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Leadership Changes at County’s Largest Nonprofit Organization -Chief Executive Officer retires after 32 years.

UKIAH, CA April 1st, 2008: Duane Hill formally announced his retirement today after 32 years as chief executive officer of the Rural Communities Housing Development Corporation (RCHDC). Bruce Alfano, former executive director of West County Community Services, a Sonoma County nonprofit human service organization, is replacing Hill.

This change in leadership comes after a yearlong executive search conducted by the RCHDC Board of Directors, in which over thirty applicants from across the country were interviewed. The Directors culminated the search in December, when the top two candidates underwent a round of interviews with the RCHDC Board of Directors and staff members as well as local community leaders.

One of Ukiah’s more controversial figures, Duane Hill is known for his flamboyant dress, his copious collection of hats and his agency’s affordable housing developments, which have been the subject of fierce debate at Planning Commission and Board of Supervisor’s meetings for many years. Born and raised in Red Bluff, Hill left his job at a lumber products firm in 1969 and took a position in the Lassen-Modoc-Plumas-Tehama Community Action Agency where he established a welfare-rights organization, created a housing authority and expanded the service menu of that agency to include a variety of services, including Tehama County’s first senior center.

Duane left Red Bluff to attend college in Mendocino County, eventually graduating from Sonoma State University with a degree in psychology. During this time, he worked as housing specialist at North Coast Opportunities. This led to the formation of the Rural Communities Housing Development Corporation, incorporated as a nonprofit organization in November 1975. By 1978, RCHDC opened the Walnut Village senior housing complex and later, nine additional Ukiah developments as well as others in Ft. Bragg and Willits. Over the course of his career Hill has maintained longstanding relationships “on both sides of the aisle” with politicians, financiers and policy-makers in local, state and national arenas and has received a Congressional Certificate of Appreciation for his work in rural affordable housing. He is also a finalist for a Lifetime Achievement Award from NeighborWorks, a national consortium of affordable housing developers.

Savings Bank of Mendocino senior vice-president Marty Lombardi, who was on the committee of local leaders that conducted final interviews stated, “Duane Hill is one of my heroes. I’ve always defined ‘hero’ as a person who makes a difference in the lives of people who are having difficulty advocating for themselves. Duane has done more for this constituency than anyone I have known in the thirty-five years I’ve been working in finance in Mendocino County.”

New RCHDC chief executive officer Bruce Alfano graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo in the mid-1970s before going on to receive a Juris Doctorate from the Howard University School of Law, where he was one of six white students in this traditionally African-American college. Alfano moved to Northern California over 30 years ago and like Hill, worked at North Coast Opportunities. He was elected to Willits City Council in 1986, re-elected in 1990 and 1994, and served as Mayor of Willits from 1990 to 1992. Alfano then returned to nonprofit administration at the Ukiah-based Center for Education and Manpower Resources. In 1997, Alfano accepted the position of executive director with West County Community Services in Guerneville and has worked there ever since.
RCHDC Board of Directors Chairperson Andy Peterson says, “Duane’s achievements are amazing and it was difficult to fill his position. However, the Board of Directors is extremely confident in Bruce and believes him to be the best person to lead RCHDC into the future.”

Alfano’s first day on the job was Monday April 1st, although Hill will continue to work for the organization in an advisory capacity until May 8th. The RCHDC Board of Directors is hosting a dinner in Duane Hill’s honor on April 26th at the Ukiah Convention Center.

RCHDC is the largest affordable housing developer in rural Northern California. The agency serves between 1500 and 2000 seniors, low-income families, farm workers and the physically and mentally disabled people annually and controls ten Limited Liability Corporations in five counties, which together manage over $200 million in assets. The agency employs over 80 individuals, has an annual budget of $2.3 million and either owns or manages over 1,000 affordable housing units throughout Northern California and western Nevada. In addition to winning a 2005 Stars of Lake County award, RCHDC is an inaugural member of the California Housing Consortium’s “Affordable Housing Hall of Fame” and a charter member of NeighborWorks, the nation’s largest affiliation of nonprofit housing development organizations. This summer RCHDC will begin construction of a 32-unit complex for low-income families at the corner of Clara and Orchard streets.