Elan Parra is an experienced investigator with extensive management, litigation, and construction-related experience serving public and private sector clients. Throughout his career, he has successfully led investigative teams, identified obscure issues, and provided innovative solutions to serve clients’ objectives. He is a licensed attorney with more than 15 years of experience in the public and private sectors and has led investigations involving fraud, corruption, and illegal activity.
Mr. Parra’s experience includes supervising the inquiry into a building trade union’s improper payout of benefits and mishandling of members contributions; investigating allegations of illegal disposal of environmental contaminants; and evaluating procedures to ensure adequate controls were in place to prevent fraud. Mr. Parra has also provided advisory consultive assistance to real estate businesses and liaised with law enforcement to develop new security practices and to develop training for security contractors.
Mr. Parra is currently on the leadership team working on the Federal Monitorship of New York Public Housing Authority (NYCHA). He works closely with the executive team at the Authority and oversees work on its reorganization efforts. He provides recommendations and monitors the development of NYCHA strategic initiatives to address required improvements in operations, management, information technology, capital delivery, governance, and procurement. He also monitored NYCHA’s efforts to develop an RFQ to spend a $450M grant by New York State for infrastructure improvements across its properties in New York City.
Prior to joining Guidepost Solutions, Mr. Parra was a managing director with a consulting firm focused on complex investigations and regulatory compliance. During this time, he directed operational components and logistics for a multi-year tax compliance engagement in Zurich, Switzerland for Credit Suisse Bank; led audits of federal grant-funding recipients for the New York State Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery efforts; and supervised the construction monitorship of an affordable housing development project in New York City.
Mr. Parra has also held several high-level positions with the City of New York. While at the Mayor’s Office during the Bloomberg Administration, he managed a billion-dollar public works portfolio, overseeing major construction and development projects. As the director of the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement, he led a multi-agency team that investigated compliance violations throughout the city. He also directed logistics, including deployment of private sector contractors and multi-agency inspection teams on behalf of City Hall in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Mr. Parra began his career as a prosecutor and then litigated §1983 civil rights cases on behalf of the New York City Police Department.
