Heather Olson, vice president at Walker & Dunlop (W&D), is responsible for multifamily originations, specializing in affordable housing developments that utilize tax-exempt bonds and low-income housing tax credits as well as market-rate transactions. She’s assisted with the origination, underwriting, and funding of more than $800 million in multifamily housing since 2010.
Olson’s passion for real estate was sparked by her father, Larry Willey, a commercial real estate professional in Charleston, S.C. With that early inspiration and the more recent mentorship she’s received from Frank Baldasare, managing director, multifamily finance, at W&D, Olson has carved out her own path at the firm, helping to further the company’s affordable housing platform.
“You’re serving a greater purpose,” she says. “Finance is one part of the big picture of providing affordable housing and helping to solve the housing crisis, and it’s one part that we can assist in. There’s such a desperate need for affordable housing in the United States, and it’s exciting to be a part of that effort.”
Olson’s an active member of the Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) Atlanta and the Women’s Affordable Housing Network in Atlanta. She has recently joined the board of directors of HOPE Atlanta, one of Atlanta’s oldest nonprofit organizations that focuses on providing a comprehensive approach to address homelessness and provide solutions that promote lifelong stability to the area’s most underserved communities.
Olson, 35, has been an active contributor of the Georgia Ovarian Cancer Alliance (GOCA) since 2009. She has served as both treasurer and board president of GOCA and leads the largest fundraising team in the group’s history, having raised approximately $200,000 in 10 years since the passing of her best friend, Rachel Aber, to ovarian cancer.Olson and her husband, Jeremy, reside near Atlanta with their 3-year-old daughter, Ava Rachel.
