SHA Board of Commissioners

Chair Jack Meredith

Jack Meredith has over 35 years’ experience in architecture and construction and has a strong passion for order and supporting the human experience in his work. His interest in architecture began in the mid-1980s when he was a young carpenter designing, building, and constructing residential and commercial projects as a licensed contractor. After working as a contractor, he decided to pursue a career in architecture and pursued his architecture degree at Boston Architectural Center (BAC). The studios at BAC challenge normative architectural practices and materials, encouraging the use of innovation with restraint. This approach profoundly influenced his work both during college, and throughout his career. Jack currently serves as Director of Harvard Jolly Architecture’s Sarasota office where he works full time having overall accountability for the Harvard Jolly team by providing essential leadership.

In addition to his professional and educational experience Jack is dedicated to urban renewal and minimizing the impact of gentrification throughout urban communities. He’s committed in developing strategies to maintain the Sarasota Housing authorities’ mission to “providing quality affordable housing to enhance the lives of residents and promoting their independence.”

When Jack is not working or volunteering, he enjoys spending time with his family: he is blissfully married to Terri and has four children

Vice Chair Ernestine Taylor

Ernestine Taylor is an Air Force Veteran who became homeless and received a Section 8 Voucher. Once stably housed, she and her daughter enrolled in and completed the Family Self Sufficient program. This program helped them both complete degree programs and increase earned income, which propelled them toward economic independence and housing self-sufficiency, culminating in her graduating off of voucher assistance. Now another family in need is being housed with Ms. Taylor’s former voucher. Ms. Taylor has served as volunteer for AmeriCorps Vista with Legal Aid of Manasota and Senior Friendship Center. She was also a Guardian ad Litem for the Twelfth Circuit. Ms. Taylor has over 14 years employment experience with various non-profit organizations in Sarasota County dedicated to serving family, children and seniors. Ms. Taylor is honored for the opportunity to serve on a Board that seeks to help families flourish and live affordably in our community. She supports and encourages residents of public housing and Section 8 to increase their earned income and progress toward economic independence and housing self-sufficiency.

John Colón

John A. Colón is the Managing Partner of Sanderling Partners. He has spent over 30 years managing investments for his clients and has been duly recognized by several prominent firms. Mr. Colón most recently served as a Senior Vice President-Investments at Wells Fargo Advisors in downtown Sarasota. Prior to joining Wells Fargo Advisors, Mr. Colón spent more than a decade at Morgan Stanley in New York. While there he attained the rank of First Vice President, and was tapped to open the Locust Valley, NY office of the firm which he managed for several years.

Outside of the office, Mr. Colón has been active in his community both locally and at the state level. He has served as a Gubernatorial appointee on the State Board of Education, and the Manatee County Schoolboard. Mr. Colón has also been a Commissioner of the Sarasota Housing Authority since 2005 and has served as its chairman 4 times over the years. He currently serves on the Board of Sarasota Teen Court, Manatee Tiger Bay and the Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling Board of Directors.

G. Duane Finger

Gerald Duane Finger is retired from Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority where he served 31 years as Planning and Development Manager, Relocation Assistant, Director of Redevelopment and HOPE VI Coordinator. Duane was first appointed to the SHA Board of Commissioners in November 2004, and reappointed in April 2005, and served as Chairman. Duane was reappointed to the new, post-HUD receivership Commission in July 2008 and served as Chairman from 2008-2010, and also served as Chairman of Development Committee from 2010-2011. Currently, Duane serves on the Development Committee.

Deborah Sargent

Advocate for: Homeless, Elderly, Low Income, Veterans, Domestic Abused Victims. Involved with Sarasota Housing Board of Commissioners. Term ends Jul 31, 2024. Bicycle/Pedestrian/Trail Advisory Committee. Category: At Large-Term Expires: 2/28/2024. Citizens Advisory Committee for Public Transportation-Term Expires: 10/31/2023. SHAARC Resident Council: Elected Secretary 2020 to present. Faces of Hud groups: Newtown Farmers Market, Newtown Health Chat, CCNA (Coalition of City Neighborhood Associations) representation at the table for SHA Residents, Newtown Community Update. Works with Sarasota County Election Board as a Poll Worker (in Deputy, Inspector, Assistant Clerk) Election cycles 2016, 2020.

Carolyn Mason

(Picture and Bio Coming Soon)

Mark Vengroff

Managing Partner of One Stop Housing / Chairman of One Stop Cares

Mark Vengroff joined One Stop Housing (OSH) as its managing partner in 2018. He continues to build on his fathers legacy of providing clean, safe, affordable housing to working families for over 40 years. In Mark’s first five years with OSH, the company had doubled in size with over 4,000 rental units across the State of FL and Memphis TN. The apartments include eight converted hotels, several large multi-family apartment communities, and many various sized multi-unit apartments. OSH is one of the largest for profit, Owner/Operators of Workforce Housing in the State of FL.

In 2019, Mark acquired and rebranded a construction company now named, One Stop Housing Development & Construction (OSHDC). OSHDC is licensed in FL and TN as a general contractor and licensed plumbing & electrical contractors. The savings gained through OSHDC’s design/build and construction/renovation allows OSH to reduce its costs on new developments and continue to provide lower rents to working families. In 2020, Mark founded One Stop Cares (501c3) to provide the needed wrap around services to support the residents in the surrounding communities.

Prior to joining One Stop Housing, Mark was the CEO of Walker Advertising, a company owned by the Private Equity firm, Clearlight Partners. Walker is the largest legal advertising agency in the country that helps legal firms market and grow their practice. Employing 128 people, Walker Advertising handles the full marketing cycle, from filming, editing, placing media buys, and managing the consumer inquires through a 24/7 bi-lingual call center. During Mark’s tenure with Walker Advertising, the company grew 18% in revenue to $45M over a 14-month period. After One Stop Housing acquired its fourth property, Mark joined the company to build its capabilities, infrastructure and scale the business for growth.

Prior to joining Walker Advertising in April 2016, Mark formed a medical lien finance company called, WestStar Group. Over a three-year period, as CEO, Mark set up five personal injury provider networks located in Florida and Colorado called, MeritBridge. MeritBridge provided underinsured and uninsured accident victims with the ability to gain access to quality medical treatment. WestStar underwrote the medical liens, advancing funds to the medical providers and then recovering the outstanding funds after the claim was settled at a premium. WestStar was later sold to First Financial Asset Management, the country’s largest holder of medical receivables in the country.

Mark was the CEO of VWA for 9 years and was responsible for VWA growing the receivable management business from a $10 million in revenue to managing over $32 billion in assets, with 1,100 employees and offices in 19 countries. VWA sold its Order to Cash (O2C) assets to CapGemini on November 1, 2011, who then became one of the largest BPO O2C outsourcing firms in the world.

As one of the pioneers in the AR outsourcing industry, through Mark’s leadership, VWA provided services to some of the world’s largest companies: GE, Oracle, 20th Century Fox, Disney, Blue Cross, Microsoft, EMC and Yamaha. Mark’s leadership, analytical style and engineering mindset placed VWA in a role of advisor and solution provider to many of the largest Global Finance organizations.

Widely recognized as an innovator in the way receivables are managed by global organizations, Mark was honored by Collection Advisor Magazine for three years in a row as one of the 50 most influential professionals in the collection industry. He has been quoted in publications including Credit Today, Collection Technology News and Recovery Advisor on a variety of business issues such as outsourcing and receivables management trends. He is the author of Successful Outsource Implementation and has been a frequent speaker at business and industry events such as the Billion Dollar Forum Series, and Hackett Advisory Group.

Mark currently sits on the Board for the Bradenton Economic Development Board, appointed Commissioner on the Sarasota Housing Authority, Founder/Co-Chairman for the FL Incubator, Chairman of a 501c3, One Stop Cares, and Managing Partner of One Stop Housing, One Stop Housing Development & Construction.