Leadership

Board of Commissioners

The eleven-member Board of Commissioners plays a critical role in guiding the mission of the Providence Housing Authority (PHA). The Board is responsible for shaping agency policy, approving strategic plans, and overseeing the annual budget to ensure the continued advancement of PHA’s mission, vision, and impact for all residents.

Responsibilities

As the governing body of the PHA, the Board:

Establishes and approves agency policies and plans
Reviews and adopts the annual operating and capital budgets
Provides oversight to ensure accountability and transparency
Works to enhance and expand opportunities for PHA residents

Board Composition

The Board is composed of eleven members, selected through a combination of mayoral appointments and City Council elections:

Three (3) Resident Commissioners
Appointed by the Mayor from a list of nominees elected by PHA residents.
Six (6) Mayoral Appointees
Appointed directly by the Mayor of Providence.
Two (2) City Council Members
Elected by the Providence City Council from among its members.

Terms of Service

Resident Commissioners and Mayoral Appointees serve five-year staggered terms.
City Council appointees serve four-year terms.

Board of Commissioners

Below are the members of the PHA Board of Commissioners:

Chairperson – Thomas J. Ryan, Esq.
Appointed by the Mayor
Vice Chair – Nicole R. Clement, Esq.
Appointed by the Mayor
Commissioner – Lauren E. Hill Esq.
Appointed by the Mayor
Commissioner – Siri Colom
Appointed by the Mayor
Resident Commissioner – Lawrence D’Alfonso
Appointed by the Mayor
Commissioner – Jordan Day
Appointed by the Mayor
Resident Commissioner – Lonzie Doggett
Appointed by the Mayor
Commissioner – Toni D. Akin
Appointed by the Mayor
Resident Commissioner – Vivian Medina
Appointed by the Mayor
Commissioner – Mary Kay Harris
Appointed by City Council
Commissioner – Justin Royas
Appointed by City Council

Meeting Information

The Board of Commissioners holds regular public meetings to conduct official business.

Executive Team

Melissa Sanzaro

Executive Director

Melissa Sanzaro made history when she became the first woman appointed to serve as Executive Director of the Providence Housing Authority in 2018. She leads a dynamic organization with an (80M)-million budget and a staff of over 225 employees. Prior to her appointment as Executive Director, Melissa joined the PHA in 2009 as a Resident Liaison in the Office of Special Projects. She was promoted to Director of the Office and was subsequently promoted to Deputy Director in 2015. Before joining the PHA, Melissa spent over a decade as a real estate agent specializing in residential housing sales. She holds a degree in Human Development & Early Childhood Development from the University of Rhode Island.

As a single parent who raised her daughter while working and putting herself through college, Melissa has a keen appreciation of the struggles that PHA residents and program participants encounter when pursuing their dreams for a better life for themselves and their families. This appreciation influences her commitment to pairing housing programs with supportive services as well as her careful consideration of major policy decisions that impact the residents the PHA serves.

Melissa is dedicated to impactful cross-sector collaboration that advances access to affordable housing, economic opportunity, wellness, equitable access to resources, and services that promote family stability, workforce development, and healthy aging in place. During the pandemic, working alongside the RI Department of Health, the RI National Guard, RI DMAT/Medical Reserves Corps, CVS, and Walgreens, Melissa and her team designed and implemented innovative on-site COVID testing and vaccination clinics that served thousands of some of the city's most vulnerable residents. This service model was subsequently replicated across Rhode Island.

In collaboration with state and local partners, Melissa spearheaded smoke-free public housing, established more lenient admission 12olicies and led the PHA to be the first Rhode Island housing authority to participate in RI Housing's state-wide, centralized voucher wait list system. She and her team championed two multimillion-dollar, HUD-funded Jobs Plus initiatives that brought workforce development and economic opportunity to hundreds of PHA residents; established the PHA 's Wellness Resource Center; and launched a Victims of Crime Program that has served over 1,000 residents since its inception in 2019.

In the PHA's most recent high-impact collaboration-between the Boston Celtics Shamrock Foundation and the Amica Charitable Foundation- Melissa synchronized agency efforts to increase access to high-quality early childhood education through the creation and funding of an early childhood education center at the PHA's Manton Heights development, scheduled to open in June 2026.

In the face of an affordable housing crisis in Rhode Island, Melissa's leadership supported the creation of hundreds of long-term, deeply subsidized housing units in the private sector by project-basing PHA-administered housing vouchers in new developments across Providence. Furthermore, she and her leadership team are laser focused on advancing strategic and collaborative initiatives to create a dynamic housing plan to reserve the PHA's existing housing portfolio while developing new affordable housing opportunities in Providence.

Melissa serves on a wide range of boards, commissions, and task forces, including the Rhode Island Public Health Institute, the United Way of Rhode Island's Community Advisor)'. Board, Washington Trust's Community Advisor)'. Board and the Public Housing Association of Rhode Island, where she serves as co-vice president.

Jacqueline Martinez

Deputy Director

PHA Deputy Executive Director Jacqueline Martinez brings 21 years of experience in public housing to her service to the PHA. Thirteen of her years of experience have been at the PHA where beginning in 2005 she began as a switchboard operator and accepted increasing roles of responsibility as she simultaneously pursued higher education. Prior to being named as PHA Deputy Director in 2022, she previously served as PHA’s Associate Director of Property Management and Tenant Selection and Director of Admissions at the Worcester Housing Authority in Massachusetts. Ms. Martinez is a graduate of Johnson and Wales University and while raising two children earned a bachelor’s degree in business management and a master’s degree in business management with a concentration in global leadership studies. She has participated in extensive training and holds certifications from affordable housing industry expert Nan McKay that include Public Housing Management, Public Housing Executive Management, Housing Choice Voucher Specialist, Blended Occupancy Management Specialist, RAD PBV Specialist, Fair Housing and Reasonable Accommodation Certification.

Ms. Martinez is a member of the board of directors of RI Continuum of Care where she shares her expertise and commitment to developing collaborative approaches to combatting homelessness and its root causes. She has developed a wide range of effective and strategic partnerships dedicated to improving the quality of life for low-income residents of Providence. She has spearheaded key PHA initiatives such as developing and deploying a public housing Covid-19 testing, vaccination and tracking protocol in collaboration with the RI Department of Health and streamlined the process for application to RI Rental Relief programs for affordable housing agencies in collaboration with RI Housing. As Deputy Director she has successfully onboarded HUD’s Emergency Housing and Mainstream Voucher programs in collaboration with Coordinated Entry System partners and streamlined new admission processes for specialized housing voucher programs, including the Project-based Voucher program and the Veteran’s Administration Supportive Housing (VASH) program to maximize utilization. She has been the driving force behind reviewing and aligning policies and procedures for the PHA’s public housing and Section 8 programs.

Ms. Martinez specializes in developing pragmatic solutions to complicated challenges. She is passionate about developing and implementing systems and procedures that foster innovation, accountability, compliance, operational excellence, and equitable housing access. She streamlined the PHA’s process for responding to requests for reasonable accommodations and established an interdepartmental Reasonable Accommodation Request Review Committee. In addition to her role as Deputy Director, Ms. Martinez also serves as the PHA’s Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) Coordinator working to raise awareness of rights under the VAWA and protect victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking and human trafficking.

Senior Staff

Facilities Management: Director Allan Pacific, Associate Director Mark Theroux
Finance: Director Erica McNamara
Human Resources: Director Kimberly Dawley
Information Technology: Director Nancy Mattes
Leased Housing: Associate Director Marina Rollins
Legal: Legal Counsel
Property Management: Interim Director of Property Management Liz Perreault
Resident Services: Director Nicole Morillo
Security Operations: Co-Director Danny Murphy, Co-Director Tina Perrault
Strategy And Development: Director Michelle Booth