TBC Honors Our Heros
The Builder Coalition | Written by Yahaira Acuna, TBC Program Administrator | Created October 20, 2026
On October 13th, The Builder Coalition (TBC) hosted our 2nd Annual Awards Celebration at the Lenox Hotel in Boston, bringing together leaders across the real estate, civic, and business communities to honor our heroes and carry their legacy forward. The evening featured the presentation of the 2026 Bialecki Award and the launch of a new award in memory of Ken Guscott. View the photo gallery.
Mayor Michelle Wu presented the 2026 Gregory P. Bialecki Award for Leadership in Inclusive Development to Sheila Dillon, Chief of Housing for the City of Boston, and to the Boston Mayor’s Office of Housing, recognizing decades of service and programs like Welcome Home Boston that expand the bench of capable builders. F. Marie Morisset, TBC board member and Principal at Boston Communities, shared her story of how the Welcome Home Boston provided a pivotal platform to build her firm’s development track record.
The Builder Coalition also launched the Kenneth I. Guscott Award for Leadership in Community Wealth Building, to be presented annually to individuals who work to expand access to opportunity. Kevin Bynoe, TBC board member and former CEO at UHM Properties, introduced the award, followed by a fireside chat between three Boston leaders mentored by Ken: Richard Taylor, Joseph Feaster, and Charlotte Nelson. Born in Roxbury in 1925, Ken was a World War II veteran and nuclear engineer who led the Boston NAACP from 1963 to 1968 before turning his focus to real estate. With his brothers Cecil and George, he founded Long Bay Management, growing the portfolio to 3,000 homes across Roxbury. In 2003, he sold a sizable portion of the portfolio to the employees he had mentored, creating UHM Properties, which passed to a new generation of leaders in 2026, a mark of Ken’s enduring legacy.
Thank you to the Bialecki and Guscott families for joining us, and to the partners who made the event possible: Direct Federal Credit Union, UHM Properties, Leggat McCall Properties, Visionary Investors Building Equity, LLC (VIBE), and Samuels & Associates.
