Ana Boyd

Ana Boyd

Ana Boyd was last month named the new director of administration and finance for the city’s Department of Neighborhood Development.

In announcing Boyd’s appointment, Mayor Thomas M. Menino and DND Director Evelyn Friedman highlighted Boyd’s 12 years of experience as chief financial officer at Roxbury-based nonprofit organization Nuestra Comunidad Development Corporation.

“Ana brings with her a long-standing knowledge of finance, community development, and real estate that is sure to prove invaluable to advancing the department’s work,” Menino said in a statement.

As administration and finance director, Boyd now oversees a budget of almost $100 million for eight operating divisions within DND, as well as the supervision of 30 staff.

Boyd joined DND just three months after Menino appointed Evelyn Friedman, the former director of Nuestra Comunidad, as the city’s chief of housing and DND’s director.

At Nuestra, Boyd was part of the organization’s growth from 11 staff members and 270 units of housing, to 29 employees now overseeing a portfolio of more than 300 units. She oversaw financial operations for the organization’s $6.5 million budget.

A native of Guatemala and a fluent Spanish speaker, Boyd holds a degree in accounting from the Escuela Nacional Central de Ciencias Comerciales in Guatemala.  Before joining Nuestra Comunidad in 1996, Boyd worked at several other Massachusetts nonprofits, including Lowell’s Coalition for a Better Acre and the Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership. She is a resident of Jamaica Plain.

DND is responsible for improving the quality of life in Boston’s neighborhoods through the development and preservation of housing, and the development of neighborhood businesses. The department funds affordable housing developments, provides assistance and foreclosure prevention counseling to homeowners, manages city-owned properties and promotes neighborhood business development.

The department depends on federal funding; 86 percent of DND’s resources come from non-city grants and loans, according to a DND statement. Menino pointed out that Boyd joins the department at a time when the primary sources of these funds — such as the Community Development Block Grant and HOME programs, as well as the American Dream Downpayment Assistance Initiative — are experiencing reductions.