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AFFORDABLE HOUSING FINANCE • September 2009

New Director Takes Over CDLAC

Sean L. Spear has been named executive director of the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee (CDLAC) by state Treasurer Bill Lockyer.

Spear has more than 20 years of community development and housing finance experience. He was most recently director of major projects for the Los Angeles Housing Department (LAHD).

Spear replaces Joanie Jones Kelly, who retired after more than 20 years with the Treasurer’s Office.

CDLAC administers the state’s taxexempt bond program.

In Los Angeles, Spear, 43, led the city’s efforts to create the $100 million New Generation Fund, an affordable housing acquisition and predevelopment loan fund that closed last year.

RBC Makes Key Moves

R. Spangler

Robert Spangler is a managing director within the municipal finance department of RBC Capital Markets. A 12-year veteran of the firm, he took over as manager of the RBC Tax Credit Equity Group in June.

R. Ginise

R. Poznansky

RBC Capital Markets also announced two new members of its tax credit business. Russell T. Ginise joins as director of investor relations, and Roslyn Poznansky joins as vice president of asset risk management.

Ginise is responsible for deepening RBC’s relationship with its tax credit investor clients and developing relationships with new institutions. He also serves as a leader on product development initiatives for the group. Based in Columbus, Ohio, Ginise has 10 years of experience with tax credit syndicators.

Poznansky will provide risk management plans for any under-performing investments in the portfolio. She is based in Charlotte, N.C. She brings 18 years of legal experience in the tax credit and real estate industry.

Changes Announced at Citizens

James Buckley, president of Citizens Housing Corp. in San Francisco, is leaving the nonprofit to take a teaching post at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

He will join MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning in September. Buckley has been a lecturer in city planning at the University of California at Berkeley.

During Buckley’s 11-year tenure at Citizens Housing, the organization has grown rapidly and has a portfolio of more than 3,000 affordable units.

Noreen Beiro, the group’s COO, will serve as acting president while the board of directors searches for a permanent president. Citizens Housing also announced that Andy Madeira has joined the firm as vice president for real estate development. He recently served as director of development at BRIDGE Housing in San Francisco.

Land-Use Expert Debra Stein Dies

National land-use authority Debra Stein died unexpectedly of complications from a neurological disease July 30.

An expert on NIMBY, Stein was president of GCA Strategies, a San Francisco-based public affairs firm that helped developers win political and community support for controversial projects. Affordable housing was one of her dearest causes.

“The person who deserves credit for my career is a woman who spit on me at a public hearing 20 years ago,” Stein told AFFORDABLE HOUSING FINANCE last year. “As I was wiping saliva off my arm, I said to myself, ‘I am going to figure out why this happened and never let it happen again.’ That’s what ultimately led me to write the first book on NIMBYism in America.”