The Builder Coalition (TBC) will hold its 2nd Annual Award Celebration on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, at the Lenox Hotel in Boston, bringing together leaders from across the real estate, civic and business communities to recognize individuals who have made significant contributions to inclusive development and economic opportunity.
The evening will honor Sheila Dillon, Chief of Housing for the City of Boston, and her team at the Mayor’s Office of Housing with the 2026 Gregory P. Bialecki Award for Leadership in Inclusive Development. TBC will also launch the Kenneth I. Guscott Award for Leadership in Community Wealth Building, a new honor recognizing the legacy of the pioneering Boston developer and civil rights leader.
Established in 2025, the Gregory P. Bialecki Award recognizes leaders who share his vision that building a diverse bench of real estate and community developers is critical to a healthy, vital economy and society. TBC is recognizing Dillon and her team for “Welcome Home, Boston,” a program that transforms vacant and underutilized city-owned land into affordable homeownership opportunities for first-time buyers while creating opportunities for emerging development firms. Across the program’s first two phases, 28 parcels are being developed into 144 new homes in Dorchester and Mattapan, with an additional 11 parcels included in a third phase now underway.
Dillon has served as Boston’s Chief of Housing since 2012, first appointed by Mayor Tom Menino to lead what was then the Department of Neighborhood Development, and continuing in the role across four mayoral administrations. She is a member of Mayor Michelle Wu’s cabinet and directs the Mayor’s Office of Housing, which oversees the Boston Home Center, the Office of Housing Stability, Neighborhood Housing and Development, Supportive Housing, Real Estate Management and Sales, and GrowBoston.
“The Builder Coalition’s work sits on the shoulders of the leaders who have come before us. Our awards ceremony is our opportunity to honor them, and to reignite what we’ve inherited and carry forward,” said Dave Madan, Founder & Executive Director of The Builder Coalition. “Greg Bialecki’s and Ken Guscott’s legacies are visible all around us, in the buildings they built, but even more so in the community wealth they created, and in the generations of leaders they cultivated. Sheila Dillon’s service to Boston exemplifies their values, and the Welcome Home, Boston program proves that investing in people is central to solving any of our challenges.”
In addition, The Builder Coalition will introduce the Kenneth I. Guscott Award for Leadership in Community Wealth Building at this year’s celebration, honoring the legacy of Guscott, a Roxbury-born civil rights leader and real estate developer who helped expand opportunities for Black professionals, workers and businesses in Boston’s built environment.
Guscott founded Long Bay Management with his brothers in 1969, growing the company from a single 17-unit building into a portfolio of approximately 3,000 units across Roxbury. Throughout his career, he emphasized opportunities for minority workers and businesses and mentored employees who would go on to carry his work forward. The new award recognizes that lasting legacy of creating community wealth and developing future leaders.
A plaque will be presented to a member of the Guscott family during the celebration, followed by a fireside conversation featuring community leaders Richard Taylor, Joseph Feaster and Charlotte Nelson.
For more information on The Builder Coalition and their upcoming events, seminars, or presentations, please visit www.buildercoalition.com.
