NH&RA Annual Meeting & Symposium (2018)
Speakers
Corey Aber
Corey Aber
Corey Aber leads Freddie Mac Multifamily’s Community Mission efforts to reach new markets and communities and support affordable housing and underserved markets nationwide. Mr. Aber has been with Freddie Mac for 12 years. He is a graduate of Brown University, where he studied History, Literature, and Architecture History.
Laura Abernathy
Laura Abernathy
Laura Abernathy joined the National Housing Trust in 2010 and currently serves as the State and Local Policy Director. In this role, Laura oversees the Trust’s work on state and local public policy initiatives in all 50 states, working with elected officials, government employees, and advocates from around the country to shape public policy that promotes local affordable housing preservation, strengthens communities, and provides access to opportunity for low-income families.
Before joining NHT, Laura worked at the Shimberg Center for Housing Studies (Shimberg) to promote affordable, suitable, and accessible housing throughout the state of Florida.
Laura holds a B.A. in Economics and English Literature from Franklin & Marshall College and a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Florida, where she specialized in Housing, Community, and Economic Development.
Leila Ahmadifar
Leila Ahmadifar
Leila Ahmadifar is a Senior Director for Community Investments Production within Aegon Asset Management. In her role as Senior Director, Leila is responsible for the origination, structuring, underwriting and closing of tax credit investments nationally as well as preservation and other investment opportunities related to affordable housing. She is an established industry professional with over 20 years of experience in acquiring and closing complex affordable housing transactions, in both the primary and secondary markets. Leila was formerly the Director of Low Income Housing Tax Credit Investments for the Structured Lending and Investments Group, a business within Citigroup's Municipal Securities Division. Prior to Citi, Leila held underwriting and acquisitions positions at various syndicators. Leila served on the Board of Governors for the Affordable Housing Investors Council (AHIC) and is also the former President of AHIC. She received a BS in Business Administration from Boston University and an MS in Real Estate from Columbia University.
Meghan Altidor
Meghan Altidor
Meghan represents nonprofit and for-profit developers in acquiring, constructing, rehabilitating, and operating affordable housing developments around the country. She structures complex financings that involve tax-exempt bonds, LIHTCs, and other federal, state, and local government subsidies. Meghan also has extensive experience representing public housing authorities and developers in connection with RAD Component 1 conversion and HUD mixed-finance transactions.
Tom Anderson
Tom Anderson
Tom Anderson serves as Managing Director of Cohen-Esrey Development Group, the development unit for Cohen-Esrey, a mid-west based owner and operator of market rate and affordable multifamily housing. In his role, Tom oversees a growing team of development, design, and construction professionals dedicated to creating effective public-private partnerships focused on solving the most challenging housing challenges confronted by communities of all sizes. The team's primary financing tools include Section 42 and 47 of the IRS code involving low income and historic tax credits as well as Community Development Block Grants, Federal Home Loan Bank grants; and other debt, equity, and grant sources. CEDG is currently active in the states of Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Texas, Illinois, Tennessee, and Kentucky.
Ben Applegate
Ben Applegate
A founding member of Applegate & Thorne-Thomsen, Ben has been actively involved in the development and finance of affordable housing throughout his career. He has significant experience with various federal, state and local loan and grant programs utilized for the rehabilitation or new construction of multi-family housing, including housing for families, the elderly, the homeless and individuals with special needs.
Ben’s practice includes the representation of profit and non-profit developers, syndicators and direct investors involved with projects utilizing the syndication of low-income housing tax credits. He is a frequent speaker throughout the country on the structuring and negotiation of affordable housing development transactions. In 2009, Ben, along with Tom Thorne-Thomsen, was recognized by Business and Professional People for the Public Interest (BPI) as one of BPI’s “40 Who’ve Made a Difference” for the people of the Chicago Region.
Cynthia Bast
Cynthia Bast
A partner in the Austin office of Locke Lord LLP, Cynthia Bast is nationally recognized as a preeminent attorney in the area of affordable housing finance. She leads her firm's Affordable Housing Section and is Co-Chair of the Firm's Board of Directors. For more than 25 years, Cynthia has been assisting clients with complex affordable housing and community development transactions using a variety of financing tools, including housing tax credits, tax-exempt bonds, HUD programs, and other federal, state, and local resources. In addition to her transactional work, Cynthia actively represents clients before relevant governmental authorities and advocates for affordable housing issues with the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs and Texas Legislature. More recently, Cynthia has been working with clients to reposition affordable housing properties that are nearing the ends of their regulatory compliance periods or in need of financial restructuring. Cynthia uses her vast experience to write on matters related to affordable housing and speak at conferences around the country. In 2014, her contributions were acknowledged by the receipt of the Jean W. MacDonald Lifetime Achievement Award, given by the Texas Affiliation of Affordable Housing Providers. Cynthia is listed in Chambers USA for 2017.
Peter Bell
Peter Bell
Peter Bell is President and CEO of the National Housing & Rehabilitation Association, a 46 year old organization of real estate developers, lenders, equity investors, attorneys, accountants, nonprofit and public officials who are involved in the development, financing and operation of affordable housing under various federal, state and local housing programs. Mr. Bell has served as NH&RA's President and CEO since 1976. Mr. Bell is the owner and publisher of Tax Credit Advisor, a monthly magazine focused on real estate development utilizing various federal tax credits, including the low income housing tax credit, historic rehabilitation tax credit and the New Markets Tax Credit. Mr. Bell is also executive director of the Telluride Society for Jazz, a Colorado nonprofit organization that hosts the Telluride Jazz Festival, August 4-6 in 2017.
Michael Boyle
Michael Boyle
Mike Boyle is responsible for identifying, structuring, negotiating and closing Low Income Housing Tax Credit Investment Opportunities with a focus on the Southeast region of the United States. Mike has been active in affordable housing finance since 2004; most recently serving as vice president with a real estate financial services company where he focused on originating affordable debt and equity finance opportunities throughout the Southeast. Prior to that, Mike worked for a nationally recognized tax credit syndicator and led the origination of investment opportunities throughout the East Coast. He earned his MBA from the University of Notre Dame, a Bachelors in Finance from the University of South Florida and served in the U.S. Army.
Jerome A. Breed
Jerome A. Breed
Jerry Breed focuses his practice on tax planning and the structuring of low-income housing tax credit, historic rehabilitation tax credit, new markets tax credit and renewable energy transactions.
Mr. Breed has closed many low-income housing, historic rehabilitation, new markets tax credit and renewable energy transactions that permit his clients to maximize tax benefits and investment returns, all within the framework of the client's business goals. He has substantial experience in the taxation of community development and new markets credit investments. Mr. Breed also has represented clients with respect to audits of tax credit investments.
Clients of Mr. Breed include syndicators and investors in low-income housing, historic rehabilitation, new markets tax credit and renewable energy transactions as well as developers of these credit projects. In the New Markets Tax Credits area, Mr. Breed represents the owners of qualified active low-income community businesses and community development entities. Mr. Breed also represents state housing authorities that allocate low-income housing tax credits. Frequently, these federal credits include state credits and other federal, state and local subsidies.
Mr. Breed has given presentations at numerous seminars and conferences on the low-income housing, historic rehabilitation, new markets tax credits and renewable energy credits including presentations on partnership taxation, and real estate tax issues. He also is author of a number of articles on tax credits and other federal income tax matters.
Brian Callahan
Brian Callahan
Brian is responsible for the sourcing and asset management of affordable and market rate housing opportunities. While at Roseview Brian has been involved in the closings of over $300M in multifamily properties including the recapitalization of a affordable housing portfolio that contained over 90 Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) General and Limited Partnerships. As part of the recapitalization, we created the business plan to increase the value of the assets through a universal management change and through capital improvements as well as manage the execution of the business plan.
Miles Cary III
Miles Cary III
Miles Cary is Senior Vice President and Senior Client Manager in the Bank’s Community Development Banking (CDB) Group with regional coverage responsibility for the State of Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Most recently, Mr. Cary served as Senior Equity Originator for 10 years in Bank of America’s Tax Credit Investment Group where he was primarily responsible for the strategic equity investments primarily involving Historic and New Markets tax credits for the Bank of America’s own account as well as for syndication on a nationwide basis. With over 25 years of real estate finance and investment banking experience, Mr. Cary has held a variety of senior level positions throughout his career in such areas as construction lending, structured finance, commercial mortgage backed securities, commercial loan underwriting, and portfolio management. As part of Bank of America’s Community Development Banking group, Mr. Cary’s current role and responsibilities heavily focus on helping fulfill Bank of America’s unprecedented 10-year, $1.5 trillion community development goal to invest and lend for community development efforts throughout the country. Mr. Cary, based in Baltimore, MD, has remained active with his local community development efforts where he served for over nine years on the board of directors and as Treasurer for Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS), a non-profit organization with a mission to help revitalize neighborhoods by promoting and making home ownership a reality to many local residents. Currently, Mr. Cary sits on the board of Maryland Council on Economic Education which promotes financial literacy for all high school students across the State of Maryland. Bank of America also sponsored Mr. Cary to apply for and participate in Leadership Maryland where he successfully graduated from that extensive statewide leadership program in 2012. Born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, Mr. Cary is a graduate of the University of Colorado, Boulder Campus with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and currently holds series 7 and 63 securities licenses.
Robert Cleckner
Robert Cleckner
Erin Cooperrider
Erin Cooperrider
Erin Cooperrider is a partner at NewHeight Group, a Portland-based development firm and the Development Director for Community Housing of Maine, a 23-year old non-profit affordable housing developer. During her tenure at CHOM, Erin helped to grow the organization’s asset base from $7 to more than $70 million. Erin was a co-founder of The Signal Group, a 22-year old real estate services company and currently chairs the board of directors of CEI, Inc. and serves on the Advisory Council of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston. Erin received her undergraduate degree from Duke University and her graduate degree from Stanford University.
Suzanne Cope
Suzanne Cope
Suzie Cope is a Senior Vice President in our Denver, Colorado office and has extensive experience in loan origination in affordable and market rate mortgages. Prior to Hunt Companies, Suzie was a Senior Vice President in the Affordable Multifamily division of Bellwether Enterprise and Hunt Mortgage Group (formerly Centerline Capital Group). She was responsible for west coast originations of all debt financing activities for affordable multifamily housing. Suzie helped to re-launch and fully develop an affordable housing lending platform, which included: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA executions as well as affiliated executions for conduit and bridge lending for multifamily housing financing. Prior to joining Hunt Mortgage Group, Suzanne was Senior Account Manager with Fannie Mae in Los Angeles for five years, where she managed and structured transactions for affordable and market rate housing mortgage relationships. She also worked on affordable housing product enhancements while at Fannie Mae. Suzanne currently sits on Fannie Mae’s DUS Originator’s Committee. In 2014, Suzanne was named one of Real Estate Forum’s “2014 Women in Influence.” Suzanne earned her Masters of Real Estate Development at the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Science in finance and marketing from Tulane University.
Dan Duda
Dan Duda
Dan Duda is Vice President, East Regional Director for CSG in the Clearwater office. Dan is responsible for debt and equity origination for both affordable and market rate properties in the East Region. Dan previously served CSG as an Underwriter and was responsible for identifying risk in debt and equity real estate transactions throughout the United States.
Prior to joining CSG in 2013, Mr. Duda served as a Financial Analyst at Investors Bank in New York City. He focused primarily on originating and underwriting multifamily, mixed-use, retail, and industrial loans in the Northeast. Throughout his career, Dan has been responsible for underwriting loans totaling $200 million.
Mr. Duda attended East Carolina University and received a Bachelors of Science degree in Finance.
Michael Duffy
Michael Duffy
With more than fifteen years of experience in the redevelopment of urban communities, Michael Duffy oversees the operations of McCormack Baron Salazar and holds executive responsibility over development finance, design and construction and quality assurance. He manages a multi-disciplinary team of design, construction, sustainability, and finance staff across the country. As part of the executive committee, Mike assesses the risk profile of each development project and works with local partners, government stakeholders, private lenders and equity providers to create transformative, financially-sustainable communities.
Robyn Eaton
Robyn Eaton
Robyn joined Herman & Kittle Properties in 2014. In her current role as Vice President, Portfolio Management & Analysis, Robyn's primary responsibilities include managing relationships with third party managed assets, supporting revenue management, management of annual utility allowances & energy initiatives, monthly financial statement review, annual operating budget processes, management of capital improvements, and identifying and implementation of portfolio initiatives and management of dispositions.
Robyn has worked in the Multi-family Real Estate industry since 1992 and has experience with management of assets in more than 17 states.
Robyn graduated from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communication. Robyn has been an active participant with the Ball State Residential Property Management School Advisory Board and is a member of the 2012 Hamilton County Leadership Academy and has served on the organization's Board of Directors since 2013. She holds an Indiana Real Estate Sales and Brokers License.
Robert U. Fein
Robert U. Fein
Bob Fein is Principal and Chief Operating Officer for Red Stone Equity Partners, LLC and assists Mr. McClelland with the day-to-day operations of Red Stone Equity Partners’ investment activity. Bob works closely with outside counsel in overseeing the acquisition of LIHTC projects, is directly involved in all investor closings, and actively participates in various facets of asset management.
Bob has over 30 years of real estate experience and 20 years of LIHTC syndication experience and has participated in the acquisition and syndication of approximately $6 billion of tax credit equity. Prior to joining Red Stone, Bob served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel of a national tax-credit syndication firm and prior to that, Bob practiced law for over 12 years and was a partner with Kahn Kleinman.
Bob is an active panelist at tax credit conferences and serves on the Board of Directors of the National Housing and Rehabilitation Association and is also serving on NHRA’s policy leadership committee. Bob is a member of the Steering Committee of the Housing Credit Group of the National Association of Home Builders, and is a member of the Illinois Housing Council. Bob also participates with the Housing Advisory Group and the American Bar Association’s Forum on Affordable Housing.
Helen Feinberg
Helen Feinberg
Helen Hough Feinberg serves as manager of RBC Capital Market’s Florida Municipal Finance office and Multifamily sector leader nationally. Ms. Feinberg has approximately 30 years’ experience in the affordable housing sector having served as underwriter or placement agent on a wide range of single family and multifamily transactions. Her client base includes state and local housing finance agencies, public housing authorities, developer and non-profits.
Ms. Feinberg graduated from Wake Forest University where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree with majors in both Economics and Spanish. She is a licensed General Securities Representative, Municipal Securities Principal and General Securities Principal. Ms. Feinberg currently serves as an advisory council member for the Florida Housing Coalition and a board member of the Coalition of Affordable Housing Providers. Ms. Feinberg was appointed by Governor Jeb Bush to serve as Chair of the Affordable Housing Study Commission from 2004 through 2007 and previously served as a member of Fannie Mae’s National Advisory Council for a two year term.
Caroline Finger
Caroline Finger
Caroline Finger is a Commercial Banker in the Chase Community Development Real Estate Group; a leader in providing financing solutions that benefit communities across the nation. The real estate lending team originates over $1 billion annually in construction and permanent debt products to develop and revitalize affordable housing properties throughout the Chase retail footprint. Caroline is a member of the Northeast team and is responsible for originating debt throughout the region with a specific focus on Upstate New York and New England. Caroline holds a bachelors degree from the University Pennsylvania and a masters degree in real estate finance from New York University’s Schack Institute of Real Estate.
David Fournier
David Fournier
David Fournier is founder and currently Executive Managing Director of ARA Newmark’s Affordable Housing Advisory division. A pioneer in the brokerage of affordable housing, David has been involved in affordable housing brokerage for 20+ years. Over this period, he has evaluated, consulted, or brokered over $10 billion in affordable housing properties nationally. This includes the sale of Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) properties, partnership interests, bond-financed communities and Section 8/HAP properties.
David holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Real Estate Finance from the University of New Orleans and earned the MAI designation from the Appraisal Institute. He is a board member for the National Housing & Re¬habilitation Association, is actively involved with Housing Works Austin and continues to be a featured panelist for various affordable housing conferences.
John W. Gahan III
John W. Gahan III
For over 35 years, John has concentrated his practice in the development of real estate projects. While his clients have come from a broad range of diverse industries, most of John’s day-to-day representation involves housing. John’s clients have built, owned and/or managed hundreds of thousands of multi-family housing units, including housing for the men and women who serve in our armed forces. John has extensive experience in complicated financing structures including syndication of State and Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits, State and Federal Historic Credits, New Market Tax Credits, Brownfields Credits, energy-related credits and other state credits.
Working with owners, lenders investors, industry groups, as well as municipal, state, federal, governmental and regulatory agencies to obtain approvals and support for proposed developments, John’s skills and experience have earned him the reputation as a lawyer who “gets the deal done.”
John currently serves on the Board of Directors of Preservation Massachusetts and the National Housing & Rehabilitation Association (NH&RA). He assisted in drafting laws and regulations dealing with affordable housing properties to better facilitate the advancement of his clients’ projects, including the preservation law, enacted in 2009, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (Chapter 40T – An Act Preserving Publicly-Assisted Affordable Housing). John continues to serve on the advisory committee which provides advice and recommendations relative to the implementation of Chapter 40T. He also serves, or has served, on the boards of a number of local community banks, hospitals and other social organizations.
Dwayne Selwyn George
Dwayne Selwyn George
Dwayne George is a Production Director in the Target Affordable Housing Group at Freddie Mac. In his currently role, Mr. George leads a Production team of three Relationship Managers and three Production Associates, across eight Seller Accounts, responsible for $2.2B-$2.5B of annual Target Affordable Housing production. In his previous role as a Production Manager, Mr. George individually sourced approximately $3.3B of affordable multifamily loans for Freddie Mac Seller Servicers. In addition, Mr. George played a critical role in the development and implementation of TAH product offerings, such as Bridge to Resyndication, FLEX TEL, and Extended Rate Lock TEL.
Prior to joining the production team, Mr. George served as a Freddie Mac Senior Underwriter in the Target Affordable Housing Group, where he was responsible for obtaining and granting credit approvals for LIHTC Preservation, Section 8, Bond Credit Enhancement, Moderate Rehabilitations, and Capital Market loans totaling $300-$400 million in annual production. During his first three years at Freddie, Mr. George orchestrated the purchase of $920 million in Freddie Mac Target Affordable originations, which included the firm’s largest Target Affordable Housing CME transaction, the first Short Term Bond Execution, and the first R.A.D conversion.
Prior to joining Freddie Mac, Mr. George worked with Bellweather-Enterprise as a Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae Senior Underwriter. While there, he underwrote the firms first Freddie Mac CME and immediate moderate rehabilitation loans and committed 20% of the firms total 2011/2012 Multifamily Finance budget. Mr. George also served as a Senior Production Analyst at Amerisphere Multifamily Finance for the conventional and affordable Fannie Mae debt platform. As Production Analyst, he facilitated the funding of $450 million in Fannie Mae DUS loans, which generated $1.5 million in fee income for the firm, as well as, negotiated trade indications with MBS buyers of Fannie Mae debt.
Mr. George is a graduate of Goucher College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Management; and Georgetown University with a master’s degree in Real Estate.
Cash Gill
Cash Gill
Cash Gill of Gill Group, Inc. is an alumnus of the University of Missouri; a Board Member for the National Association of Housing and Rehabilitation Association (NH&RA); Chairman of the Appraisal Subcommittee and Board Member for the National Council for Affordable and Rural Housing (CARH); Advisory Board Member for the Tax Credit Advisor publication; a designated member of both the Appraisal Institute (MAI) and the National Council of Housing Market Analysts (NCHMA); and a Gubernatorial Appointed Real Estate Appraiser Commissioner. He regularly publishes articles, gives lectures, and speaks on panels regarding real estate valuation and market research across the country.
Robert Hazelton
Robert Hazelton
Rob Hazelton founded Dominion Due Diligence Group (D3G) 23 years ago with a focus on affordable housing solutions. He has vast experience with multi-family housing preservation as it relates to capital needs, architectural design, construction cost estimation, energy conservation and environmental issues. Rob has worked in all 50 states for the preservation of multifamily and senior housing under the LIHTC Qualified Allocation Plans. He has been involved with the HUD Multifamily Accelerated Process (MAP) Guide since inception, and is proficient in the FHA-HUD multifamily mortgage insurance markets. The last six (6) years he has worked closely with HUD to define and leverage energy efficiency in the subsidized housing portfolio. He is an active participant in many affordable housing organizations including the MBA, HAG, MLC, NLHA, NCSHA, IRHP, NH&RA, and NAHRO, as well as, a multitude of regional and state housing organizations.
Mr. Hazelton frequently provides technical services for HUD’s many pilot and demonstration programs, and is currently working with the LIHTC Pilot, the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD), Moving to Work (MTW) and self-managed Energy Performance Contracting (EPC). His current preoccupation in the world of affordable housing is the HUD Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program where he has worked with over 200 public housing agencies encompassing greater than 115,000 units of conversion; including some of the largest housing authority conversions to date in the cities of San Francisco, El Paso, Baltimore, Greensboro, Nashville, and New York City.
Rob is a graduate of Bucknell University and resides in Richmond, Virginia.
Matthew Holden
Matthew Holden
Matt Holden is president of Sparhawk Group and sets the vision for the team to provide client solutions that are context-appropriate. Solutions that encompass both technical and financial information presented and explained so clients can make the best informed decision. As a designer, Matt’s goal is to provide robust solutions that can be built and maintained cost-effectively.
Chris Huber
Chris Huber
Chris joined BKS-Partners as the Business Development Director in 2016. He brings over 10 years of diverse insurance industry experience from local, regional, and national property & casualty brokers. As BKS’ Business Development Director, Chris is responsible for driving top-line growth, mentoring Advisors, and continually finding ways to add value to existing clients.
Chris earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA), with a major in Economics, from the University of Florida, where he graduated with Honors. He is a credentialed insurance professional with many designations, including the Chartered Property & Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), the Associate in Risk Management (ARM), and the Accredited Adviser in Insurance (AAI). In 2008, he was recognized as a “Distinguished Graduate” of the AAI program by the American Institute of Chartered Property & Casualty Underwriters (AICPCU). As a Distinguished Graduate, Chris received one of the three highest cumulative scores of all the AAI graduates in the entire country in 2008. His industry specialization includes real estate, healthcare, and financial institutions.
Chris has volunteered for many non-profit organizations around the Tampa Bay area over the years, including the Bay Area Manufacturers Association, the Hillsborough Education Foundation, Rotary International, and the Deaf & Hearing Connection for Tampa Bay. He’s currently a board member for the Agency for Community Treatment Services (ACTS), a behavioral health organization that provides substance abuse and mental health services.
Darcy Jameson
Darcy Jameson
Darcy L. Jameson is a Senior Development Director at Beacon Communities Development, a Boston-based multi-family development and management company. Darcy has been involved in multi-family development since 1999 and is actively involved in affordable housing policy and development. Darcy joined Beacon in 2004 and has managed the permitting, design, closing, and construction of numerous complex developments. In addition, Darcy is overseeing the implementation of a new asset management business system to help Beacon manage its 18,000 unit portfolio. Prior to joining Beacon, Darcy served as the Director of Housing for the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Before working in Cambridge, Darcy was an associate at Stockard Engler Brigham, a private consulting firm dedicated to housing development and neighborhood revitalization. Earlier in her career, Darcy worked in the field of international community development and education. Darcy holds a BA in environmental studies from the University of Vermont and an MA in public policy from Tufts University. Darcy is Co-Chair of the Program Oversight Committee for the Urban Land Institute’s Boston Chapter and serves on the national Multi-Family Council. When she’s not working, Darcy is usually traveling, skiing or fly fishing.
Amy O Johnson
Amy O Johnson
Amy O. Johnson serves Belveron Partners as an Asset Manager. Belveron Partners is a privately held investment firm with a strong focus on preserving affordable and workforce housing across the US in more than 200 properties in 32 states. Amy’s role is to help reposition new acquisitions for future recapitalization and improve operating proformas. Her projects and strengths include an integrative, out of box, creative mindset, conceptualization and implementation of large capital improvement projects in excess of $19 million, environmental and energy work, strategic value add solutions, design decisions, pilot work, implementation of master insurance program, and oversight of in house portfolio.
Greg Judge
Greg Judge
James Keefe
James Keefe
Jim Keefe is a principal at Trinity Financial, Inc., a New England based real estate development company with offices in Boston and New York. Having just celebrated 30 years of successful development, Trinity has specialized in ground-up construction and historic restoration in urban infill locations. The company has developed and manages 9,000 units of mixed income rental and for-sale housing and over 800,000 square feet of neighborhood office and retail. With $3 billion in total development, the company’s portfolio includes supportive housing, student housing, transit oriented development, HOPE VI/CNI public housing redevelopments, live/work space for artists, and most recently, Passive House technology. The company has won numerous local and national awards, with transformative development work in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York. Prior to joining Trinity, Mr. Keefe was Vice President for Development at Renaissance Properties in Boston, and prior to that he was a Commercial Loan Officer for the Bank of Boston. He is a former member of the Boston Landmarks Commission, a founding member of the Codman Square Housing Development Corporation (now NDC), and has taught at Tufts University in the Urban and Environmental Policy Department. He has a Bachelor’s degree from Fordham University and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Boston University.
Angela M Kelcher
Angela M Kelcher
Angela Kelcher is the Director of Affordable Production for Fannie Mae’s Multifamily Mortgage Business. In this position she manages production strategy and deliveries from the nationwide network of approved affordable lenders. The Affordable Channel focuses on properties with recorded rent or income restrictions or other affordability characteristics.
Before joining Fannie Mae in 2004, Angela worked for Bank of America providing construction financing for affordable multifamily properties. She also worked for SunAmerica structuring equity investments in Low Income Housing Tax Credit properties.
Angela has served on the board of the Central Arlington Housing Development Corporation and as an officer on the board of the North Texas Housing Coalition.
Sydelle Knepper
Sydelle Knepper
Ms. Knepper is the founder and CEO of SKA Marin, a leading affordable real estate development firm. She has more than thirty years of experience in community and real estate development, in both the private and public sectors. Ms. Knepper’s project experience aggregates in excess of over one billion in total constructed value and she has expertise in all phases of development and construction management.
Before starting SKA Marin, Ms. Knepper held positions as Assistant Commissioner for Development and Policy at the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, Director of Project Finance at the New York State Housing Finance Agency, Special Assistant at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Director of Local Legislation for Mayor Ed Koch, and Chair of the first public water authority in Nassau County.
Ms. Knepper is currently the Co-Chair of the New York Housing Conference and a member of the Board of Governors of the National Housing Conference. Her service on Boards includes the New York City Loft Board, the Council of Senior Centers and Services, the Manhattan Borough President’s Task Force on Assisted Living, the Public Advocate’s Task Force on Aging, the U.S. Department of Labor Construction Liaison Group, the City Council’s Legislative Advisory Commission on the Homeless, and as an elected Trustee of the Village of Kensington.
Ms. Knepper has an M.Phil.from the Graduate Center, City University of New York. She studied in Paris, France as a recipient of the Center for European Studies Fellowship and started her career in city government as a New York City Urban Fellow.
Douglas P. Koch
Douglas P. Koch
Douglas Koch, MAI, AICP and Advisory Affiliates, LLC provide clients with advisory services across key disciplines needed to plan, appraise, analyze and successfully complete complex real estate and investment fund transactions in affordable housing, real estate and community development. Along with real estate, planning and investor consulting 2018 activities, Advisory Affiliates participated in affordable/workforce housing development ventures arranging tax credit and private equity financing, assisting with organizational formation and coordinating underwriting activities. Advisory Affiliates, LLC is available to work directly with clients and collaborate with other professionals across a number of real estate and affordable housing and community development services.
Barry Krinsky
Barry Krinsky
Mr. Krinsky is the regional director for the Florida region of Citi Community Capital (CCC). He is responsible for investment banking and originating mortgage loans and related structured financings specializing in multifamily affordable housing finance.
Prior to joining CCC, Mr. Krinsky was a Vice President of Capmark Finance Inc., previously known as GMAC Commercial Mortgage. In this capacity Mr. Krinsky was responsible for originating numerous transactions financed with tax-exempt bonds and/or Low Income Housing Tax Credits. Other responsibilities included product marketing, initial loan underwriting and process management. The principal financing products included Agency tax exempt bond credit enhancement and mortgage loans through the Eastern United States.
Mr. Krinsky graduated Magna Cum Laude from Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Science in Telecommunications Management.
David F. Leon
David F. Leon
David F. Leon is Co-Chair of the Firm’s Affordable Housing and Tax Credit Practice Group.
Leon holds an AV Preeminent® rating with the Martindale Hubbell publication, a rating denoting the highest accolade an attorney can receive for his “legal ability” and “adherence to professional standards of conduct, ethics, reliability and diligence.” In addition to affordable housing matters, Leon handles corporate law, municipal financing, EB-5 transactions, VA housing programs, state and local taxation, USDA loans, HUD financing, new market tax credit and historic tax credit transactions. Leon is also deeply involved in micro-finance and capital raise transactions, and works to create programs for clients who are seeking crowd source, Reg. A Plus, or other types of funding utilizing programs similar to the Florida Intrastate Crowdfunding Exemption.
Leon is a Certified Public Accountant. Before joining Broad and Cassel, Leon was a Senior Tax Associate with Coopers and Lybrand’s multi-state tax department in Orlando. Leon and his team close several hundred million dollars in tax credit and tax exempt financial transactions annually. He is a member of the USA Today Money Panel. Leon is a member of the Florida Bar. He is active in the community and is a staunch supporter of Sound of Grace and the Providence Theological Seminary. Leon has also served as an adjunct professor at Florida A&M University College of Law. He is married and has two daughters.
Efrem Levy
Efrem Levy
Efrem is the managing member of Reno & Cavanaugh’s Washington, DC office. Efrem represents affordable housing developers, housing authorities and lenders across the country in complex redevelopment projects that combines federal low-income housing tax credits, tax exempt bonds, state housing tax credits, FHA funds and other public and private sources of development funds. Efrem also focuses on the use of project-based housing choice vouchers, particularly in the mixed-finance context, assists housing authorities with audits or investigations by the HUD Office of Inspector General, and represents other non-profit entities related to commercial lease negotiation, tax-exempt issues and other corporate matters. Efrem is a frequent speaker on real estate finance, public housing and Section 8 issues before the American Bar Association Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development Law, Housing and Development Law Institute, and the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO).
Tim Liberty
Tim Liberty
Tim joined BKS in 2015 as a Claims Consultant and acts as a client advocate for all things claims related. Prior to BKS he was an adjuster with Liberty Mutual in which he was dedicated to the UPS account.
Tim served 4 years in the Marine Corps as an infantryman and served most of his time overseas. He was awarded a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal with Combat Valor for actions during an enemy engagement.
He has a bachelors in Political Science from Northeastern Illinois University and a Masters in Critical Incident Management from St. Leo University. He holds an Associate in Claims designation.
Rush Lincoln
Rush Lincoln
Mr. Lincoln has more than 25 years of experience in residential underwriting with an emphasis in environmental assessment and construction risk management. As Vice President of Engineering, Mr. Lincoln manages an in-house team of engineers and provides guidance on environmental and construction issues, interfacing with acquisitions, asset management and Boston Capital investors.
Prior to joining Boston Capital in 2014, Mr. Lincoln served as the Director of Environmental and Construction Risk Management for Boston Financial for 14 years. His responsibilities included establishing policies and procedures, evaluating environmental and construction risks and monitoring construction activity. Mr. Lincoln also provided training seminars, managed third-party consultants and established standardized report formats and review protocols. His experience also includes commercial banking, mortgage banking and environmental consulting.
Mr. Lincoln holds an MBA in Finance from University of Colorado, an MS in Geology from Duke University and a BA in Geology from Colgate University. He has recently completed a Construction Management Graduate Certificate program and is LEED AP designated.
Mark S. McDaniel
Mark S. McDaniel
Mark S. McDaniel is President and CEO of Cinnaire (formerly Great Lakes Capital Fund), a Community Development Finance Organization with offices in Lansing, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Delaware. Mark received his B.S. in Urban Planning from Michigan State University in 1977 and has over 30 years of experience in the areas of affordable housing, community development, urban planning and market research. In Mark’s professional career formerly served as Vice President and President of a major development company in Michigan, and as Director of Development for a statewide nonprofit housing corporation. Since Cinnaire’s inception in 1993, with Mark at its helm, the organization has committed over $3.5 billion of loans and equity for affordable housing and community development efforts. Mark has strategically diversified the organization to provide access to permanent debt financing, construction lending, technical assistance, predevelopment lending, youth leadership training, and title services. As a result, Cinnaire is recognized by the United States Treasury Department as a Community Development Financial Institution. Cinnaire is also recognized nationally as one of the top nonprofits in the country and has been named by The NonProfit Times as a Top 50 nonprofit to work for and Crain’s Detroit Business as one of the Cool Places to Work for in Michigan.
Mark’s expertise has been tapped by many affiliate organizations of the affordable housing, development, and financial industries. Mr. McDaniel has served on the Board of Directors of a number of nonprofit organizations which advocate on behalf of affordable housing. Mark’s appointments include: Michigan Housing Council (current President), National Association of State and Local Equity Funds (past President); Fifth Third Bank’s Community Advisory Forum (Board Member); Habitat for Humanity of MI (Board Member); Michigan Magnet Fund (Treasurer); Art of Leadership Foundation (Vice Chair); Community Economic Development Association of Michigan (Board Member); Corporation for Supportive Housing State Advisory Committee (Member); National City Community Development Association (Board Member); Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis Affordable Housing Council (former Chairman and Board Member), Children’s Trust Fund (Board of Directors), Michigan State University Urban Planning Alumni Advisory Board (Member), and the Seminary Consortium for Urban Pastoral Education (Board Member).
Mark has been the recipient of numerous business and civic awards over the course of his career. In 2004 he was the recipient of the Entrepreneur of the Year Award from the Greater Lansing Business Monthly and in 2008, the Governors Corporate Service Award. In 2011, he was awarded the Michigan Habitat for Humanity’s Bernice Bensen Award for his long service and commitment to Habitat for Humanity. He received the prestigious Terry R. Duvernay Award recognizing lifetime achievements of leaders in the affordable housing industry in 2013. In 2016, he was awarded the Children's Advocate Award by the Children’s Trust Fund and in 2017, he was inducted into Affordable Housing Finance Hall of Fame. Mark was honored in 2018 by the Greater Lansing Martin Luther King Commission with the Mark McDaniel Legacy Scholarships in recognition of his commitment to helping others and his support of the community.
James E. McDermott
James E. McDermott
James E. McDermott is a partner in Holland & Knight's Boston office and serves as the Section Leader for the firm's Business Section. He concentrates his practice in tax and business transactions with an emphasis on the equity financing of affordable housing projects eligible for the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, and projects of all types eligible for the Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit. He has represented numerous investors, developers and syndicators for more than 30 years in these matters. He is a frequent speaker at industry and legal conferences on the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit.
Mr. McDermott is actively involved in his hometown community of Watertown, Mass., and has been involved in various activities of the Boston College and Boston College Law School Alumni Related Practices: Tax Credit Transactions Tax Credit Fund Formation Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit Low-Income Housing Tax Credits New Markets Tax Credit Corporate Services Associations. While in law school Mr. McDermott served as an editor of the Boston College Environmental Affairs Law Review. Mr. McDermott served as law clerk to Justices of the Superior Court in Massachusetts from 1980-1981.
Christina McPike
Christina McPike
Since joining WinnCompanies five years ago, Ms. McPike has coordinated and implemented over $15 million worth of energy efficiency upgrades, including, but not limited to, LED lighting retrofits, weatherization work, and heating system installations. With Ms. McPike’s expertise and cross-disciplinary approach, WinnDevelopment successfully integrates environmentally responsible design standards and best practices into every project, from occupied moderate renovations to historic adaptive reuse projects. Ms. McPike has experience working with state and local agencies and utility companies in D.C., Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York where she oversees a diversity of projects, including those pursuing Enterprise Green Communities, ENERGY STAR, and LEED certifications. Ms. McPike also supports WinnResidential property and asset management departments on energy retrofit opportunities, utility benchmarking, resident engagement, and green operations and maintenance.
Ms. McPike is a member of the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association, where she received the Kate Goldstein Fund award in 2016, and has participated in numerous speaking engagements. Ms. McPike is also a member of the Massachusetts Chapter of the US Green Building Council and served on the 2017 Greenbuild Host Committee. She holds degrees from Northeastern University and Boston College.
Ron Mehl
Ron Mehl
As Vice President & Project Partner, Ron Mehl is responsible for new project development, acquisitions and financing. In addition, he analyzes new acquisition opportunities, determines project feasibility, oversees design and const ruct ion , partnership restructuring, and negotiations with lenders, investors and third party vendors.
Mr. Mehl has played an integral role developing Dominium's senior housing portfolio. He is involved in the re-syndication of Dominium's existing portfolio of original tax credit projects throughout the Midwest. In 2016, he opened a Dominium Development office in Denver, Co. and is growing the existing Dominium portfolio in a fast paced, growing economy with great attainable housing needs.
In the past, Mr. Mehl has been directly involved with new project development, financing, acquisitions and asset management for a commercial developer. He also worked to support the management of
a $400 million portfolio and assisted in the restructuring of $50 million of debt and $40 million of equity.
Mr. Mehl is a graduate of Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, Calif. with a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration and a minor in Accounting.
Mr. Mehl is a volunteer with Housing Colorado NOW! and the Colorado annual housing conference , serving on the Workshop Committee. Mr. Mehl also contributes to 3 Hopeful Hearts which provides bereaved parents and families opportunities to honor, find hope and seek healing through events, support, education and remembrance.
Mr. Mehl is a founding contributor to the Dominium Foundation which contributes to important housing and social service organizations in the communities where Dominium operates.
Leslie G. Meyers
Leslie G. Meyers
Leslie Meyers is the FHA Relationship Manager for Community Development Banking’s FHA lending group. In this capacity, she works with existing and new Bank clients to structure financings that utilize FHA on a standalone basis or in conjunction with other Bank products - such as acquisition loans, LIHTC equity, and supplemental bridge financing. The FHA group’s active and closed pipeline includes over $200 million of affordable FHA loans including RAD, 202, Year 15 and 9% and 4% new construction, sub- and mod-rehab transactions. Meyers has been in multifamily finance for over 20 years and in her current role since 2013.
David Michaels
David Michaels
David Michaels is Senior Vice President, Director of Underwriting and Closings at National Affordable Housing Trust in Columbus, Ohio. David has 22-years of real estate, underwriting and housing tax credit experience. He joined NAHT in 2006 and oversees the underwriting and closing of their syndication business. David chairs the NAHT Investment and Lending Committee, the NAHT Board of Directors Investment and Lending Committees and the Letter of Intent Committee. Prior to joining NAHT, he served as Vice President of Underwriting and Chief Underwriter at Paramount Financial Group and Vice President in the equity group at Red Capital Markets, Inc. David holds a B.S. in Finance from Clarion University of Pennsylvania.
Mark Moorhouse
Mark Moorhouse
As Partner and Senior Vice President of Dominium, Mark Moorhouse is responsible for the day-to-day business operations for the growing group of 50 professionals in Development and Acquisitions department who focus on affordable housing.
Mr. Moorhouse is experienced working with various federal, state and local housing programs. He has worked on several significant portfolio acquisitions, new project developments, and the acquisition of existing apartment projects. He has played an integral role in helping the company grow from managing 6,400 units in 1996 to 28,000 units in 23 states today.
Mr. Moorhouse received his Bachelor’s degree from St. Cloud State University.
Beth Mullen
Beth Mullen
Beth Mullen, CPA, is the National Director of the Firm’s Affordable Housing Industry Practice and a member of the Firm’s Tax Practice Executive Committee. She has more than 30 years of experience providing consulting, tax, and accounting services to real estate owners and developers. A significant portion of Beth’s time is devoted to helping clients to facilitate transactions by structuring public/private partnerships that are financed in part by Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, the federal and state historic tax credit programs, the New Markets Tax Credit Program, and energy tax credits.
Beth teaches internal and external courses on these tax credits and has published articles in affordable housing and not-for-profit trade magazines. Her extensive knowledge of partnership tax law has been invaluable in resolving allocation, at-risk, exit tax, residual value, and other common partnership problems.
Beth is an industry spokesperson and is a frequently invited speaker at national and local industry trade conferences. She teaches internal and external courses on low-income, New Markets, and historic tax credits and has published articles in several trade magazines.
R. Wade Norris
R. Wade Norris
R. Wade Norris is a partner at Norris George & Ostrow PLLC. Mr. Norris is widely recognized as one of the country’s leading experts in the field of multifamily housing bond finance. Mr. Norris has over four decades’ experience in over 3,500 tax-exempt multifamily housing and other bond financings totaling over five billion dollars, primarily as Underwriter’s or Purchaser’s Counsel or Special Bond Matters Counsel to the Borrower. Mr. Norris has often played a major role in developing new financing techniques in this area of finance. In the past 10 years, these include development of, among other products, the Country’s largest tax-exempt bond and loan bank private placement program; short-term cash-backed tax-exempt bonds used with FHA, RD and other low-rate taxable loans; the Freddie Tax-Exempt Loan or “TEL” structure; and, most recently, Fannie Mae’s M.TEBs tax-exempt monthly MBS pass-through structure. Mr. Norris’ paper entitled “Introduction to Tax Exempt Multifamily Housing Bonds” is widely regarded as the industry’s leading introductory article on tax exempt multifamily housing bond finance. Mr. Norris is a member of the Georgia State Bar and is a member of the State Bar of Georgia, the Bar of the District of Columbia and the American College of Bond Counsel.
Vincent O'Donnell
Vincent O'Donnell
Lianna Petroski
Lianna Petroski
Lianna Petroski has 13 years of experience in multifamily development and finance, and has been with Enterprise Community Investment, Inc. since 2011. Ms. Petroski assists in the oversite of Enterprise’s real estate private equity program. Lianna supports capital raising, structuring and managing of equity funds, as well as originating, underwriting and closing equity investments. Prior to taking on this role in 2016, she was a senior underwriter and associate originator in the LIHTC syndication group of Enterprise.
Richard Pierce
Richard Pierce
Richard C. Pierce is the CEO and founder of Housing Management Resources, Inc, a nationwide property management company specializing in affordable housing, which is headquartered in Marina Bay, Quincy, MA. He is a partner in Silver Holdings, which owns twenty affordable housing apartment properties in upstate New York.
Mr. Pierce is President of Sage Housing, Inc., a nonprofit corporation established for the purpose of promoting affordable housing for families and seniors.
Mr. Pierce is on the Board of Directors of Acadia Housing, Inc.., a non-profit owner and manager of Rural Development –sponsored affordable housing properties.
Mr. Pierce brings more than 30 years’ experience in the property development, management, financing and permitting areas.
Prior to this, he served as General Counsel and Assistant Secretary to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Consumer Affairs, one of the Governor’s cabinet offices.
Mr. Pierce serves on the Board of Directors of the Institute for Responsible Housing Preservation and the Board of Directors of the National Leased Housing Association.
Mr. Pierce is an attorney, licensed in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and a member of the Federal District Court, Federal Appeals Court bars, and the United States Supreme Court.
Milton Pratt, Jr.
Milton Pratt, Jr.
As Senior Vice President, Milton R. Pratt Jr. leads a team of developers involved in the revitalization of communities and the creation and preservation of affordable housing along the East coast from Philadelphia to Florida as well as several Gulf States, California, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Prior to joining The Michaels Organization in 2005, Mr. Pratt served as the Region III Regional Director for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, where he was the Department’s principal liaison to Congressional members, mayors, city managers, state and local elected officials, and a wide cross section of HUD clients in the Mid-Atlantic region, for five states and the District of Columbia.
Mr. Pratt earned his BA in Public Administration with a concentration in Urban Planning from West Chester University. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the National Housing & Rehabilitation Association and is a past officer of the MARC NAHRO chapter of The National Association of Housing and Rehabilitation Officials. He has also served on various other boards, including for the Philadelphia Chapters of the National Association of Home Builders, the Cheyney University Foundation and the Kappa Alpha Psi Alumni Fraternity. He was also a member of Neighborhoods Now and served on the Board of Trustees for West Chester University Foundation. He has received a Public Housing Managers Certification from the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials.
Matthew Rieger
Matthew Rieger
Matthew Rieger is President and CEO of Housing Trust Group (HTG), an award-winning, full-service developer of multifamily residential communities whose real estate transactions have exceeded $2 billion in commercial, land and residential developments across Florida, the Southeastern U.S. and Arizona.
Prior to joining Housing Trust Group, Matthew served as an attorney at a large law practice, where he was involved in over $1 billion worth of transactions including acquisitions, development, re-financings, and joint ventures in the United States and abroad. As President and CEO of HTG since 2011, he has focused on expanding HTG’s capacity and development pipeline, bringing greater awareness to the issue of affordable and workforce housing, and working alongside industry leaders, public officials and legislators to shape policy that benefits working-class communities and families. In 2017, he was elected to serve on the Board of Directors of the Coalition of Affordable Housing Providers, a strategic alliance of non-profit and for-profit developers and professional service providers dedicated to providing safe and affordable housing to Floridians.
A native of Miami and third-generation Floridian, Matthew holds a Juris Doctorate from Nova Southeastern University and a Bachelors of Arts degree in Geography from the University of Florida. He is an active member of the Florida Bar Association and American Bar Association, and is involved with a number of charities including Habitat for Humanity and Wade’s World Foundation.
Bill Riordan
Bill Riordan
Bill has served as President of Taylor since 2015 and has been part of the Taylor team since 2008. Bill has worked for more than 20 years with a large number of affordable housing management firms / developers throughout the Northeast. Bill’s expertise is with utility data management, utility cost control, budget forecasts and risk strategies around purchasing in deregulated markets. Taylor has an online data management tool, utility module to track utility expenses.Bill has both undergraduate and graduate degrees from Northeastern University. When not working or golfing, Bill can be found with his wife Beth at the Pavilion on the campus of Villanova University or the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia watching the Villanova Wildcats basketball team, his adopted school after sending both of his daughters there.Bill is also actively involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters.
Daniel Rosen
Daniel Rosen
Dan Rosen is a housing and community development lawyer. He has helped public, private, nonprofit and for-profit clients build, buy, preserve and finance affordable, mixed-income and mixed-use housing developments across the country. Dan specializes in LIHTC, public housing redevelopment and other HUD assistance programs. He has worked with these and numerous other Federal, state, local and private funding sources to finance innovative, high-impact projects. Dan was a founding partner of Klein Hornig in 2002, and previously served as Associate General Counsel at The Community Builders, Inc., a national nonprofit developer.
Margaret Salazar
Margaret Salazar
Margaret Salazar is Director of Oregon Housing and Community Services, which is Oregon’s Housing Finance Agency. OHCS provides financial and program support to create and preserve opportunities for quality, affordable housing for Oregonians of low and moderate incomes, and leads statewide programs to prevent and end homelessness and to build housing stability.
Prior to joining OHCS, Margaret served in various leadership roles over a 10 year career at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. She led Multifamily housing production in the San Francisco HUD office, financing the development and preservation of thousands of affordable homes. Margaret later served as Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary in HUD Headquarters, where she led the Department’s Rental Assistance Demonstration and other national initiatives to revitalize and preserve affordable rental housing. As HUD Oregon Field Office Director, Margaret led partners to develop a toolkit for local communities to prevent and address the closures of manufactured home parks and supported communities working to end veteran homelessness.
Margaret began her career as a foundation program officer and housing advocate working with community-based organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area, and she led a successful grassroots campaign for just cause eviction in Oakland, California in 2002.
A native Oregonian, Margaret holds a Bachelor's degree from Wesleyan University and a Master of Public Policy from the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley.
Deidre Schmidt
Deidre Schmidt
Deidre Schmidt is President & CEO of CommonBond Communities, a nationally-recognized leader and innovator in the affordable housing industry. She has worked in housing development, finance and policy at The Affordable Housing Institute, National Equity Fund and Artspace Project. Deidre was a Loeb Fellow and John T. Dunlop Lecturer at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. She currently teaches Housing Finance at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School. In 2018, Ms. Schmidt was appointed by Governor Dayton to the Task Force on Housing.
John Sebree
John Sebree
John Sebree is the National Director of Marcus & Millichap’s National Multi Housing Group (NMHG). Mr. Sebree’s extensive background as a major multifamily specialist spans more than 25 years, 18 of which were as a Marcus & Millichap agent. During his tenure as an agent, he developed a strong brokerage practice in Chicago, opened the firm’s Indianapolis office and earned numerous plaque awards, eight National Achievement Award qualifications, and Top 20 and Chairman’s Club designations. Mr. Sebree assumed his current position in 2011 and is based in the Marcus & Millichap Chicago Downtown office.
Jay R. Segel
Jay R. Segel
Jay Segel is an Executive Vice President of R4 Capital. Mr. Segel has been responsible for more than $2 billion of real estate transactions over a 24-plus year career in real estate underwriting, acquisitions, portfolio management and syndication.
Previously, Mr. Segel was a Senior Vice President with a Boston-based LIHTC syndicator where he was responsible for the origination and acquisition of equity investments. Prior to the Boston-based syndicator, he held positions in LIHTC originations for 11 years at two additional Boston-based LIHTC syndicators, and was a Portfolio Manager at Fleet Bank (since acquired by Bank of America).
Mr. Segel is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Housing & Rehabilitation Association (NH&RA) and is a frequent speaker at Novogradac, IPED and NH&RA conferences. Mr. Segel received a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from Ithaca College and holds an MBA from Boston University.
Leigh Ann Smith
Leigh Ann Smith
Leigh Ann Smith is a Senior Vice President and Community Development Equity Executive with Bank of America Merrill Lynch. She manages the bank’s national origination platform for Low Income Housing Tax Credit investments through syndicator partners as well as its Historic and New Markets Tax Credits originations. Leigh Ann leads a team of six equity originators responsible for structuring and closing tax credit equity investments in projects across the country.
Leigh Ann joined Bank of America in 1999 after two years with a community bank in New Orleans. Prior to moving to the equity side of the business, she worked as an underwriter in the bank’s Community Development and Commercial Real Estate Lending groups.
Leigh Ann has a BBA with high honors from Emory University and an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. She resides in Charlotte where she serves as Treasurer of the Board of Directors for Crisis Assistance Ministries and is a Guardian Ad Litem for children in foster care.
Monica Hilton Sussman
Monica Hilton Sussman
Monica Hilton Sussman is a former deputy general counsel for HUD. She brings nearly 30 years of experience in affordable housing, Section 8 and FHA multifamily programs. Monica represents developers in all types of affordable housing transactions and continues her strong relationship with HUD headquarters and regionally.
Much of her work involves helping clients preserve their properties to bring more value to the owners and the tenants. Owners and purchasers of older HUD-assisted or insured properties turn to Monica for advice on transactional and regulatory matters.
Monica is in close contact with HUD officials as they work together to develop new policies to get deals done. These issues take her to Capitol Hill, state agencies and industry trade groups as well.
Speaking and networking at industry events and educating developers, investors, lenders and other industry participants is also a priority for Monica. She enjoys connecting with others who are passionate about this work and meeting new entrants to the market.
Dave Uram
Dave Uram
Deborah VanAmerongen
Deborah VanAmerongen
Deborah VanAmerongen is a Strategic Policy Advisor in Nixon Peabody’s Affordable Housing practice group. She works with attorneys in the firm and clients, including developers, owners, managers and funders to craft creative solutions to issues relative to affordable housing development and preservation.
Craig S. Wagner
Craig S. Wagner
Craig Wagner joined RBC in 2002 and has continued to assume greater leadership responsibility, including key roles on the TCEG Operating Committee and chairmanship of the Investment Committee. He currently serves as Managing Director – Tax Credit Investments for TCEG, responsible for the oversight of the Syndications staff, as well as State Tax Credit and New Markets Tax Credit business. Prior to this role, Craig was Director of Business Development with responsibility for new products business development and managed the firm’s national accounts. Previously, he was also the Director of Originations and a Regional Director – Southeast where he led a team in the areas of origination, financial underwriting, and partnership structuring of investments.
Craig’s experience includes the acquisition and underwriting of LIHTC, HTC, and various state tax credit investments. He has worked with numerous housing authorities, for-profit developers, and non-profit developers on various property types including HOPE VI, mixed-income, and mix-use transactions. Prior to joining RBC, Mr. Wagner served in various leadership roles as an officer in the United States Navy and as a production manager for Frito Lay, Inc. in California. Mr. Wagner, a graduate of Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, earned his Masters in Business Administration with concentrations in Real Estate and Finance from the Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
George Weidenfeller
George Weidenfeller
George Weidenfeller is Counsel at the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust (HIT). In that capacity his focus is on the finance, development, construction and/or rehabilitation of multifamily and single family housing. He is particularly involved in transactions involving HUD and FHA, as well as projects involving the Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit programs and the Government Sponsored Enterprises.
Prior to joining HIT in July 2015, George was a Partner in the law firm of Reno & Cavanaugh, PLLC. He represented owners, developers, managers, lenders and public housing authorities on residential development; FHA transactions; asset management; program, regulatory and fair housing enforcement; Federal procurement, ethics and personnel law. George was previously a member of the Goulston and Storrs Real Estate group, with a particular focus on Affordable Housing and Economic Development.
George served for over 16 years as Deputy General Counsel and Acting General Counsel, in the HUD Office of General Counsel in Washington D.C., under six HUD Secretaries. During that period, he provided substantive legal advice on all HUD programs, supervised a staff of over 700 professionals and managed a budget over $75,000,000. Before becoming Deputy General Counsel, he was Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Housing, Assistant General Counsel for Assisted Housing and a staff attorney for HUD in Boston and Boston Redevelopment Authority.
George is Chair-Elect of the American Bar Association Affordable Housing and Community Development Forum Governing Committee and chairs the Forum’s HUD Practice Committee; is a member of the ULI Workforce Housing Council, is on the National Housing Conference Board of Trustees and is on the Board of Directors of both the National Housing and Rehabilitation Association and the National Leased Housing Association.
He holds a BA from the University of Massachusetts, JD from Suffolk Law, MPA from the University of Southern California, and an MLT (Tax) from Georgetown Law.
Steven Weilbach
Steven Weilbach
Mr. Weilbach is responsible for all business development and sales activity for Katerra, a Silicon Valley-based and technology-driven commercial design and construction services firm. Katerra integrates all aspects of architecture & engineering, supply chain and procurement, manufacturing and general contracting into a single delivery model. Founded in 2015, Katerra has over 1,200 employees in eight office around the world and currently has a new starts pipeline of over 5,000 multifamily units across the US.
Before coming to Katerra, Mr. Weilbach was a Senior Managing Director at Cushman & Wakefield, where he was responsible for the multifamily investment sales business in the US. Prior to that, he was Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer for Pacific Urban Residential and a senior acquisition officer for BlackRock.
Mr. Weilbach received an MBA in Real Estate and Finance from The Anderson School at the University of California, Los Angeles. He also holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational Behavior and a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology from Stanford University. He is a member of the Multifamily Bronze Council of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC).
Mr. Weilbach is based in San Francisco, CA.
Wyman Winston
Wyman Winston
Governor Scott Walker appointed Wyman B. Winston as WHEDA’s Executive Director effective January 3, 2011. Mr. Winston is committed to leveraging WHEDA's resources, including its professional staff of highly motivated individuals, to help communities meet their affordable housing needs while also fostering business growth and job creation in Wisconsin.
Since his appointment by Governor Walker, WHEDA has enjoyed noteworthy accomplishments that have created jobs, helped small businesses and provided housing opportunities for residents all across Wisconsin. Mr. Winston serves on the Governor's Task Force on Minority Unemployment and the Council on Workforce Investment. He is also President of the Greater Wisconsin Opportunities Fund, a Community Development Entity.
Under Mr. Winston’s leadership, along with support from the Governor, State Legislature, WHEDA Members of the Board and employees, and many partners, WHEDA has invested over $1 billion in Wisconsin for affordable housing and economic development. Mr. Winston has utilized WHEDA’s innovative financing products and tools to:
Create new programs to help small businesses create jobs and provide catalytic economic development investment in low-income Wisconsin communities
Finance the construction, rehabilitation or refinancing of affordable rental developments across Wisconsin
Re-establish WHEDA as a mortgage lender to low- and moderate-income home buyers
In 2012, Governor Walker and Executive Director Winston unveiled Transform Milwaukee, a public-private initiative focusing on restoring economic vitality to Wisconsin’s largest city. Through WHEDA financing and public-private partnerships, the initiative has generated over $479 million of development in Milwaukee.
Prior to his current appointment, Mr. Winston spent 14 years at WHEDA as a senior manager, first in Multifamily and later heading the Emerging Markets Group. Outside of WHEDA, he spent 10 years at other redevelopment authorities.
Jeffrey J. Woda
Jeffrey J. Woda
Jeffrey Woda is a principal and president of The Woda Group, Inc., Woda Construction, Inc. and Woda Management & Real Estate, LLC. Mr. Woda is involved with all aspects of development, construction and property management.
Mr. Woda has been involved in the construction and housing industry for the majority of his career and was fortunate to have grown up around his family’s construction business. Prior to forming The Woda Group, Inc., in 1990, Mr. Woda was employed by Ernst and Young working with construction companies, financial institutions and other corporate entities. Mr. Woda graduated from Bethany College with a B.A. in Accounting and earned his CPA certification while at Ernst & Young.
Appointed to the Ohio Housing Trust Fund Advisory Committee by the Ohio Governor, Mr. Woda also serves as a board member of the Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition, the National Housing and Rehabilitation Association, Benchmark Bancorp, and VisionTrust International. Mr. Woda is a steering committee member of the Housing Credit Group of the National Association of Home Builders, and is past president of the Council for Rural Housing and Development of Ohio and was a founding board member of the Ohio Housing Council.