RUPCO Adds Chief Strategy Officer
Ernesto J. Vigoreaux has been named to the newly created position of chief strategy officer at RUPCO, a Hudson Valley, N.Y., community developer and chartered member of NeighborWorks America.
He will oversee RUPCO’s real estate development activities, evaluate and assist with mergers and acquisitions, lobby government and regulatory bodies for support, and execute and implement RUPCO’s strategic plan. Vigoreaux brings over 20 years of affordable housing and community economic development experience from his work in Los Angeles, New York City, and the Midwest.
Prior to joining RUPCO, Vigoreaux was chief development officer with Asian Americans For Equality’s (AAFE’s) Hardesty Renaissance Economic Development Corp., an affiliate in Kansas City, Mo. He oversaw the redevelopment of a 20-acre, formerly vacant brownfield military site known as the Kansas City Quartermaster Depot.
As COO of AAFE, Vigoreaux was responsible for operational management, as well as negotiating joint-venture partnerships such as One Flushing, a $110 million mixed-use project with Monadnock Development to construct 231 affordable units with community facility space, commercial retail, and underground parking in Flushing, Queens.
Prior to AAFE, Vigoreaux served as director of housing development for Comunilife in Manhattan, a provider of supportive housing and health-care services for low-income New Yorkers. He began his career as director of housing development for the Thai Community Development Center in Los Angeles.
Mutual Housing Adds to Team
Mutual Housing California, a leading nonprofit affordable housing provider based in Sacramento, Calif., has expanded its development team by adding two new project managers, Adrienne Gemheart and Parker Evans.
Gemheart’s experience includes recently serving as a real estate development associate at Element Commercial Real Estate in Minneapolis. She had previously worked as a research assistant in support of community-based organizations in the development of equitable policy around rent control and worker-owned cooperatives in the Twin Cities area. She also served as a community development intern at the Metropolitan Housing and Redevelopment Authority in St. Paul, Minn.
Her passion for affordable housing began when she served as a re-entry case manager with people experiencing homelessness at HealthRight360 in San Francisco.
Before coming to Mutual Housing, Evans worked to develop mixed-use and urban-infill projects as a development associate for the The Ackerberg Group in Minneapolis.
Gemheart and Evans both earned master’s degrees in urban and regional planning from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs in Minneapolis. They also received their bachelor’s degrees from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
Founded in 1988, Mutual Housing California develops, operates, and advocates for sustainable and affordable housing. More than 3,600 people, nearly half of them children, live in Mutual Housing communities. The organization is a member of NeighborWorks America.
NAHT Announces SVP, Originations and Capital Markets
Brian Robinson has been appointed senior vice president, originations and capital markets, at the National Affordable Housing Trust.
With nearly 20 years of experience serving the affordable housing industry, he specializes in working with investors, lenders, local and state agencies, and developers, including for-profit, nonprofit, and public housing agencies. Robinson is well versed in structuring affordable housing transactions and has a wide range of experience with owners and investors. He has provided his skills to a variety of project types and has experience in affordable housing development, fund management, housing finance agency underwriting, and investment banking.
Prior to joining NAHT, Robinson served as senior managing director at Baker Tilly, where he was responsible for offering real estate development consulting services to developers and public housing authorities. Robinson is based in Middletown, Conn.NAHT is a nonprofit low income housing tax credit (LIHTC) syndicator, specialized financial intermediary, and development advisory firm.
Alliant Capital Names VP of Originations
Hammad Graham has been appointed vice president of originations for the New York/Northeast area at Alliant Capital, a LIHTC syndicator.
Graham has over a decade of experience across multiple facets of affordable housing development and finance. Prior to joining Alliant, he directed all the development activities for Brisa Builder’s Corp., a Brooklyn-based affordable housing developer. Graham previously worked at RBC Capital Markets originating and closing tax credit investments in Massachusetts and New York. He also worked at the New York City Housing Development Corp., underwriting and closing private-activity housing bonds that were used to finance the development of affordable housing in the five boroughs. Graham also worked as a project manager at Madison Park Development Corp., a Boston community development corporation.
Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Woodland Hills, Calif., Alliant Capital is a leading national tax credit syndication company that provides financing and equity for the acquisition, development, and rehabilitation of affordable multifamily housing throughout the United States and its territories.
Riverside Capital Announces VP of Investor Relations
Ray Wolff has joined Riverside Capital as a vice president of investor relations.
In his new role, he is responsible for managing both new and existing client relationships and identifying opportunities that can achieve investors’ financial goals through LIHTCs and other programs that support the creation of high-quality affordable housing.
Wolff joins Riverside from WNC, where he raised tax credit equity for multi-investor and proprietary funds. Prior to that, he served as a director of business development at Carlisle Tax Credit Advisors, where he worked with investors nationwide on both LIHTC and historic tax credit transactions. Prior to his work at Carlisle, Wolff was a vice president at Meridian Investments.
Riverside Capital, a joint venture of Berkadia and The Michaels Organization, is a full-service tax credit investment company. It has guided the financing and syndication for more than 7,700 affordable apartment homes across the country, representing $1 billion of equity capital.
RED Mortgage Capital Adds to Team
Matthew McCreary has joined RED Capital Group as a director and originator working out of the Newport Beach, Calif., office.
His appointment helps the company, the mortgage-banking arm of comprehensive capital provider RED Capital Group, grow its small-balance loan platform.
McCreary joins RED with extensive experience in real estate finance. He spent his last four years at Sabal Capital, where he originated more than 150 transactions in the small-balance loan space.
In Memoriam: Mark Einstein
Mark Einstein, longtime partner of tax and real estate services at CohnReznick, died Dec. 31. He was 69.
Throughout his career, he worked with developers and others in structuring their real estate transactions. An expert in tax-incentivized real estate transactions, Einstein was a frequent speaker at national conferences.
Einstein recently served as the founding director, chairman, and CEO of the David Reznick Foundation. He was a principal at Absolute Tax Credit Investments.
Contributions in his memory may be made to the David Reznick Foundation, 7949 Turncrest Drive, Potomac, MD 20854.
