Joaquín Altoro, chief of Wisconsin's housing development authority, is leaving for a similar — but bigger — job in the Biden administration.
Wisconsin's housing development authority chief is leaving for a similar — but much bigger — job in the Biden administration.
Joaquín Altoro, chief executive officer of the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority, was named Monday as administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Housing Service.
The federal agency has 700 employees and operates a $141 billion asset portfolio — mainly loans and loan guarantees to help finance rural houses and apartments.
The Wisconsin authority, known as WHEDA, has 165 employees and a $3 billion portfolio.
Altoro's move to a much larger agency, and his family's planned move from Milwaukee to the Washington, D.C., area, is "a lot to take in," he told the Journal Sentinel.
"I'm excited," Altoro said.
"I'm going to take these opportunities I've learned in Wisconsin and take them to a national level," he said.
Altoro's new position doesn't require Senate confirmation.
Gov. Tony Evers called Altoro "an invaluable part" of his administration.
“I'm incredibly grateful for Joaquín's service to the people of our state, and I know his expertise and advocacy will serve our country well," Evers said in a statement.
WHEDA has established an internal transition team until Altoro's successor is appointed.
Altoro, whose career has been mainly in the private sector as a banker, is leaving WHEDA after two years as its CEO.
His tenure at the authority included working with emerging housing developers, many of them people of color, in both urban and rural areas.
He also was known for finding new resources to help develop affordable housing, working with development partners such as health care systems and lenders working with underserved communities, and working with Wisconsin's Native American tribes.
Before running WHEDA, Altoro worked as a mortgage broker and banker. That included serving as Town Bank's vice president of commercial banking from 2013 to 2019.
Altoro said his work in the private sector and at the authority is great preparation for his new federal job.
Much of WHEDA's focus has been on rural housing development, including affordable apartments.
Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin housing authority chief leaving for Biden administration job
