Celebrating Women’s History Month: Meet Michele Moore, Director of Comprehensive Modernization 

Michele Moore is not one to shy away from a challenge. On the contrary, she welcomes it. Coming from a family of public servants – her mother was a public school teacher and her father worked at NYCHA for over 30 years – Ms. Moore said she knew public service could be challenging sometimes. But she chose it as her life’s work nonetheless because it offers an opportunity to “make an impact for a greater good” in the community.  

Having started her career as an intern in Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s office, Ms. Moore said she is grounded by the fact that “every single day is different, and you always have the opportunity to learn and grow.”  

Over the past decade, she has been learning and growing and advancing her public service career. Ms. Moore also interned at the office of then-City Council Speaker Christine Quinn in 2012 before moving on to work for Senator Charles Schumer from 2012 to 2015.  

In May 2015, Ms. Moore joined NYCHA as a Senior Advisor to the Vice President of Disaster Recovery; she was later promoted to Director of Recovery and Resilience, which involved managing NYCHA’s Superstorm Sandy recovery projects. Since September 2021, she has been serving as Director of the Comprehensive Modernization (Comp Mod) program.  

“Originally, I was the only staffer for the Comp Mod program,” Ms. Moore said. “Over the past year or so, we’ve built a team of resident engagement, design and construction professionals, and subject matter experts to execute the program with excellence. We’re also using a new project delivery method called ‘design-build’ – instead of hiring a separate designer and contractor, we’re hiring one team that will oversee both for better coordination and better delivery of a capital project for residents.” 

Although she is leading a new department, Ms. Moore said her former and current roles are similar and provide an opportunity to take best practices and lessons learned from the past to continue to improve NYCHA’s capital delivery process. 

“The Sandy program brought together multiple trades and different scopes of work to complete large-scale projects, but it was mostly focused on infrastructure damaged during the storm and mitigation features,” she explained. “What we’re doing in Comprehensive Modernization is addressing all of that plus the interiors of the buildings, including kitchens, bathrooms, plumbing, and other features of residents’ homes – we’re not just focused on infrastructure.”  

The Comp Mod program oversees and utilizes funding to deliver comprehensive apartment and building rehabilitation focused on abating mold, lead, and asbestos, as well as kitchen and bathroom renovations, heating upgrades, and elevator replacements, to improve residents’ quality of life. 

Physical construction at the selected Comp Mod sites (Todt Hill Houses on Staten Island and St. Nicholas Houses in Harlem so far) is expected to begin next year. Ahead of that, Ms. Moore and her team are engaging residents to discuss the scope of work, how they can contribute to the design and construction process, and other important details about these critical efforts.  

Ms. Moore is drawing on her experiences and large pool of resources and contacts she has developed across departments in her tenure at NYCHA:  

“I feel like now that I’ve been here for some time, I have a better understanding of what all the departments do, how they’re involved in a capital project, and how their input can help improve the delivery of projects.” Most importantly, she is focused on building out relationships with development staff, as well as residents, as their input is critical for a capital project’s success – no one knows the property better than them. 

As a woman in leadership, Ms. Moore said her colleagues inspire her to overcome challenges: the “really dedicated and encouraging women in leadership roles have helped me to grow, along with having bosses that are supportive of women’s family/work-life balance.” 

The soon-to-be mother of three said her favorite thing to do is visit construction sites. 

“Construction is not traditionally dominated by women, and some of my favorite days working at NYCHA are when I visit construction sites to see what’s going on and when I talk to the contractors, construction managers, and others to learn what is happening in the field that day and what challenges they are facing,” she said. “Most of the time the team does not expect that I am the director of the program, so I get a glimpse into what is going well, what needs to be improved, and I always am looking to offer resources or help to keep the projects moving smoothly.”    

A recipient of the Staten Island Development Corporation’s “20 under 40” leaders award, Ms. Moore said she is inspired by the many women in a range of roles who are helping to lead NYCHA into a brighter tomorrow.