Speakers
Laura currently serves as the Senior Director of State and Local Policy and joined the National Housing Trust in 2010. In this role, Laura oversees NHT’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 housing stability. In addition to being a national expert in the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program, Laura works with communities who want to create and preserve affordable housing, providing tailored policy recommendations based on best practices from around the country. She has worked in Denver to update and pass a preservation ordinance that grants the City a right-of-first-refusal; created Preservation Collaboratives in Colorado and Miami; and developed a policy framework designed to preserve existing subsidized and NOAH housing in San Diego.
As CEO, Trenton navigates the strategic direction of SCA while continuing to provide clients with subject-matter expertise on the ins and outs of executing sustainable infrastructure projects. Trenton’s long-standing and vast experience in the financial services industry allows him to identify the parties and partners best suited for collaboration to create a more profitable, inclusive, and climate-resilient future.
Mrs. Dawn Luke Arnold is Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer at Invest Atlanta and oversees its Community Development, Finance, Information Technology, Human Resources, Operations, and Investment Services departments. Prior to her current position, Dawn served as Senior Vice President of Community Development and was
As vice president of planning & development for the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority, Bitzenhofer manages the authority’s strategy to acquire or develop at least 500 units of mixed-income housing per year. Since he came to CMHA in 2015, the agency has grown its portfolio from 1,900 to 5,300 units and, by the end of this year, will have financed over $200 million of development activity with its own bonds. He has also been responsible for the conversion of CMHA’s entire public housing portfolio through HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration and the implementation of CMHA’s $30-million Choice Neighborhoods grant. Bitzenhofer has more than 13 years of experience with affordable housing, community development and federal policy. A member of Columbus Business First’s 40 Under 40 class of 2020, he also serves as chair of the Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio and is a member of the board of Columbus Housing Enterprise. He holds a bachelor's degree in urban planning and master’s degree in community planning from the University of Cincinnati, and a law degree from The Ohio State University.
Dr. Robert Blaine is the senior executive and director for the National League of Cities’ Center for Leadership, Education, Advancement, and Development (LEAD). LEAD consists of the Institute for Youth, Education and Families (YEF Institute); the Local Infrastructure Hub; and the National League of Cities University (NLCU). LEAD is dedicated to building opportunities in communities through technical assistance, leadership development, and engagement. Most recently, Dr. Blaine served as the City of Jackson’s Chief Administrative Officer under Mayor Chokwe Lumumba. In that role, he oversaw the City’s 2,200 employees and managed an annual budget of more than $500 million. Dr. Blaine also led the development and efficient implementation of the City of Jackson’s Strategic Plan which promotes a “dignity economy” – an economic model in which municipal investments were made towards the inherit dignity of every citizen in Jackson through early childhood success, financial empowerment and equitable workforce development.
Ryan Bowen is a partner in Chapman’s National Public Finance Department. Ryan has experience serving as bond and underwriter’s counsel in connection with a variety of bond financings and as investor’s counsel with respect to the purchase of various state and local government obligations. Ryan has experience serving as bond counsel and underwriter’s counsel on private activity bond financings, including single family and multifamily housing bond transactions. His housing finance experience includes serving as partnership counsel in connection with multifamily financings involving the use of tax credits. Ryan routinely advises banks and other institutional investors in connection with the structuring, purchase, placement and securitization of state and local government obligations structured as municipal bonds, loans and leases. He also has experience structuring trust vehicles to enable the securitization of tax-exempt assets.
Gwendy supports place-based and sector-specific policy initiatives in and with frontline communities to design, test and scale model frameworks for systems change. She works to co-create successful policy campaigns in partnership with Elemental portfolio companies, community partners and other stakeholders that advance equity and resilience through the deployment of climate technologies. Previously, Gwendy served as an in-house policy coach and coalition builder as an inaugural Policy Fellow with Elemental’s Policy Lab. Prior to Elemental Excelerator, Gwendy served for 15 years in various leadership roles at microlender Accion Opportunity Fund (AOF). At AOF, Gwendy advanced policies, built coalitions and led programs to deliver responsible financial services to underinvested small business owners and communities. Prior to that, she supported California’s early efforts to track greenhouse gas emissions and promoted international climate action as a Fulbright Fellow in Venezuela.
Damon Burns is an executive leader and entrepreneur with experience spanning the areas of investment banking, affordable housing, economic development, climate sustainability, and financial technology. His professional career began in 2004 and includes time as a banker serving public agencies, launching a financial technology startup, and public sector leadership. Since July 2016, he has served as Chief Executive Officer of Finance New Orleans, a quasi-governmental green financial institution with a mission to invest in climate resilient affordable housing and economic development projects that physically transform New Orleans.
Jessica (Mui) Cherepski currently serves as SVP, Originations at Merchants Capital. Ms. Cherepski has more than 15 years of commercial real estate experience and has closed $2 billion+ in multifamily debt originations throughout her career. Her areas of focus include highly structured and complex transactions with tax-exempt and taxable bond financing, risk share loans, Non-LIHTC transactions, etc. She was previously Senior Vice President, GSE Chief Underwriter at Merchants from 2019 to 2022, and held a senior credit position in the years prior until she decided to transition to the Production team. Before joining Merchants in 2016, she was Manager of Freddie Mac Lending at The Community Preservation Corporation (CPC) where she managed a pipeline of over $100 million annually, consisting of primarily conventional market rate loans and led CPC's efforts to jumpstart its Freddie Mac SBL platform.
Katie brings a blend of private and public agency experience to the NRHA table. She has a wide portfolio of leadership experience ranging from small tech startups to government agencies, publicly traded corporations and highly regulated industries. With her experience comes a passion she shares with NRH’s team and its partners: connecting Nevadans with the tools and resources they need to live happy, healthy and safe lives.
Zach Conine currently serves as Nevada's 23rd State Treasurer. Elected in November 2018, Zach knows that responsible financial management and effective investing is the key to ensuring long-term growth for the State. As Treasurer, Zach leads a team of more than 45 professionals that are responsible for investing public money, financing community assets and facilities, processing payments for public agencies and collecting and returning unclaimed property. Zach is also responsible for Nevada College Savings Plans and administration of numerous scholarship programs and other services that help Nevadans plan, save, and pay for post-secondary education. Zach also serves as a member of the State Board of Finance, the Las Vegas Stadium Authority Board, the Nevada Advisory Council on Federal Assistance, the Nevada Grants Council, and the Executive Branch Audit Committee. Zach serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees of the College Savings Plans of Nevada, the Nevada Capital Investment Corporation, and the Nevada State Infrastructure Bank.
Adam Cray is a senior public finance and affordable housing professional with broad experience as an advisor, banker, bond issuer, and credit analyst for a variety of public-benefit projects and programs. At CSG, Adam helps public agencies and nonprofits across the country design programs and execute transactions to finance affordable housing.
Ms. DeDe Cross is a Director, leading Stifel’s Program Administration Services and analytical support for the Single Family Housing Group. Ms. Cross has been working in the municipal finance field for more than 25 years and began her career structuring and executing various municipal bond transactions. She works with several local HFAs nationwide as a banker and expert on DPA program structuring. Over the last year, has been pivotal to Stifel’s Single Family Practice as the number one underwriter for local housing authorities. Mr. Cross joined Stifel in 2019 through its acquisition of substantially all of the assets of GKB. Before joining GKB, Ms. Cross experience in financial services included Banc of America Securities and Colorado Housing and Finance Authority. Her experience includes single family, multifamily, military housing and general municipal bond transactions.
Brian Daaleman is the Director of External Affairs at the New York City Housing Development Corporation and has served in this role since May of 2023. In this role, Brian helps to advance New York City’s housing policy priorities at the federal level and supports HDC’s overall government affairs and communications strategies. Prior to joining HDC, Brian served in a range of roles throughout the housing and government affairs industries. Brian was most recently the Associate Vice President for Corporate and Legislation at Kasirer, a New York City-based government relations firm, where he advanced the legislative interests of his clients at the local level by developing and leading critical advocacy efforts. Previously, Brian served as the Government Relations and Advocacy Intern for Habitat for Humanity New York City, where he advocated for polices to strengthen community land trusts and the development of affordable homeownership. Additionally, Brian was a Housing Intern at the West Bronx Housing and Neighborhood Resource Center, where he provided eviction prevention services and consulted Bronx residents on Housing Court proceedings. Brian earned his B.A. in Political Science from Fordham University.
Tanya Dempsey, a Principal of CSG Advisors, offers 15 years of public sector experience. Since joining CSG in 2015, Ms. Dempsey has focused her practice on advising housing authorities on Strategic & Long Term Planning, Real Estate Transactions, Financial Impact of Operations and Management, Development Advising & Transaction Services. Specifically, she has advised on RAD process, operational improvements, portfolio analysis and structuring affordable housing transactions including 4% Low Income Housing Tax Credits, Tax Exempt Bonds & Conventional Financing & other Federal Mortgage options. Ms. Dempsey is deeply committed to providing affordable housing and ensuring that public agencies have the necessary tools to exist for many years into the future.
Sue Denihan is one of the Founding members of eHousingPlus. Sue’s current role is the Vice President of Services and Program Administration for eHousingPlus. She oversees the team that manages the day-to-day operations and staff, heading the Onboarding and Training Staff for the Program Administration Group. She has led the division for 25 years and is the co-creator of the HFA (Housing Finance Agency) program administration and compliance services model. Sue also works with the client relationship team, managing relationships with the federal, state and local agencies eHousingPlus collaborates with throughout the country.
Christopher E. Donald was sworn-in as the Executive Director/CEO of the District of Columbia Housing Finance Agency (DCHFA) in March 2021. Mr. Donald joined the Agency in October 2016 as the Senior Vice President of Multifamily Lending and Neighborhood Investments. Mr. Donald has over 15 years of experience in real estate finance, community building, development, land entitlement and construction. He’s entitled over 1MM square feet of mixed income, transit oriented, amenity rich housing. Mr. Donald specializes in acquisitions, entitlement, community visioning and deal structuring. He has completed over $1 billion in real estate financing over the course of his career and renovated over 1,000 multifamily units and entitled and underwritten almost 3,500 multifamily units throughout Northern Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.
Kathryn Driver has been the Executive Director since March 2014. Ms. Driver is responsible for all aspects and transactions of the HFA to assist in accomplishing the HFA’s mission of alleviating a shortage of affordable housing in Pinellas County through the issuance of single-family mortgage revenue bonds and down payment assistance for low- to moderate-income first-time homebuyers and also through the issuance of tax-exempt and taxable multifamily bonds to help finance the new construction or acquisition and rehabilitation of multifamily developments for very low-, low- and moderate-income renters. Prior to her appointment as Executive Director Ms. Driver served as Vice President at RBC Capital Markets (and William R. Hough & Co. prior to its merger with RBC). She has over 30 years’ experience in the municipal finance and housing finance field. Ms. Driver serves as President of the Florida Association of Local Housing Finance Authorities, is a member of the National Association of Local Housing Finance Authorities, the National chapter of Women in Public Finance and the Florida Housing Coalition and is Immediate Past-President of the Florida chapter of Women in Public Finance.
Ellen Duffy was appointed to Executive Vice President in 2021. She joined the New York City Housing Development Corporation as Senior Vice President for Debt Issuance and Finance in 2009. In her role, Ms. Duffy is responsible for structuring and executing all the Corporation’s debt issuance as well as overseeing the cash management, investment, mortgage operations, and construction loan servicing functions for the Corporation. To date she has executed over $24.5 billion of innovative tax-exempt and taxable affordable housing bond financings. Prior to joining the NYCHDC, Ms. Duffy was a Principal in the Housing Finance group at Bank of America Securities where she focused on the quantitative structuring of transactions and cash flow analysis for state and local housing issuers. Ms. Duffy previously held positions in the Public Finance Departments at CS First Boston, First Union Securities and Citicorp Investment Bank.
As the Director of Community Development, Beth leads the team by partnering with rural Nevada communities to determine their housing needs, building successful business relationships, and helping deliver the mission of NRH. Beth and her team administer new construction projects and rehabilitation project initiatives, provide real estate owned management and support, facilitate affordable housing demand and production initiatives in rural areas, and ensure program and funding compliance. The team works with a variety of financial, design and construction partners to manage the rehabilitation and preservation of existing affordable housing or the construction of new affordable housing. And all this work involves detailed project management comprised of budget planning and control, real estate acquisition and disposition efforts. Beth and her team are, let’s say, tremendously talented (and busy!). Beth has more than 32 years of extensive experience in real estate, construction, project development and administration. She has worked in a variety of positions in the real estate and construction industry (admin, sales, coordination, project management, contract management, staff management) for both private and government entities.
Mendy Elliott is a seasoned lobbyist and government affairs advocate. A fixture in Nevada—and the country more broadly—government affairs circles, clients seek her counsel to provide solutions to complex regulatory, legislative, and political issues. Mendy’s background includes decades of both public and private sector experience, as illustrated by her extensive career in community, corporate, and government relations. For the past ten years, Mendy served as partner at a Nevada-based lobbying firm. Prior to that, she served the State of Nevada when she was appointed by Governor Jim Gibbons to serve as Director of Business and Industry in 2007, a post she held until July 2008 when the governor promoted her to serve as his Deputy Chief of Staff. Mendy’s foray into government affairs and lobbying began 30 years ago when she served as the Community and Government Affairs Officer for First Interstate Bank, Norwest Bank and Wells Fargo. She retired after a 30-year career in the financial services industry, making her keenly knowledgeable in policies and regulations governing the financial services industry. Among her various positions, she served as a Personal Banking Officer, Branch Manager, and Commercial Loan Officer. Her most recent posts included Senior Vice President of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., and Private Banking Manager. Additionally, she served in the capacity of Senior Vice President, Community and Government Relations Department at Wells Fargo where she oversaw all aspects of the bank’s government relations and community relations/foundation programs including serving as the main liaison with the Nevada legislature and the state’s University System.
Helen Hough Feinberg serves as manager of RBC Capital Market’s Florida Municipal Finance office and Multifamily Tax Exempt Bond originations nationally. Ms. Feinberg has over 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, developers and non-profits. Ms. Feinberg is a licensed Municipal Securities Principal, Municipal Advisor 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 has served as a past Chair of the Florida Affordable Housing Study Commission appointed by Governor Jeb Bush and member of Fannie Mae’s National Advisory Council.
Nicole Graham, a Principal of CSG Advisors, offers 19 years of experience advising housing agencies on how to optimize financing for the development and operation of affordable housing. Since joining CSG in 2003, Ms. Graham has focused her practice on helping public agencies finance deeply subsidized and mixed-income housing developments and preparing long-term financial strategies to assist agencies in addressing the capital needs of large housing portfolios over many years.
Julia R. Gordon serves as the Assistant Secretary for Housing and Federal Housing Commissioner at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Ms. Gordon was nominated for this role by President Biden and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on May 12, 2022. As Assistant Secretary for Housing and Federal Housing Commissioner, Ms. Gordon is responsible for HUD’s policies, programs, and operations supporting the nation’s homebuyers, homeowners, renters, and communities. She is responsible for the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) Single Family, Multifamily and Healthcare mortgage insurance programs, HUD’s Multifamily assisted housing portfolio, the administration of HUD’s housing counseling program, and the development and oversight of federal standards for the design and construction of manufactured homes.
Since 1994 John has specialized in analyzing the financial feasibility of real estate developments involving affordable housing, and in analyzing and structuring financings involving public and private financing. He has served as financial advisor on more than 20 single-family transactions and 100 multifamily transactions, with total respective par amounts of $300 million and $1 billion. These financings have included public, negotiated sales, and private placements; credit enhanced and non-credit enhanced; security types including direct-pay and standby letters of credit, bond insurance, mortgage-backed securities, whole-loan; real-estate backed and HUD capital funds. The types of assignments that are typical of his work at CSG include complex multifamily bond financings — including HOPE VI transactions using 4% tax credits, single-family bond structuring and program analysis, and structuring 9% tax credit housing transactions. He readily analyzes project financings involving funds such as HOME, redevelopment set-aside, FHA insured loans, Section 8, capital grant borrowings, low-income housing tax credits, local housing trust fund, monies, and AHP. He not only assists issuers in structuring and issuing individual financings, but also in analyzing the intersections between real estate underwriting and transaction structuring. He has provided numerous services to issuers, including developing bond issuance policies, performing default refunding analysis, evaluation of potential acquisition and rehabilitation projects, and feasibility analyses for public agency subordinate loans and workouts.
Ethan Handelman is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Multifamily Housing Programs at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. He was appointed in February 2021 by the Biden-Harris Administration. The Office of Multifamily Housing Programs administers the Federal Housing Administration mortgage insurance program for multifamily properties and oversees more than 23,000 assisted properties, including affordable housing for the elderly and persons with disabilities. Approximately 2.6 million families find housing in the Multifamily’ s portfolio of 30,400 properties, which are found in every state and some U.S. territories―urban, suburban, and rural areas.
Robert Hanifin leads the transit and transit-oriented development portfolio at the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Build America Bureau. In this role he assists communities in exploring innovative financing and project delivery options to encourage public and private investment in infrastructure and community development. Robert joined USDOT to stand up the TOD program, which is closing its first loan in April 2024. Robert Henson joined NCSHA as Senior Housing Policy Specialist in 2022, focused on leading the HOME Coalition and other related multifamily advocacy efforts. Most recently, Robert served as an economic policy advisor in the U.S. Senate, responsible for a variety of policy areas including housing, as well as small business, banking, and tax issues. Previously, he has held roles as director of advocacy for the Credit Union National Association, legislative assistant in the U.S. Senate, and presidential management fellow at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Robert holds a juris doctorate from the Indiana University Maurer School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Tulane University.
Patricia Ho has 11 years of housing-related public finance experience. She is experienced in the management of TBA programs, the structuring of mortgage-backed securities, and the execution of their sale in the secondary market. She oversees the daily operations for all Caine Mitter clients who utilize the TBA/Secondary Market. She also has extensive experience in structuring and advising on single family mortgage revenue bond issuance. Jason Hubbard is a seasoned professional with over 20 years of invaluable experience in the housing finance industry. As a Director with Stifel's National Housing Finance practice, he operates out of our Cleveland, Ohio office. He brings to Stifel a depth of knowledge in numerous roles such as credit lending, loan origination, underwriting, mortgage operations and HFA client management. Mr. Hubbard's extensive knowledge of housing markets is complemented by his hands-on experience in HFA relationship management and administration.
Scott Hutter serves as the Director of Multifamily Lending at the DC Housing Finance Agency and leads a team of underwriters. His team coordinates the financing of pre-development loans, tax-exempt bond issuances, and HUD Risk Share Loans for affordable housing properties. Prior to working at the DC Housing Finance Agency, Scott worked at Novogradac and Company managing a team of analysts that completed appraisals and market studies for affordable housing. Scott has over nine years of experience in affordable housing and is a graduate of the Georgetown Master’s in Real Estate Program. Destin Jenkins received his PhD from Stanford University in modern US history in 2016. Before returning to Stanford as faculty, he was the Neubauer Family Assistant Professor of History at the University of Chicago. He has held fellowships at Harvard University and The New School. Jenkins is a historian of capitalism and democracy in post-Reconstruction America. He is the author of The Bonds of Inequality: Debt and the Making of the American City (University of Chicago Press, 2021), and co-editor of Histories of Racial Capitalism (Columbia University Press, 2021). His other writings have appeared in The Nation, New York Times, Washington Post, among other venues.
Patrick joined the Atlanta office of CSG Advisors in 2013. Mr. Johnson specializes in finance tools including single-family bond structuring, cash flow analysis, and strategic planning. Mr. Johnson also prepares and updates open indenture consolidated cash flow analyses for several HFAs, as well as modeling strategic financial framework and long-term resource allocation studies. He has structured new housing issues and refunding issues for several states. He also has prepared rating agency cash flow analyses and IRS yield calculations for numerous other housing clients.
As Down Payment Resource’s Vice President, HFA Relations, Veronica Khandelwal manages the internal research team and supports collaborative partnerships with Housing Finance Agencies (HFAs) and homebuyer assistance program providers. Khandelwal developed her extensive background in regulatory compliance and product development over more than 20 years in the mortgage industry. Prior to Down Payment Resource, Veronica worked in mortgage product development at Fifth Third Bank, where she was the go-to subject matter expert for all affordable lending programs.
Tinru Lin is a Senior Vice President in the Capital Markets group at New York City Housing Development Corporation, the largest multi-family housing bond issuer in the nation. She joined HDC in 2009 after completing her graduate degree from The Milano School of Urban Policy and Management at New School University. At HDC, Tinru focuses on program design, transaction structuring and quantitative analysis for efficient and effective financing solutions to address the City’s affordable housing challenges. Prior to HDC, Tinru received a Bachelor of Laws degree from National Taiwan University and worked at the law firm LCS & Partners in areas including securitization and project finance. Senior Fellow, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy & Principal Investigator, Accelerating Community Investment Initiative RJ is principal investigator and director of the Lincoln Institute project Accelerating Community Investment: Bringing New Partners to the Community Investment System (ACI). The project seeks to increase the efficacy and benefits of philanthropic impact investing portfolios and their connectivity to local community investment ecosystems through a combination of field research and, convening leaders in the community investment system—with particular focus on housing and economic development finance authorities, development of potential investment opportunities for mission investors, and collaboration with other Lincoln Institute program areas. Joanie Monaghan joined S&P Global in October 2016 in the Centennial office as an Associate Director in the Public Finance Housing Group. She has been a Director and Lead Analyst in the group since November 2019. Joanie is responsible for leading an analytic team - coaching and developing credit rating analysts located across the United States and, among other things, providing credit ratings to complex and various affordable housing related issuers and issuances. In her role, Joanie also works closely with the group’s Analytical Manager and Sector Lead to maintain, update, and develop criteria and to achieve market outreach goals, including the publication of thoughtful and timely commentary on sector-relevant research and evolving trends. Before joining S&P Global, Joanie was the senior finance manager and controller for Eagle County Government in Colorado. In that role she was responsible for all aspects of the respective county funds’ financial reporting and accounting including the preparation and publication of the annual audited financial statements report, budgeting, debt issuance and management, and multiyear financial forecasting. She was also the controller for Eagle County Housing and Development Authority, a public housing authority that owns and operates affordable housing in the county. Prior to working at Eagle County Government, Joanie began her career with PriceWaterhouseCoopers working in the international tax department.
Ms. Moreira was appointed as First Executive Vice President in June 2022 and served as EVP and SVP for Development since May 2019, having rejoined HDC in 2016. Between 2014 and 2016, Ms. Moreira served as VP of Acquisitions at Hudson Housing Capital LLC, a low-income housing tax credit syndicator, underwriting and originating tax credit transactions. Ms. Moreira first joined HDC in 2000 serving in various roles through 2008 when she transferred to the Development group. Ms. Moreira holds a B.A. in Economics from Upsala College.
Kevin Murphy is a partner in the New York City office of Hawkins Delafield & Wood LLP where he serves as bond counsel to state and local housing finance agencies (HFAs), including the most active issuers of housing bonds in the nation. As bond counsel, he helps HFAs structure and execute bond and loan transactions to finance the development and preservation of affordable and mixed-income multifamily rental housing and single-family mortgage lending programs, through both parity/pool and conduit issuances, and guides clients through matters of state law and federal tax and securities law presented during a financing. Prior to joining Hawkins in 2008, Mr. Murphy served as an attorney in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of General Counsel in Washington, D.C., and he previously worked in affordable housing development at the Cambridge, Massachusetts public housing authority. Mr. Murphy holds a B.A. from Harvard University and a J.D. from New York University School of Law. He is a member of the Board of Governors of the Municipal Forum of New York.
Kent Neumann has been in the affordable housing and healthcare business for over 20 years. Mr. Neumann has served as underwriter’s counsel, purchaser’s counsel, bond counsel, lender’s counsel and borrower’s counsel and has also advised issuers and other clients on the legal and financial aspects of a wide range of tax-exempt and taxable financings around the country. These include publicly offered and privately placed financings using credit enhancement provided by FHA, Ginnie Mae (GNMA), Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Federal Home Loan Bank, municipal bond insurance, bank letters of credit, insurance company guaranties, as well as unrated and/or uncredit-enhanced bond deals. Many of these transactions have involved multiple-tier financings utilizing senior/subordinated and other complex structures designed to achieve optimal efficiency and savings. These include “50% test” and cash-collateralized bonds as well as loans from Rural Development and HUD / FHA under various programs including 515, 538, 202, 221, 223, 236, 242, Section 8, HOPE VI, etc.
Nora O'Brien is a partner in Chapman's National Public Finance Department. Her practice focuses on serving as bond counsel, disclosure counsel, underwriter’s counsel, and special counsel in a wide variety of public finance transactions. Her experience includes transactions involving private activity bond financings, including single family housing, multifamily housing and 501(c)(3) nonprofit transactions, Mello-Roos community facilities district bonds, Marks-Roos joint financing authority bonds, assessment district bonds, certificates of participation, tax allocation bonds, revenue bonds, and general obligation bonds. Nora is an active member of Women in Public Finance. She currently serves on the Board of the San Diego Chapter and previously served as treasurer on the National Board.
Ferdinand Perrault is a Vice President – Senior Credit Officer in Moody’s Public Finance Housing & State Revolving Funds Team. He serves as tenured member and rating committee chair for Housing, State Revolving Funds and Infrastructure Finance credits with over 20 years of experience. He is also the lead analyst for state and local housing finance agency single and multifamily bond programs as well as for clean water and drinking water revolving funds. In addition he maintains a portfolio of project finance credits within the housing sector. He is also the surveillance coordinator, overseeing the process of ensuring timely reviews of the team’s credit portfolio. Prior to joining Moody’s, Ferdinand was an analyst at Dreyfus Mutual Funds. Ferdinand received his B.A. from Baruch College.
Mr. C. Scott Riffle is a Managing Director in Stifel's National Housing Finance group and head of the Single Family Group. Mr. Riffle has been working in the municipal finance field for more than 25 years and began his career structuring and executing various single family housing bond transactions. He has extensive experience with designing single family mortgage revenue bond structures and has served as a banker on well over $1 billion in par over his SFMRB career. Currently, Mr. Riffle serves as the lead banker to several local housing finance agencies. Over the last year, Scott has lead Stifel’s Single Family Practice as the number one underwriter for local housing authorities. Mr. Riffle joined Stifel in 2019 through its acquisition of substantially all of the assets of GKB. Before joining GKB, Mr. Riffle served as a Vice President with Dillon Read & Company in their nationally recognized public finance group. Scott’s practice has evolved to one that uses a best-execution pricing model and has proven to deliver multiple financing executions for HFAs across the country.
Angel Romero, currently the Housing Finance Agency Relationship Manager at Down Payment Resource (DPR), brings a wealth of experience and expertise to her role. With two decades of experience in the mortgage industry, Angel is a skilled communicator and strategic thinker. In her position at DPR, Angel is responsible for building and maintaining relationships with hundreds of state and local housing finance agencies across the nation. Her strategic approach and deep industry knowledge contribute to the success of DPR in providing valuable resources and support to agencies involved in housing finance. Before joining DPR in March 2023, Angel served as the Assistant Vice President, Post-Closing Manager, and Resident Housing/DPA Program Expert at Cherry Creek Mortgage. In this role, she played a pivotal part in driving the company's expansion into underserved markets. Angel's expertise in utilizing DPR’s robust DPA Directory significantly contributed to Cherry Creek Mortgage's success in reaching new markets and providing essential support to homebuyers.
Rachel Sanchez joined Morgan Stanley in 2018 and covers State Housing Finance Agencies across the country on both single family and multifamily bond transactions. She also has experience working with non-profit affordable housing developers to assist them in raising flexible capital and supporting their production of affordable housing. She has direct experience structuring and performing the yield analysis for tax-exempt and taxable housing issues, including traditional mortgage revenue bond issues, variable rate demand bonds, put bonds, floating rate notes, among other structures. Ms. Sanchez received a B.S. in Human and Organizational Development and Economics from Vanderbilt University.
Throughout her career, Elizabeth Selby has focused on the development and finance of affordable housing across the United States. Prior to joining LAHD, Ms. Selby was Vice President of Forward Planning for Community HousingWorks. Ms. Selby led strategic initiatives, creating, and maintaining key stakeholder relationships. Prior to joining CHW, Ms. Selby worked as Director of Housing Innovation for the Mayor’s Office in Los Angeles, where she was responsible for managing a $120 million fund to explore innovative ways to develop Permanent Supportive Housing more quickly and less expensively implementing both construction and financial innovations. Previously, Ms. Selby developed more than 1,200 rental and for sale homes in New York City and redeveloped low-income multifamily projects across California.
Milton Sharp, Jr., President of eHome America, oversees a network of over 650 non-profit community lenders, homebuyer educators, and affordable housing producers across the United States, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U. S. Virgin Islands. Central to this network is eHome America, an online education program that links community develop organizations, lenders and first time homebuyers in the home buyer process. His mission is to empower and educate potential homeowners, especially those who face barriers to accessing place-based counseling, and to help them achieve their dreams of homeownership and financial stability. He has over 25 years of experience in training, nonprofit management, program and project evaluation, and community development. He is passionate about facilitating large group learning, developing youth leadership, and promoting asset accumulation and wealth creation among low-income and underserved communities. He also leverages his expertise in abusive lending practices and foreclosure mitigation to protect and support his clients.
Ken Silverman is Vice President of Government Affairs at the Housing Opportunities Commission (HOC) of Montgomery County, Maryland. HOC is the County's Public Housing Authority, Housing Finance Agency, and Public Developer. In this role, Ken is responsible for working with federal, state, and local officials to make changes through appropriations, legislation, and regulations that expand the availability of affordable housing in Montgomery County and benefit the families HOC serves. Prior to joining HOC, Ken served in senior staff roles for Montgomery County Councilmembers Hans Riemer (At Large) and Nancy Navarro (District 4) with a focus on housing, land use, and economic development.
Cindy is the Housing Director for the Phoenix IDA responsible for developing, implementing, and managing housing strategies that maximize support and benefits to underserved communities. She currently works with government representatives, housing developers, national and community organizations on housing development and issues related to affordable housing. With more than three decades of experience, Cindy is a skilled executive with extensive knowledge about public administration, federal programs, housing development and community engagement. She most recently served as Deputy Director for the Arizona Department of Housing, and prior to that served 32 years with the City of Phoenix, including six years as the Housing Director.
Moha directs NHT’s Mid-Atlantic policy work, in addition to advancing NHT’s state & local public policy initiatives in all 50 states - analyzing state, local, and regional housing laws, initiatives, and emerging best practices. Moha has partnered with communities across the country who want to create and preserve affordable housing by providing tailored policy solutions based on best practices from around the country. Moha is a nationally recognized expert in the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program, working to expand housing supply, and protect and support residents, including promoting racial equity in housing outcomes.
Aaron Thomas is the Senior Managing Director at Standard Communities, a national affordable housing developer. At Standard, Aaron assists the founders in their leadership of the firm while working with cities around the country on affordable housing solutions. Prior to joining Standard, Aaron was the President and CEO of Accelerator for America, a national nonprofit focused on capital solutions to economic insecurity. He is a graduate of Harvard College and received his MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.
Garry is Vice President for Business Development at eHome America. Prior to joining eHome America, Garry spent 30 years in commercial banking and held positions with Bank One, The Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati, Republic Bank & Trust Company, and J. S. Barefoot & Associates, a bank consulting firm. He has extensive experience in bank regulatory compliance/CRA management; has conducted training sessions at the American Bankers Association’s national conferences and schools and conducted training seminars for numerous state banker associations and savings and loan leagues. Dirk Wallace is a partner in the Dover, Ohio, office of Novogradac & Company LLP. Dirk has extensive experience in developer consulting and real estate syndication with an emphasis in real estate partnership audit and taxation. He is experienced in affordable housing developments and specializes in the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program, including properties financed through NAHASDA, and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) sections 221(d)(4) and 223(f) loan programs. Dirk’s audit experience includes the preparation of tax credit equity funds, LIHTC cost certifications for various state housing agencies, mortgagers and contractors cost certifications for HUD entities with HUD Section 8 contracts and those financed under HUD sections 221(d)(4) and 223(f), which are subject to the requirements of the Consolidated Audit Guide for Audits of HUD Programs. Dirk also leads and coordinates the LIHTC Working Group, a membership organization that provides a platform to address technical programmatic issues surrounding the LIHTC industry. He received his bachelor’s degree in accounting from Ohio University and is licensed as a certified public accountant in Ohio and Tennessee.
Dr. Tina Woodard founded Capstone Performance Solutions, Inc. in 2016 with a vision to inspire leaders and organizations to achieve excellence. As both an accomplished engineer and HR executive with over twenty years of experience in the manufacturing, government, and education sectors, Dr. Woodard brings innovative solutions to clients looking to improve their profitability, build a strong organizational culture, and become transformational leaders. Prior to managing Capstone full-time, Dr. Woodard most recently served as the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Organizational Development at the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia (USG). In this role she held for eight years, Dr. Woodard led the design, development and facilitation of numerous executive leadership and professional development programs for over 40,000 employees. Recognized by the Association for Talent Development (ATD) as a Champion of Learning, her visionary work led to growing the talent pool for executive level leadership positions in the USG from 0 to 300 executives within a six-year period. Dr. Woodard facilitated and coached innovation and Design Thinking project teams comprised of managers and executives.
Tim is a member of the firm’s National Housing Group and has 15 years of housing finance experience structuring a variety of single-family and multifamily housing issues. He is responsible for creating and maintaining the group’s proprietary models. Tim has primary account coverage of numerous local housing finance authority clients throughout Florida and the country and supports senior bankers in their coverage of state housing clients. In addition, Tim works on every conduit affordable and workforce multifamily housing financing the Firm prices and closes. Since joining Raymond James, he also has been actively involved in the firm’s investment of bond proceeds practice. Tim received a Bachelor of Engineering degree in mechanical engineering from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. He holds Series 7, 50, 53, 63 and 79 securities licenses.
Jessica Wright joined Fannie Mae in 2003 and has been with the company for 20 years. During her tenure, she has held various positions in business and product development, investor relations, and affordable lending. Her diverse background and proven track record of generating creative ideas, business solutions, and implementation management have helped her garner leadership roles in various strategic initiatives. Currently, she serves as a Manager for the Future Housing Leaders program at Fannie Mae. In this role, she is responsible for increasing workforce diversity through our new partnerships with housing finance, real estate, non-profit entities, and colleges and universities in support of our objective to close the workforce diversity gap. Under her leadership the Future Housing Leaders program experienced exponential growth by expanding relationships to 85 employer partners in 2022, 57 of which were new partners.
David Wu is an Associate, providing analytical, banking, and transaction support in Stifel’s National Housing Group. He supports all of the National Housing Group’s efforts through TBA program analysis as well as structuring and executing single family mortgage revenue bond transactions for local HFAs.
Nenha Young is the Director of Policy and Network at the Coalition for Green Capital. She supports existing green banks and newly forming green banks across the county. Before joining the Coalition for Green Capital, Nenha worked in community and economic development for a decade, supporting low and moderate-income communities with affordable housing development, community planning, and small business lending.
Caroline Zonts is the Director of Communications and Strategic Engagement at the Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition (AHTCC). In her role, she supports the coalition’s external and internal communications efforts, including communications with AHTCC members and other stakeholders in the affordable housing industry, and assists with advocacy efforts to expand and strengthen the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (Housing Credit). Caroline has over 4 years of experience in media and communications roles driving advocacy efforts in the non-profit and public affairs spheres. She holds a Master of Arts degree in Media & Strategic Communication and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Communication, both from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. |
Laura Abernathy
Trenton Allen
Bob Bitzenhofer
Dr. Robert J. Blaine, III
Ryan Bowen
Gwendy Brown
Jessica M. Cherepski
Katie Coleman
Zach Conine
Adam Cray
DeDe Cross
Brian Daaleman
Sue Denihan
Christopher Donald
Kathryn Driver
Ellen Duffy
Beth Dunning
Mendy Elliot
Helen Feinberg
Julia Gordon
John Hamilton
Ethan Handelman
Robert Hanifin
Patricia Ho
Scott Hutter
Dr. Destin Jenkins
Patrick Johnson
Veronica Khandelwal
Tinru Lin
RJ McGrail
Ruth Moreira
Kevin Murphy
Kent Neumann
C. Scott Riffle
Angel Romero
Rachel Sanchez
Elizabeth Selby
Milton Sharp, Jr.
Ken Silverman
Cindy Stotler
Moha Thakur
Aaron Thomas
Garry Throckmorton
Dr. Tina Woodward
Tim Wranovix
Jessica Wright
David Wu
Caroline Zonts