Housing Authority close to naming new CEO

ALBANY — Following the sudden death of the previous CEO for the Albany Housing Authority, the agency is in the final stages of naming a new one.

Eric Mosley, the interim CEO at the authority, said Wednesday a new round of face-to-face interviews will be conducted today with two candidates. An offer will be made to the individual deemed to be the better-suited candidate, and that candidate will be able to give a 30- to 45-day notice to their current employer.

One of the candidates is Chad Cooper, director of operations for the LaGrange Housing Authority. Mosley said the other candidate was contacted Wednesday for permission to release his or her name, but that information was not available by The Herald’s press time.

The pool began with 13 candidates, from which telephone interviews subsequently narrowed the field to seven, three and then two. Mosley said the expectation is that the new CEO will begin by the middle of July.

“This has been a long, drawn-out process,” the interim CEO said. “(We want to find) the right candidate for the city and for the citizens of Albany. I feel good about these candidates because they are eager to come here.

“I feel good going into these interviews.”

The prior CEO, Roman Velasquez, died suddenly in November of last year after suffering complications from surgery he’d had roughly a week earlier. Velasquez had assumed the position seven months earlier following the retirement of Dan McCarthy, who had been with the organization for 33 years.

The AHA staff has pitched in to lead the organization until a new CEO could be named, Mosley said. A search committee was formed after the the first of the year to find a successor for Velasquez.

Jennifer Parks