HART Governing Board of Trustees, Executive Director & Marketing Director
The Plan Trustees, who serve without pay and must be active participants in the Plan, are listed below with information on the Administrators of the Plan:
Beryl R. Pitre
Chair of the HART Board of Trustees. Executive Director of the Housing Authority of Lafourche Parish, Raceland, Louisiana. She began working with the Authority in 1974 and has served as the Executive Director of the Authority since 1984. She has served as President of the Louisiana Housing Council and is currently a Trustee of the Louisiana Housing Council Insurance Program Board since May 2007.
Greg Price
Vice Chair of the HART Board of Trustees. Executive Director of the Greater Gadsden Housing Authority, Gadsden, Alabama. He has served as Executive Director of the Gadsden Housing Authority since June 2016. Prior to his employment with the Gadsden Housing Authority, Greg worked for the Department of Housing and Urban Development for 29 years as a Management Specialist and the last few years as a Division Director in the Birmingham Office of Public Housing.
James Cox
Chief Executive Officer of the Greensboro Housing Authority (GHA), Greensboro, North Carolina. He began working there in 2011 as VP of Real Estate Development moving on to Chief Operating Officer. Prior to joining GHA, Mr. Cox was a Partner and Senior Development Manager with two Mid-Atlantic Real Estate Development firms, managing a wide range of development projects, including affordable tax credit housing. Mr. Cox is actively involved with the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO) and its Southeastern Regional Council (SERC). He serves on a number of local, regional, and national boards and committees, including SERC NAHRO, where he is the current Vice President of Community Revitalization and Development.
Kari R. Gill
Deputy Executive Director of the Dakota County Community Development Agency (CDA) in Eagan, Minnesota. She began working with the Agency in 1980 and has served as the Deputy Executive Director since 1987. She previously served on the Board of Directors for Minnesota NAHRO (National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials) for over 10 years including several terms as Treasurer. She has also served on other Boards including a local YMCA and on the Dakota Area Referral and Transportation for Seniors (DARTS) Board.
David Gates
Executive Director of the Lonoke County Housing Authority, Arkansas since 2010. He is actively involved with the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO) at the National, Regional, and State levels. In 2017, he served as the State Chapter President for the State of Arkansas. Additionally, he has served on the Executive Committee for the Southwest Regional Council of NAHRO since 2015 and the NAHRO Board of Governors since 2017.
Matt Moran
Joined the HART Board of Trustees in 2016. He has been the Executive Director of the Housing Authority of Joplin, Missouri since 2004. Before coming to the Housing Authority, he managed the City of Joplin’s Community Development Block Grant program. He has served as President of the Missouri Chapter of NAHRO, and has been a Director on the Board for the Missouri Housing Authorities Property & Casualty Inc. insurance pool since 2009.
Barbara Chen
Chief Financial Officer of Housing Authority of the City of Austin. She has served in this position since 2021 and was awarded with the 2025 Texas NAHRO Executive of the Year. Barbara has comprehensive knowledge and experience with HUD built on a foundation of a 20-year career in affordable housing. With her leadership and financial expertise, she has made significant community impacts in Austin, as well as her work in Washington D.C., Orlando, and across the state of Illinois.
Michael Bianco
Serves as the Deputy Executive Director of Finance (Chief Financial Officer) for the Louisville Metro Housing Authority in Louisville, Kentucky, a role he has held since May 2025. He brings extensive experience in public-sector financial management, previously serving as Controller and Director of Accounting at the Kentucky Housing Corporation in Frankfort, Kentucky. Mr. Bianco is a Certified Public Accountant and has significant expertise in governmental accounting, financial reporting, and oversight.
Executive Director
Ed Johnston, C.P.A
Executive Director of the Housing Agency Retirement Trust and has been with HART since 2009. Ed is a Certified Public Accountant and brings more than 18 years of retirement and financial services expertise to HART. Prior to working with HART, Ed was a Director of Client Service at ADP, one of the leading financial record keepers in the country. While Ed also spent three years as Consultant for defined contribution plans for Mercer, a firm offering retirement and custodial services to individuals and businesses.Administrators
The Plan Administrator is Mercer. Mercer is the world’s largest employee benefits, compensation and human resources consulting firm. Their sister company, Mercer Investment Consulting, Inc. is one of the largest and most respected purveyors of investment consulting services in the world. Mercer Investment Consulting provides consulting services to the Trustees relative to the fixed income investments. Since inception of the Plan, Mercer or one of their merging partners has served as the Plan Administrator and provided investment consulting services to HART. Mercer is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marsh and McLennan Companies, Inc., which was founded in 1887.
ADP Retirement Services was founded in 1949 as a payroll processing business. ADP has evolved into the leader in payroll processing, and, a multifaceted corporation, including global currency and securities trading. William M. Mercer and ADP formed an alliance over eight years ago, at which time ADP assumed the responsibilities of record keeping for HART and other benefit plans. The ADP employees that administer HART’s plan have all been involved in the record keeping for HART for 24+ years, and, are known for the personal service that is provided to HART’s participants. Clients on 6 continents now use ADP services. ADP Broker-Dealer, Inc. provides guidance and service to the Trustees as an Investment Consultant and in accordance with the adopted “Statement of Policy.” They review the effectiveness of the current investment structure; provide a report semiannually as to the (1) performance for each investment fund, (2) narrative detailing how that performance was achieved; and (3) suggested action plans, as appropriate. The investment consultant conducts a search to (1) add an additional option to the portfolio, and/or (2) terminate one or more of the current investment options from use by HART. The consultant is also charged with bringing all pertinent investment-oriented information to the Trustees as he gains access to such information.
