We’re excited to introduce Clark Ziegler, Executive Director at Massachusetts Housing Partnership and the recipient of our 2024 Nolan Leadership Award!
This year, Lawyers Clearinghouse chose to honor Clark in recognition of his nearly four decades championing the creation of affordable housing across the Commonwealth.
Since 1995, Clark has served as Executive Director of Massachusetts Housing Partnership (MHP), a quasi-public state agency that finances affordable rental housing, provides mortgage financing for first-time home buyers, provides technical assistance for housing and neighborhood development, and is a major contributor to state housing policy.
During Clark’s tenure MHP has delivered financing or technical assistance in nearly every city and town in the Commonwealth, including financing for more than 31,000 units of affordable rental housing and more than 25,000 affordable homes for low-income first-time buyers. In total MHP has delivered $6.4 billion in below-market financing either directly or through participating banks.
Between 1976 and 1981, Clark was in Washington, DC as an LBJ Intern, legislative assistant and then administrative assistant (chief of staff) to Massachusetts Congressman Robert Drinan, where he specialized in energy, environmental, budget and tax policy and staffed the House Subcommittee on Environment, Energy and Natural Resources. From 1983 to 1985 he was Deputy Director of Development and Public Affairs at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
Clark serves as a governor’s appointee on the board of the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation, which provides financing and technical assistance to community-based nonprofits across Massachusetts. He chairs the board of the Housing Partnership Fund, a federally certified community development financial institution and a lending affiliate of the Housing Partnership Network, an organization that brings together the nation’s leading housing and community development nonprofits. For 11 years, he was a director and officer of the National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders before stepping down in 2020. He recently completed four years as a founding board member of Housing Navigator Massachusetts, a nonprofit tech startup that developed a searchable web portal for all subsidized housing units in the Commonwealth and is champion of a universal online application for affordable housing.
As an Ipswich resident, Clark served as chairman and as a 15-year member of the town’s Finance Committee, overseeing local spending on municipal government and public education and making recommendations on zoning and all other matters before town meeting. In 2006 he received the Community Service Award from Citizens Housing and Planning Association and in 2011 the Boston Globe named him one of the top 10 innovators in Massachusetts.
We look forward to celebrating Clark and his impact at our upcoming 36th Annual Meeting, where we’ll also recognize the contributions of 2024 Pro Bono Excellence Award honoree Dick Bauer and 2024 McNeil Community Impact Award honoree Hugo Carvajal.
