As Chief Executive Officer of Hispanic Housing Development Corporation, Mr. Roldán has developed over 4,100 affordable apartments and town-homes in over 54 various developments for families and elderly residents of several Hispanic communities in Chicago. In addition, he has initiated the development of over 82,000 square feet of retail and office space in five Chicago-based developments. He has also directed the formation of a property management division, which currently manages over 3,600 residential units in various communities throughout Chicago and Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Mr. Roldán established, and now directs Tropic Construction Corp., a residential and commercial builder. He also planned and organized Affordable Community Energy (ACE) - a community-oriented energy services company targeting affordable housing. Previous to his experience with Hispanic Housing, Mr. Roldán developed low-income housing in Brooklyn, New York.
In 1988, Mr. Roldán was awarded a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship for his work in Community Development. He committed $100,000 of his Fellowship award for the establishment of the Teresa and Hipolito Roldán Community Development Scholarship Fund in order to attract Latinos into the community development field. He was awarded a Bronze Star with "V" Device for combat duty in Vietnam, and holds a Bachelor's degree in Social Studies from St. Francis College, and a Master's degree in Urban Studies from Long Island University in New York.
Mr. Roldán also serves on various boards and committees including the Chicago board of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, Latino Policy Forum, MB Financial, N.A., Housing Partnership Network, and The Institute of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture, and is co-chair of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's Green Ribbon Committee for Climate Change. He was an “Inner-City Adviser” and former National Trustee of the Urban Land Institute, and is a board member of the Boston-based, The Community Builders, and on the Community Development Advisory Committee of PNC Bank. He also serves on Governor Pat Quinn’s Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission, is Board Chair of the Cook County Housing Authority, and on the Advisory Board of the Marshall Bennett Institute of Real Estate at Roosevelt University.
Mr. Roldán was a participant in President Bill Clinton's Economic Conferences held in Little Rock, Ark., in 1992 and Columbus, Ohio, in 1995. In 2006, Mr. Roldán co-authored “Casa y Comunidad, a Latino Home and Neighborhood Design” book, and in 2012 participated in the publication of Independent for Life/Homes and Neighborhoods for an Aging America.
