New Community Investment Managers  Christine M. Gimbel and Kathy Naczas have been named senior community investment managers at the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston.

Ms. Gimbel is working with members and their community-development partners in Massachusetts’ Middlesex, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Worcester counties to access all of the Bank’s housing programs. She also works with members and their community-development partners in Massachusetts’ Barnstable, Bristol, Dukes, Nantucket, and Plymouth counties to access the Equity Builder Program. Before her arrival at the Bank, Ms. Gimbel served as a portfolio operations manager at Massachusetts Housing Partnership and as an associate director and consultant at the Boston GreenSpace Alliance. Ms. Gimbel says the transition from her job at Massachusetts Housing Partnership to the Bank has been seamless. “I’m lucky to be working with the same group of people on similar, if not the same, projects, while also making connections with new organizations,” she says. Describing herself as “mission driven,” Ms. Gimbel says it has always been important for her to be able to speak passionately about her work. “Working in the field with a dedicated team like the one here at the Bank means a lot to me,” she says. “Seeing initiatives completed is a wonderful thing.”

Ms. Naczas is working with members and their community-development partners in New Hampshire, Vermont, and Western Massachusetts to access all of the Bank’s housing programs. Before her
arrival at the Bank, Ms. Naczas served as the executive director of the Laconia Housing Authority in
Laconia, New Hampshire. She has also worked for the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority and in private real estate management. “Working with the Bank’s diverse and knowledgeable team is a great opportunity for me to utilize my experience in developing affordable housing,” says Ms. Naczas. “The Bank has been a key supporter of affordable housing in New England and I am thrilled to be a part of its mission.”

A Green Building Primer It’s impossible to enter the world of green building without hearing the following terms: LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a voluntary national rating system for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable, and healthy places to live. LEED was created by the nonprofit U.S. Green Building Council, which consists of members from every sector of the building industry. It has performance standards in five areas: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality. Energy Star is a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy that gives recognition to energy-efficient products, practices, and buildings. VOCs (volatile organic compounds) are emitted as gases from certain solids or liquids. VOCs include a variety of chemicals, some of which may have adverse health effects. VOCs are emitted by thousands of products including paints and lacquers; paint strippers, cleaning supplies, pesticides, building materials and furnishings; office equipment such as copiers, printers, correction fluids, and carbonless copy paper; and graphics and craft materials including glues, adhesives, permanent markers, and photographic solutions. VOC concentration is consistently higher indoors than outdoors.