WESTERN NEW YORK VETERANS HOUSING COALITION PROMOTES GIGI GRIZANTI TO PRESIDENT AND CEO

Buffalo, NY - The Western New York Veterans Housing Coalition (WNY VHC) is pleased to announce the promotion of Ms. Gigi Grizanti to President of the organization. Ms. Grizanti joined the WNY VHC in 2016 as the Vice President of Housing & Development and is a prior member of the Board of Directors.

Ms. Grizanti brings more than 20 years of organizational leadership with an emphasis on mergers, acquisitions and reorganizations. She has worked in health care and mental health as well as a spending a majority of her career in Human Resources and Employee Benefits in senior management roles at Catholic Health, Hamburg Counselling Service and Columbus McKinnon Corporation. 

Ms. Grizanti also bring extensive experience in non-profit organization and fund development, having served in leadership roles and spearheading fundraising efforts with local, national and international organizations including the Tonawanda Aquettes, Kenton Friends of Youth, Katrina’s Angels, United States Synchronized Swimming and the United States Olympic Committee. Ms. Grizanti also hosted an International fundraiser in conjunction with the US Embassy in Dublin, Ireland for the 2012 Olympic Team and served as Team Leader for the London Games.

“We are excited to have Gigi take on the role of President and CEO in this new chapter for WNY VHC. She has proven to be a supremely capable manager and organizer with the capacity to rise to new challenges and collaborate with other organizations to make the VHC into one of the leading veterans service organizations in WNY,” said Christopher Kennedy, chairman of the board.

Ms. Grizanti succeeds Ms. Celia O’Brien, who has been an integral part of the WNY VHC for more than 20 years. Ms. O’Brien initially joined the organization as Property Manager and was later recruited by the Board of Directors to serve as President and Chief Operating Officer, where she served for ten years.

“I am honored to succeed Celia in leading the Veterans Housing Coalition. Celia’s passion and connections in our veterans community have helped us survive some trying times and have set us up for a promising future,” said Gigi Grizanti. “I am excited to take the baton and lead our organization in its future endeavors.”

Ms. O’Brien dedicated herself to managing the organization and preserving its mission through challenging times of funding and staffing shortages. During her tenure with the WNY VHC, Ms. O’Brien assisted more than 8,000 veterans with housing and other urgent needs.

Ms. O’Brien will remain with the organization for several months to help ensure a successful transition.