After several years as a parent with children in the care of an Acre provider and serving on the agency’s Board of Directors, in 1998 Zelma Khadar joined the Acre staff as coordinator of the Individual Development Account (IDA) program. Zelma managed the Child Care Department, overseeing educator and parent services until 2017. She became Co-Executive Director in July 2017.

​Zelma serves on the board of the Merrimack Valley Housing Partnership and is an Ex-Officio Member of the Lowell Plan.

Zlema is bilingual in English and Spanish and is a graduate of the University of Havana, Cuba. She an alumna of the BU Institute of Nonprofit Management Program class of 2010 and The Lowell Plan Public Matters class of 2020.