Search Success: Michelle Bleau Has Been Named Director of Housing Development With ONE Neighborhood Builders

ONE Neighborhood Builders (ONE|NB) and Pillar Search and HR Consulting are excited to share that, following an extensive search, Michelle Bleau has been named Director of Housing Development.  In this role, she will lead housing development activities, supervising a team of project managers who advance projects through pre-development, construction, and into leasing. Michelle will represent ONE|NB and its interests externally, collaborating with consultants, project partners, financing entities, and others to successfully build high-quality housing. 

Michelle originally joined ONE|NB in 2022 as Project Manager for Real Estate Development. Michelle’s work in that role focused on deal sourcing, acquisition, design, community and partnership engagement, permitting & approvals, financing, consultant procurement, and construction.

Prior to joining ONE|NB, Michelle worked for a private development firm headquartered in Boston, where she was responsible for managing and overseeing the daily operations and correspondences associated with acquisitions, predevelopment, permitting, design, development, marketing, leasing, and sales of large scale multifamily and condominium projects in the Greater Boston area. Throughout her project work, Michelle collaborated with many nonprofit organizations and community development corporations, helping to source and allocate funding for community benefits, as well as forming partnerships to create affordable and mixed-income housing.

Michelle attended Roger Williams University and earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration. She attended Boston University, Commercial Real Estate Certificate Program, NAIOP of Massachusetts, Continuing Education in Commercial Real Estate Program, and Freedom Trail Realty, MA Salesperson Licensing Program. 

ABOUT ONE NEIGHBORHOOD BUILDERS: ONE Neighborhood Builders (ONE|NB) is a nonprofit community development leader in Rhode Island that is expanding its work to the broader Greater Providence area while maintaining its deep roots in its historic home of Olneyville. ONE|NB’s mission is to develop affordable housing and engage neighbors to cultivate healthy, vibrant, and safe communities. Since its founding in 1988, then as Olneyville Housing Corporation, ONE|NB has developed 466 affordable apartments; 130 for-sale homes for low- to moderate-income homebuyers; and nearly 34,000 square feet of commercial and community space—totaling more than $135 million of investments. ONE|NB is the convening entity of Central Providence Opportunities: A Health Equity Zone, which brings together residents, more than five dozen community-based organizations, health professionals, local businesses, elected officials, and others to address root causes of health disparities and to improve neighborhood conditions. As the convener, ONE|NB is the backbone organization of this collective-impact initiative to increase economic mobility for residents in Central Providence. ONE|NB also created the first free community wireless network in Rhode Island, providing high-speed broadband to nearly 3000 unique users in the Olneyville neighborhood. For more information about ONE|NB, please visit their website.  

ABOUT PILLAR SEARCH & HR CONSULTING: A woman-owned business and Certified Diversity Recruiter based in Boston, Pillar Search & HR Consulting provides executive search/recruiting and human resources consulting expertise to nonprofit and mission-driven organizations, working with senior leaders and the boards of directors to hire and develop the very best talent across all functional areas of the organization. For more information about Pillar, please visit our website

Search Success: Kasey L. Johnson is Building Futures’ New Employer Relations Manager!

Pillar Search & HR Consulting and Building Futures are proud to announce, following an extensive and competitive candidate search, that Kasey L. Johnson has been named the new Employer Relations Manager. This is a well-deserved promotion; Kasey was most recently the Apprenticeship Program Coordinator at Building Futures.

As Employer Relations Manager, Kasey will manage the Employer Relations Associate, and will be responsible for developing relationships with employers to build new high-quality Registered Apprenticeship (RA) programs that meet the current needs of employers in Rhode Island. In addition, Kasey will be responsible for providing strategic guidance, operational support, and on-going technical assistance for developed Registered Apprenticeship programs to ensure quality operations. She will work to integrate Registered Apprenticeship career pathways with related credit-bearing instruction at institutes of higher education in Rhode Island.

Kasey brings an impressive background to the Employer Relations Manager role. Prior to joining Building Futures in 2019, Kasey was a Case Manager with Tri-County Community Action, and prior was Graduate! Rhode Island’s Program Coordinator and Student Services Coordinator with The Education Exchange. Kasey earned her master’s degree in American Studies from Youngstown State University and her undergraduate degree in Sociology from University of Rhode Island. In addition, she has a certificate in Nonprofit Management and Leadership through the Institute for Nonprofit Practice and is Project Management for Development Professionals (PMD Pro) Level 1 Certified.

About Building Futures: The mission of Building Futures, a nonprofit based in Providence, RI, is to meet employer and industry need for skilled workers through the Registered Apprenticeship system while creating family-sustaining career opportunities for low-income, diverse residents. Learn more about Building Futures here.

About Pillar Search & HR Consulting: A woman-owned business based in Boston, Pillar Search & HR Consulting provides executive search/recruiting and human resources consulting expertise to nonprofit and mission-driven organizations, working with senior leaders and boards of directors to hire and develop the very best talent across all functional areas of the organization. For more information, please visit www.pillarsearch.com.