Nicolas P. Retsinas

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Biographical Details

Nicolas P. Retsinas "was appointed Director of Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies in 1998. The Joint Center is a collaborative venture of the Graduate School of Design and the Kennedy School of Government. The Center conducts research to examine and address the most critical housing and community development issues in America. Retsinas is a Lecturer in Housing Studies at the Graduate School of Design and the Kennedy School of Government, and is also a Lecturer in Real Estate at the Harvard Business School.

"Prior to his Harvard appointment, Retsinas served as Assistant Secretary for Housing-Federal Housing Commissioner at the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and as Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision. Retsinas also served on the Board of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Housing Finance Board and the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation. Retsinas received a Meritorious Service Award from the US Treasury Department in 1997. He also received the Excellence in Public Service Award from the Rental Housing Association in 1998 and the Housing Leadership Award from the National Low Income Housing Coalition in 2001. Retsinas is in the National Housing Hall of Fame and was named one of the most influential people in real estate by the National Association of Realtors, in home building by Builder Magazine, and in multifamily housing by Multi-Housing News.

"Retsinas also served the State of Rhode Island as the Executive Director of the Rhode Island Housing and Mortgage Finance Corporation from 1987 to 1993. He received his master’s degree in city planning from Harvard University and his AB in economics from New York University.

"Retsinas currently chairs Habitat for Humanity International and serves on the Board of Trustees for the National Housing Endowment and Enterprise Community Partners, and is on the Board of Directors of ShoreBank, Community Development Trust, Inc., and the National Housing Conference.

"Retsinas has lectured and written extensively on housing, community development and banking issues. He has co-edited Low-Income Homeownership: Examining the Unexamined Goal (2002) and Building Assets, Building Credit: Creating Wealth in Low-Income Communities (2005). He has also co-authored Opportunity and Progress: A Bipartisan Platform for National Housing Policy (2004). He is a Fellow at the National Academy for Public Administration and the Urban Land Institute."

• Chair, Habitat for Humanity
• Advisory Board, Carolina for Kibera