The Connecticut Green Bank proudly announces Governor Lamont's appointment of Adrienne Farrar Houël to its Board of Directors. Ms. Farrar Houël is the Founder, President and CEO of the Greater Bridgeport Community Enterprises, Inc. (GBCE). GBCE is a nonprofit community development corporation that creates economic opportunity by developing "triple bottom line" businesses, featuring: environmental sustainability; social good by training and hiring disadvantaged, low-income unemployed residents enabling them to become economically self-sufficient; and economic and community development for distressed urban neighborhoods. 

"We are very grateful to Governor Lamont for appointing Adrienne to our Board," said Green Bank Board Chairwoman Lonnie Reed. "Adrienne's unique experience and her innovative efforts to pursue environmental justice, confront climate change, and enhance workforce development bring tremendous real world knowledge to our Board as we strive for a greater positive impact in vulnerable communities."  

Through her leadership with GBCE, which creates jobs for disadvantaged residents and advocates for more green jobs in the Bridgeport area and throughout the State, Ms. Farrar Houël has designed, funded and operated workforce development training programs and created three nonprofit, sustainability enterprises under its umbrella. In June 2012, GBCE opened Park City Green, a mattress deconstruction/materials recycling division. Park City Green employs 18 persons largely from Bridgeport's Re-Entry community in its growing enterprise, recycling more than 325,000 units since the implementation of the state's mattress recycling law in mid-2015.   

"I'm excited to join the Green Bank's Board and thank the Governor for this invitation," said Ms. Farrar Houël. "I look forward to guiding the organization as it fulfills its mission of creating a healthier, more prosperous future for Connecticut residents, especially for those most in need." 

Ms. Farrar Houël has been active in preservation since 2003 to 2018 as a trustee and officer of the CT Trust for Historic Preservation. Also, in the interest of preserving and developing an important African-American historic site in Bridgeport, she joined the founding board of the Mary and Eliza Freeman Foundation for History and Community and still serves to this day.  In 2012, GBCE's Green Team conducted deconstruction classes in the initial phases of preserving the houses' structures for future re-development. 

"It has been an honor working with Adrienne through the Equity and Environmental Justice and Financing and Funding Climate Adaptation and Resilience Working Groups of Governor Lamont's Council on Climate Change," said Bryan Garcia, President and CEO of the Green Bank.  "She brings incredible experience and passion for workforce development and environmental justice, including her work with the Mary and Eliza Freeman Center, which will all advance the mission of the Green Bank as we focus our efforts into vulnerable communities."  

For the State of Connecticut, Ms. Farrar Houël was Co-Chair of the 2013 Governor's Task Force on Modernizing Recycling in Connecticut and served on the Green Jobs Committee, a joint committee of CT's Department of Labor and Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.  More recently in 2016-2019, she served on the state's Energy Efficiency Board named by Commissioner Dykes of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and chaired the Residential Sub-Committee of the Board.  In 2020, she began service on the Governor's Climate Change Committee contributing to the policy recommendations for Financing and Funding Climate Adaptation and Resilience through the lens of Environmental Justice.  

Ms. Farrar Houël earned her MBA at Harvard Business School and resides in Bridgeport, Connecticut with her husband, Christian. 

GBCE | https://greenteambpt.com/

Green Bank | www.ctgreenbank.com