Greg Ugalde, a Connecticut developer with more than 25 years of experience in the homebuilding industry, was elected as the 2019 chairman of the National Association of Home Builders during the association’s International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas in late February.

Ugalde is president and chief legal officer of Torrington-based T&M Building Co. Inc., one of the state’s largest homebuilders. Since its founding in 1962, T&M has built more than 4,000 new homes in over 45 Connecticut communities for trade-up and first-time buyers. He is also the founder and owner of GFU Investments LLC, a builder/developer, minority-owned business that focuses on urban development and workforce housing.

“Easing the growing housing affordability crisis is the most important issue facing our industry in 2019,” Ugalde said in a statement. “This year we will work with policymakers to reduce burdensome regulations that are needlessly raising the cost of housing, exacerbating affordability concerns and holding back a more robust recovery in the residential construction sector. We will also urge Congress to reform the nation’s housing finance system and to adopt practical workforce development and immigration policy that will help address chronic labor shortages in the housing sector.”

Ugalde has been active in the NAHB leadership structure at the local, state and national levels throughout his career. A life director, he has been on the NAHB board of directors for nearly 20 years and has been a member of the NAHB executive board for the past decade.

Ugalde was the president of the Home Builders and Remodelers Association of Connecticut (HBRA) from 2003 to 2005. He was named the local and state Builder of the Year in 2000, has been on the HBRA board since 1999, and been a member of its executive committee since 2000. He is a three-time HBRA Distinguished Service Awards recipient, and was chairman of the Connecticut Developers Council from 1997 to 2004. Ugalde received the state homebuilding industry’s highest honor, the Charles J. LoDolce Award, in 2011.

A certified coach in hockey and Little League, Uglade has coached more than 20 teams locally. He also been a member of the Westminster School Board of Trustees, including as its Audit Committee chairman. A practicing lawyer, Ugalde continues to be a member of the Planning & Zoning Section Executive Committee of the Connecticut Bar Association.