Little Announces Retirement From NAHT
Lori Little, longtime president and CEO of the National Affordable Housing Trust (NAHT), has announced her retirement after 22 years with the organization.
Brian Dowling, who has recently been interim chief revenue officer will become interim CEO, and Little will remain at NAHT to assist with the transition through February.
Before becoming president and CEO, Little served as director of capital markets and investor relations at the organization.
Under Little’s direction, NAHT has expanded its partnership with Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future (SAHF) and its nonprofit high-impact development members to include the Low-Income Investment Fund. These partnerships have resulted in over $1.5 billion in investments and more than 18,000 homes.
“Under Lori's leadership, NAHT impacted countless lives,” said Andrea Ponsor, president and CEO of SAHF. "We look forward to Brian continuing these efforts of preserving affordable homes and building inclusive communities for residents."
In another move, NAHT also announced today that Michelle Norris of N-Sights Consulting will serve as NAHT’s strategic adviser.
NAHT is a nonprofit low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) syndicator, specialized financial intermediary, and development advisory firm.
Enterprise Names Policy Executive
J. Patrick Cave has been appointed senior vice president of policy at Enterprise Community Partners, one of the nation’s largest affordable housing nonprofits.
In his new role, Cave will direct Enterprise’s policy initiatives at the federal, state, and local levels, championing housing affordability, equity, and resilience-building measures for communities nationwide. He is based in the organization’s Washington office.
Founder and former managing partner of advocacy and advisory firm The Cypress Group (now Mindset), Cave is a former acting assistant secretary and deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. Treasury Department. As acting assistant secretary, he led the Treasury’s Office of Financial Institutions Policy on policies impacting a wide cross-section of the financial sector. He previously served as chief of staff to former Rep. Richard H. Baker of Louisiana and founded a community development nonprofit in 2005 that has helped build sustainable, affordable communities in Florida and Louisiana after natural disasters.
KeyBank Adds to Team
KeyBank has announced the addition of two members to its affordable housing team.
Eileen Tran joined KeyBank as a LIHTC equity originator focused on expanding equity originations in the West region. She is based in Denver.
Tran brings nearly 14 years of affordable housing experience. Previously, she was an executive director and senior lead, commercial real estate and affordable housing, at Wells Fargo, where she oversaw the modeling, underwriting, negotiating, and closing of LIHTC transactions.
Joseph Jones is a tax credit syndications fund manager responsible for structuring, managing, modeling, reporting, and providing management accounting for all types of a limited partnership’s tax credit investments and related entities. He is based in Richmond, Virginia.
Jones brings more than 14 years of affordable housing real estate experience. Previously, he was a senior director at Enterprise Community Partners, where he was responsible for all aspects of structuring, marketing, offering, and closing national multi-investor LIHTC funds.
Chief Deputy Director Joins CalHFA
Rebecca Franklin has become chief deputy director of the California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA), following Gov. Gavin Newsom’s announcement of her appointment in November.
She steps into the new role after serving as director of enterprise risk management and compliance at CalHFA since 2020. Before joining the agency, she was the director of innovation at the California State Compensation Insurance Fund from 2019 to 2020 and the enterprise risk manager at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System from 2015 to 2019. She also held multiple positions with the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, including associate management consultant, program planning analyst, and IT personnel analyst.
CalHFA has helped more than 226,000 low- and moderate-income home buyers with $40.1 billion in first mortgages and used $11.4 billion in financing for the construction and preservation of more than 82,000 rental housing units throughout the state.
Regions Bank Announces Promotion
Chase Simpson has been named vice president and relationship manager at Regions Affordable Housing, a division of Regions Bank. He joined the firm in 2016.
He will manage, source, and lead origination efforts for affordable housing opportunities across several states, including cities in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia. Through LIHTCs, comprehensive financial solutions, and a suite of additional banking options, Simpson and colleagues help meet the financial needs of affordable housing developers planning to bring new or renovated properties to the market.
Prior to his promotion at Regions, Simpson worked in the underwriting and asset management departments. He most recently served as an underwriter, preparing comprehensive executive summaries and creating financial models for affordable housing investments. Earlier, he was a development risk management analyst.
HPN Names Executive to Lead CDFI
Housing Partnership Network (HPN) has appointed Carla Mannings to serve as vice president of lending and investment as well as president of the organization’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) lending enterprises. She will oversee critical lending and investment strategies for HPN’s network of over 100 leading affordable housing organizations across the United States.
The Housing Partnership Fund is an Aeris-rated CDFI created in 2001 as HPN’s lending arm to meet member organization’s growing needs for flexible, early-stage financing for affordable housing development. The fund manages over $200 million in loans to HPN members for the development, preservation, and operation of affordable housing.
Mannings recently served as chief investment and impact officer at Partners for the Common Good. She has also held significant roles at Community Housing Capital, NeighborWorks America, Wells Fargo, Silverton Bank, Amalgamated Bank, and City First Bank. In addition, Mannings has been a key contributor to national boards, including Opportunity Finance Network and the National Disability CDFI Coalition.
Holland & Knight Adds Partner
Kimberly Smith, an experienced transactional lawyer, has joined Holland & Knight as a partner in the firm’s tax credit and community development finance group in New York. Her work will focus on New Markets Tax Credits (NMTCs) as well as commercial lending and real estate finance.
Most recently, Smith was a partner at Butler Snow. She has extensive experience with structuring complex NMTC financing transactions for nonprofit organizations, real estate developers, operating businesses, and government entities. Many of these project sponsors utilize conventional financing, tax-exempt bonds, state and federal grants, and/or Department of Agriculture financing.
She represents borrowers and project developers looking to make a meaningful economic impact in their community through health care, education, mixed-use, social services, and industrial/manufacturing projects. She also serves as bank or borrower counsel in non-NMTC commercial lending and tax-exempt bond financing transactions for 501(c)(3) organizations.
Holland & Knight is a global law firm with approximately 2,200 lawyers and other professionals in 34 offices worldwide. The firm's lawyers and advisers provide representation in litigation, corporate and finance, real estate, health care, and governmental matters.
Sanford Housing Authority Names Leader
Michael C. Threatt has been appointed CEO of the Sanford Housing Authority (SHA) and its affiliate, Central Carolina Strategic Developers, a Sanford, North Carolina-based nonprofit that serves as SHA's real estate development arm.
Threatt’s career spans 19 years in the real estate industry, encompassing the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Notably, he has served in leadership roles for 12 years, including nine years in executive leadership at public housing authorities in Alabama as chief operating officer in Dothan, CEO in Sylacauga, and vice president in Birmingham.
In addition to being a licensed Realtor, Threatt has development experience with the federal HOPE VI, Choice Neighborhoods, Rental Assistance Demonstration, and Rural Development programs, which have prepared him to lead SHA’s real estate development strategies, asset repositioning plans, neighborhood revitalization, and homeownership programs.
