Kate Casa
Kate Casa has over 30 years of experience in the affordable housing industry as a project manager, an asset manager, and as a consultant on complex real estate transactions. She has worked for the City of Boston, facilitated resident-led purchases, and worked extensively with community development and other nonprofits corporations throughout the Greater Boston area. She understands the staffing, leadership, and the challenges of CDCs. Her passion for safe, quality and affordable housing is at the heart of her work.
Kate has been part of the Ann L Silverman Consulting team for more than five years. She works with urban, suburban, and rural groups across Massachusetts. She brings a sense of humor and warmth to her work. She invests in understanding what each client wants to achieve, and then helps them find the right person to get that work done. She understands team building, is willing to ask the hard questions, and strives to bring about the best outcome for each client and applicant.
Prior to her affordable housing work, Kate was a daycare teacher, a nursing home activities director, and a case manager for the elderly. Kate holds a Bachelors Degree in Community Planning from the College of Public and Community Service at UMass Boston and a Certificate of Nonprofit Management and Leadership from the Institute for Nonprofit Management and Leadership at Boston University.
Paula Anzer
Paula Anzer has spent the last 30 years developing a broad skill set and network from her diverse work in non-profit community development and higher education. As a founding Executive Director of a community-based nonprofit, she developed the leadership capabilities of low-income, multi-racial, multilingual staff and board made up of parents and providers advocating for accessible, affordable, high-quality child care in Boston’s low-income neighborhoods. She went on to hold leadership roles in other organizations developing affordable housing and empowering residents. Paula and Ann worked together at the Association for Resident Control of Housing (formerly Cooperative Housing Task Force) in the early 1990s.
Paula returned to MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP) where she had previously earned her Master in City Planning degree. Over 14 years at DUSP, she built a strong career and professional development program for graduate students, utilizing her extensive connection to MIT alumni and her deep roots in the Boston area. During this time, she was awarded the first annual MIT Excellence Award for “Building Bridges.” Networking and connecting people became her strong passion and it has driven her professional and personal life ever since. Another driving passion is leadership, enhanced through delivering a popular and effective set of credit and non-credit classes through the MIT Sloan School of Management Leadership Center.
Paula joined Ann L Silverman Consulting in 2019, to identify new leaders and people with strong skills for a number of positions, through her connections with the MIT alumni network and beyond. She brings her roots in affordable housing and community development, deep experience in higher education and connecting students, alumni and employers, as well as broad knowledge from engagement in emerging and diverse fields. Paula earned her BA at Brown University and her Masters in City Planning at MIT.
Janet Grogan
Janet Grogan has over 30 years of experience in human resources, training, mediation, organizational transitions and search. Janet was the first Director of Human Resources at The Community Builders, a national affordable housing developer based in Boston. She spent ten years in humans resources and training at the Massachusetts Port Authority. Recently Janet managed human resources for the Community Action Agency of Somerville, and then hired and trained her replacement. She has led searches as a consultant to nonprofit community development organizations and public agencies. Janet and Ann have collaborated on searches and on research and facilitation for the Mel King Institute. Janet holds a BA from Simmons College and has been an active board member of the Somerville Homeless Coalition, The Alliance, and the Episcopal City Mission, among others.
Emma Conner
Emma Conner brings four years of web design, development, and program support work. In addition to designing systems to support the growth of Ann L Silverman Consulting, she has helped develop the web presence of artists, entrepreneurs, authors, and nonprofits. In her spare time, she writes and designs independent tabletop and video games. She holds a BA from Oberlin College.
Carrie Zinky
Carrie Zinky grew up in the Boston area, where she saw first-hand the impact of housing price increases in the region. She is a clerical assistant and has experience in archival work and data management with the Oberlin College Conservatory, where she earned a BA and a BMus.