Greta J. Harris joined the Better Housing Coalition (BHC) in August 2013 as President and CEO. Working with the stellar BHC leadership team, her strategic and fiscal leadership has been transformative. They have facilitated unprecedented corporate growth and financial health through increased revenue and expanded business lines, positioning BHC to realize the same results in five years as it had over the previous thirty years. Prior to leading BHC, Greta was vice president for the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), a national nonprofit community and economic development organization where she led local offices in southern and mid-western regions.
Ms. Harris was elected to the boards of the Greater Washington Partnership in 2022, the Markel Corporation in 2021, and appointed to the Virginia Tech University Board of Visitors in 2016. She also serves on the boards of ChamberRVA, the Partnership for Housing Affordability, the Housing Partnership Network and the Richmond Jazz Society. She co-chairs the Commonwealth of Virginia’s bipartisan redistricting commission. Greta is a member of Leadership Metro Richmond’s Class of 1995, an organization which honored her with its 2021 Ukrop Community Vision Award.
Among her many accolades, Greta was a 2023 Virginia Business Magazine Women in Leadership Award winner; she received the National NeighborWorks Association’s 2021 Practitioner of the Year Award; the Ruth Coles Harris Leadership Institute 2021 Leadership Award; was a Bold Women of 2020 honoree by Richmond Magazine; a 2019 YWCA Outstanding Women Award winner; a 2019 Style Weekly Executive Women in Business honoree; a 2018 Richmond Times Dispatch Person of the Year honoree; the Virginia Tech Black Alumni Association’s 2016 Philanthropist of the Year; and a 2014 Outstanding Virginian by Equality Virginia.
Greta earned her bachelor of architecture degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and holds a master of science in architecture and urban design from Columbia University.