underdeveloped urban neighborhoods. Prior to joining Peregrine, Beverly was the Principal of Byer Gallo Associates LLC (BGA), an independent consulting firm created in 1997 to assist private, not-for- profit and public sector clients in the planning, development and preservation of distinctive affordable housing and economic development initiatives. Beverly brings over 25 years of experience in the design, construction and (often creative) finance of mixed-use/mixed- income real estate development. Her unique combination of business and community-based development skills have served to complete challenging (re)development projects in urban communities large and small. Prior to launching BGA, Beverly worked as the Director of Development for the South Boston Neighborhood Development Corporation and as Senior Project Manager for Robinson Mills + Williams Architects in the San Francisco Bay Area. She also served as a Project Manager for The Flatley Company in Braintree, MA. She holds a Master Degree in Urban Studies and Planning and a Master of Science in Real Estate Development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.