Mrs. Gibson’s professional career spans more than 25 years in affordable housing development, project management, facility operations and finance. During her career, Mrs. Gibson worked in the real estate development industry for profit and not for profit developers, lenders and community based organizations, to ensure preservation strategies for affordable housing. Her passion for affordable housing ignited interest in advocacy and legislation for affordable housing with a focus on families with children having limited housing choices. This passion led her to work at Invest Atlanta and the Integral Group. At Integral, Rita was hired to serve as Senior Development/Project Director, supervising multimillion dollar construction projects which have changed the face of public housing in Atlanta. Most recently, she served as the Interim Executive Director for the University Community Development Corporation (UCDC), a nonprofit CDC located in the Atlanta University Center, where the mission was to create safe, vibrant, healthy and sustainable communities in and around The Atlanta University Center. Recently retired, Rita now works as a Development Consultant and spends time serving on many non-profit boards. She previously served as chair for the following organizations- the Villages at Carver YMCA, Woman in Construction, the Atlanta Chapter of the Spelman College National Alumnae Association. In addition to serving as chair of Voices for Georgia’s Children she chairs Georgia ACT, a non-profit statewide organization focusing on persons with limited housing choices. Other board affiliations include Member of the Board of Directors for the West End CID, West End Merchants, Family Health Centers of Georgia and Vice Chair of Finance Committee of Cascade United Methodist Church. She was recently appointed to the Atlanta Beltline Affordable Housing Advisory Board. She is very proud of her adult sons – Christopher, Vice President, Ariel Investments and graduate of Morehouse College and Washington University, and Adrian, Senior Project/Operations Manager, Lockheed Martin, graduate of Tennessee State University and Florida institute of Technology. She has allowed herself to take time to travel Internationally and enjoys cooking, entertaining, and collecting African art and artifacts. She is a past recipient of the Spelman College Tiffany Award in Business, YMCA volunteer of the Year, and a recent graduate of The Urban Land Institute’s Center for Leadership.