Judge Sonya M. Tilghman

Sonya began her tenure as Executive Director of Hazelwood Initiative in January 2016 after working for 3 years as a full-time independent consultant focusing on community economic development (CED). She is a highly-motivated and dedicated professional with over 20 years of progressive and successful experience in the CED industry, contributing in and across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. She has a well-developed and broad skill set in underwriting and financing affordable housing and urban commercial development, including non-profit governance, origination of grants and loans, as well as management of grant, loan, and CRA compliance.

She previously held senior-level positions at both Fifth Third Bank, where she was the CRA Manager for the Pittsburgh market, and Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania, where she was the regional commercial real estate lender for LMI communities. She has also held increasingly challenging positions with the Urban Redevelopment and Housing Authorities of the City of Pittsburgh as well as with non-profit community development corporations, where she gained knowledge and experience in using CDBG, HOME, LIHTC, NMTC and other public funding programs. 

Sonya’s commitment to improving communities is not just exhibited in her vocations, but her avocations as well. As such, she is an experienced and active non-profit trustee, currently serving as a board member of the Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group and the City of Bridges Community Land Trust, and Rising Tides Hazelwood, and on the advisory board of the Housing Opportunity Fund and Program to Aid Citizen Enterprise (PACE). She is a frequent community volunteer, particularly for her church, St. Benedict the Moor. 

Sonya received a B.A. in Psychology from DePauw University and a M.S. in Public Policy & Management from Carnegie Mellon University and earned certifications from the National Development Council in both Economic Development Finance and Housing Development Finance. She was named one of Pittsburgh Magazine’s 40 Under 40 in 2003 and one of the New Pittsburgh Courier’s Fab 40 in 2011. Sonya was a member of Leadership Pittsburgh’s Class XXXIV as well as the 2018 inaugural class of Lead Now Pittsburgh fellows. She was appointed to the Court of Judicial Discipline in January 2022.