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Kevin O'Connor
Chief Executive Officer
Our Team
RUPCO’s leadership team is comprised of a six-member Executive Council led by Kevin O’Connor, our Chief Executive Officer. Our leadership team brings a high level of expertise and commitment to navigate the complexities of housing and community development.
To learn more, click on the headshots for bio information.
Kevin O'Connor
Chief Executive Officer
Kevin O’Connor has served as RUPCO’s Chief Executive Officer since 2002. With 32 years of experience in the housing sector, Mr. O’Connor has transformed communities in the Hudson Valley through the development of supportive and affordable housing that includes multigenerational, artist and homeless housing, homeownership, and commercial units. Mr. O’Connor serves on the board of directors of Pattern for Progress and the National NeighborWorks Association.
Prior to joining RUPCO, Mr. O’Connor served as the Associate Executive Director at Hudson River Housing in Poughkeepsie, New York. Mr. O’Connor holds a B.A. in Communications from Marist College and is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Achieving Excellence in Community Development program.
Sheila Kilpatrick
Chief Operating Officer
Sheila Kilpatrick
Chief Operating Officer
Sheila Kilpatrick joined RUPCO in 2015 as Vice President of Operations and was promoted to Chief Operating Officer in December 2020. Ms. Kilpatrick’s oversees RUPCO’s Property Management, Rental Assistance, Program Services and Human Resources units. Ms. Kilpatrick is a graduate from Ulster Leadership Development Institute and sits on the Board of Resource Center for Accessible Living (RCAL), where she serves as Treasurer.
Prior to joining RUPCO, Ms. Kilpatrick served as the Director of Human Resources and the Director of Housing for Hudson River Housing in Poughkeepsie. Ms. Kilpatrick is a graduate from Ulster Leadership Development Institute.
Jennifer Brown
Chief Financial Officer
Jennifer Brown
Chief Financial Officer
Jennifer Brown joined RUPCO in October 2022 as Chief Financial Officer.
Prior to joining RUPCO, Jen was the Associate Controller at Bard College. During her tenure at Bard, she managed the accounting staff, the annual budget and audit and also taught Accounting!
A graduate of Marist College with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Jennifer went on to obtain her MBA with a concentration in Accounting from Fitchburg State University.
Faith Moore
Vice President of Operations & Strategy and Executive Director of RDAC
Faith Moore
Vice President of Operations & Strategy and Executive Director of RDAC
Faith Moore is the Vice President of Operations & Strategy for RUPCO, Inc. and the Executive Director of Orange County Rural Development Advisory Corporation (RDAC), a subsidiary of RUPCO. Faith is a vital executive leadership team member working closely with the Chief Operating Officer to help facilitate operations.
Faith oversees RDAC, RUPCO’s NeighborWorks Homeownership Center, Rural Preservation activities, RUPCO facilities, and their staff, as well as manages IT and contract services.
Faith holds a Master of Science in Community and Economic Development. She is a HUD Certified Housing Counseling and holds a professional certification in Homeownership and Community Lending through NeighborWorks America.
Faith graduated from Leadership Orange, is an Orange County Rising Star, and a Pattern Fellow. She served the Village of Walden Zoning Board of Appeals and Walden’s Village Board of Trustees as Deputy Mayor. She is a proud member of NY Rural Housing Coalition’s Governor Affairs Committee and STEPS Mentor at Grace Community Church and serves as registration coordinator for Orange County Leadership Prayer Breakfast.
Faith is a happy resident in the Village of Montgomery, where she spends time with her pride and joy, Granddaughter Abigail Ann.
Emma Hambright
Assistant Vice President of Social and Human Services
Emma Hambright
Assistant Vice President of Social and Human Services
Emma Hambright joined RUPCO in 2021 as the Assistant Vice President for Social and Human Services. Ms. Hambright is a civil rights attorney specializing in advocating for services and supports for vulnerable populations. Ms. Hambright is licensed to practice law in California and Washington DC, with a pending license in New York. She brings with her an extensive background in state and federally funded social and human services programs, working for legal and community-based non-profits and state agencies to design and enforce service provision, quality management, licensing, community integration, fair housing, reasonable accommodations, and individual rights enforcement.
Kristen Wilson
Assistant Vice President of Community Development
Kristen Wilson
Assistant Vice President of Community Development
Kristen Wilson joined RUPCO in 2021 as the Assistant Vice President for Community Development. Ms. Wilson brings extensive experience cultivating partnerships for community health, developing projects, planning street transportation, managing municipal infrastructure grants and projects, and writing grant proposals.
Prior to joining RUPCO, Ms. Wilson worked as the Director of Grants Management for the City of Kingston and as Senior Resource Educator for the Healthy Communities Program of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County. Earlier in her career, she worked for an environmental non-profit in Oaxaca, Mexico, and she is fluent in Spanish.
Ms. Wilson has served as a volunteer on Kingston’s Complete Streets Advisory Council and the Climate Smart Kingston and Live Well Kingston Commissions. She also coaches ski racing for the New York Ski Educational Foundation. As an educator and convener at heart, Ms. Wilson has a passion for bringing people together to move dreams to plans and then to projects in the real world.