NMHC Names New Chief
Longtime multifamily executive Sharon Wilson Géno will succeed Doug Bibby in January 2023.
Sharon Wilson Géno will take the helm of the National Multifamily Housing Council in January 2023. Image courtesy of NMHC
Sharon Wilson Géno, a longtime multifamily executive, will succeed Doug Bibby as president of the National Multifamily Housing Council, the organization announced on Wednesday. The appointment will take effect at NMHC’s annual meeting in January 2023.
Wilson Géno will join NMHC from Volunteers of America, where she has served as CEO & executive vice president for national services since September 2017. In that capacity she oversees a diverse nationwide portfolio that includes more than 30 senior living and care communities, along with affordable senior, multifamily and special-needs housing, according to Volunteers of America’s website.
Bibby originally planned to step down in January 2021 but postponed his departure twice to stay on the helm during Covid and the subsequent economic crisis.
Top Priorities
After delaying his departure amid the Covid and economic crises, Doug Bibby is concluding two decades of service. Image courtesy of NMHC
In a statement, Wilson Géno indicated that the creation of new market-rate and affordable housing will top her list of priorities. So, too, will addressing the principal barriers to developing that inventory: legislative hurdles, regulatory barriers and NIMBY-ism.
NMHC Chair & Trammell Crow CEO Ken Valach cited Wilson Géno’s experience in leading a $300 million, 3,100-employee organization, as well as her policy advocacy, deep industry knowledge and understanding of affordable and market-rate development.
Bibby, who has served as the organization’s president for more than two decades, has guided NMHC through a series of generational challenges, including the Great Recession and, most recently, the Covid pandemic.
During Bibby’s tenure, NMHC has highlighted issues ranging from rent control and diversity to best practices and strategies for meeting the nation’s rental housing shortfall. In a much-discussed recent study, NMHC projects that the U.S. will need to create 4.3 million new apartments by 2035. In 2020, Bibby received MHN’s first Lifetime Achievement Award for service to the multifamily industry.
