Roxanne Neilson began her career in construction in Hawaii working through union apprenticeship as a formwork carpenter-welder in heavy construction, becoming the 1st African-American woman to become a journeyman carpenter through apprenticeship in the State. She has a significant level of infrastructure experience on both sides of the table, recently as the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Manager for the $3.5B Tappan Zee Bridge Replacement Project. In private practice, as President of RMNeilson & Associates Inc. a company founded in 1999, she's served as an owner’s representative, NYS lic. real estate broker, and community leader working with stakeholders negotiating strategic alliances and serving as liaison between small business, the commercial sector, municipal agencies and the infrastructure development community. Ms. Neilson serves as the principal investigator and BOCnet Director for the Minority Business Development Agency - Manhattan Center- a US Commerce Program. She is the CTO and co-founder of a family built/ owned 60,000 sq ft retail storage facility Self Storage ETC located in eastern CT. She holds: A cert. Waterfront Edge Design Professional, a B.A. in Political Science at Swarthmore College, Site Safety Cert. at NYU, and has completed professional offshore wind sequences at both U. Stony Brook and U. Massachusetts Amherst.