Dara Kovel
Chief Executive Officer
Beacon Communities

Dara Kovel is the Chief Executive Officer of Beacon Communities LLC, a privately owned real estate firm that develops, acquires, invests in, and manages a wide range of multi-family housing with properties throughout New England, New York, and the Mid-Atlantic. The company currently owns over 135 communities with approximately 20,000 homes, including variety of affordable, mixed income and mixed-use projects. Beacon has nearly 50 years of history creating and maintaining award-winning residential communities that serve a diverse cross-section of society that make enduring contributions to the vitality of the cities and towns where they are located.

Dara began at Beacon in 2015 as President of Beacon Communities Development LLC, overseeing all development activities for Beacon Communities. Dara has been actively involved in the development of affordable housing her whole career. Prior to her joining Beacon, she was Vice President and Chief Housing Officer at the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority (CHFA) where she oversaw all multifamily lending and tax credit allocation activities, as well as the homeownership programs.

Before working at CHFA, Dara ran the New England office of Jonathan Rose Companies, a New York-based, green, real estate development and investment company. Her previous work was with Mercy Housing California, where she ran the Southern California office and developed affordable housing throughout the state of California.

Dara currently serves on the Urban Land Institute’s Terwilliger Center’s Workforce Housing Board and Boston Advisory Council, the CEDAC Preservation Advisory Committee and the Board of Dwight Hall at Yale. She holds a BA and MBA from Yale University.