The John Stewart Co. Announces Leadership Moves
The John Stewart Co. (JSCo), the largest manager of affordable housing in California and a leading affordable housing developer in the state, will elevate longtime principals Noah Schwartz and Margaret Miller to C-suite positions in 2024: Schwartz to CEO and Miller to chief real estate officer, a new board-level position being created to reflect her leadership of the firm’s development and asset management activities. Simultaneously, regional director Tony Ramirez has been promoted to vice president of the company’s Southern California region.
Following in company founder John Stewart’s footsteps, Jack Gardner, who succeeded Stewart as CEO in 2002, will remain active with the firm and continue to serve as chair of JSCo’s board of directors, which consists entirely of owner-employees, working closely with Schwartz and Miller on property management and development activities.
Schwartz, who has served as JSCo’s chief operating officer for the past 10 years and was promoted to president of its property management division last year, has brought extensive large-scale organizational leadership experience to the company. His professional background includes running a community action agency in Connecticut, a redevelopment and housing authority in Virginia, and one of the largest nonprofit housing organizations in Arizona.
Miller has worked at JSCo for over 20 years and was promoted to president of the development division last year. She has extensive experience in real estate development and has been managing all of JSCo’s development activities for several years.
Ramirez has been at JSCo since 2015, rising in that time from property manager to regional manager to regional director to vice president. Previously with Abode Communities, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit affordable housing developer and manager, he brings over 20 years of affordable housing property management experience to the company.
JSCo manages over 35,000 units of affordable housing throughout California for multiple nonprofit, private-, and public-sector clients, and it has 14 projects in predevelopment and construction throughout the state, totaling over 1,500 units and more than $550 million in construction value.
Castro to Lead Latino Community Foundation
Julián Castro, former secretary of the Department of the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) during the Obama administration, has been named chief executive of the Latino Community Foundation (LCF).
JHeadquartered in San Francisco, the organization is billed as the nation’s largest Latino-serving foundation. Under the leadership of outgoing CEO Jacqueline Martinez Garcel, LCF has raised $100 million to unleash the civic and economic power of Latinos. Before leading HUD, Castro was mayor of San Antonio.
Enterprise Community Development Announces VP
Reshma Holla has joined Enterprise Community Development (ECD) as vice president, development strategy and impact. A new leadership position at ECD, the role will help support and drive the sustainable impact of the organization’s real estate development efforts. A division of Enterprise Community Partners, ECD is a leading affordable housing developer in the Mid-Atlantic region and among the largest nonprofit owners of affordable housing in the nation.
Holla has over 15 years of experience in housing, community, and economic development across the private and public sectors. Most recently, she served as the deputy manager of the development finance division at the District of Columbia’s Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD).
Prior to joining DHCD, Holla was a vice president and senior development manager for Telesis Corp., a social impact-focused real estate company that develops affordable and mixed-income housing and supportive community uses in diverse neighborhoods.
Aeon Names VP
Mary Clem Routhieaux has joined the leadership team at Aeon as the new vice president of resource development. Aeon is a nonprofit developer, owner, and manager of almost 6,000 affordable homes in the Twin Cities area.
Routhieaux will offer leadership in engaging supporters at a critical time when the affordable housing crisis is leaving tens of thousands of Minnesotans without a home, according to the organization.
She served as the executive director for the Community Housing Fund of Washington County, Oregon, a nonprofit Community Development Financial Institution and revolving loan fund that finances the production of affordable housing. Previously, she was executive director and chief advancement officer at Episcopal Homes of Minnesota.
Battle to Lead HAND
Courtney Battle has been appointed executive director of the Housing Association of Nonprofit Developers (HAND).
Battle moves up to the top post after joining the organization in 2016 as membership manager and then being promoted to membership director in 2019. For the past two years, she has served as director of strategic partnerships and membership.
Heather Raspberry, HAND's outgoing executive director, will support the organization through this transition. Since her appointment in 2012, Raspberry has led HAND’s strategic, financial, and administrative operations.
HAND is a nonprofit membership association of over 500 organizations working across the private, public and nonprofit sectors to collaborate in the production and preservation of affordable housing in the Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Richmond, Virginia, regions.
