National CORE Hires DEI Director
Bryce Hudson has been appointed the first director of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at National Community Renaissance (National CORE), a leading nonprofit affordable housing developer.
He brings more than 20 years of experience in DEI in higher education along with knowledge in developing and implementing programming that empowers underserved populations as well as creating affinity groups to engage members of diverse backgrounds and cultures.
Before joining National CORE, Hudson served as the senior program director for diversity and multicultural affairs at the College of Southern Nevada, where he created and managed a campuswide mentoring program for first-generation and underrepresented students.
National CORE manages more than 9,000 affordable, senior, and market-rate units in California, Florida, and Texas.
Former HUD Official Joins Greystone
C. Lamar Seats has joined Greystone as senior vice president, Federal Housing Administration (FHA) production. He oversees origination teams handling multifamily, affordable housing, and construction finance via Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-insured programs.
Seats recently served as HUD’s deputy assistant secretary of multifamily housing programs for three years, overseeing $21 billion in production in fiscal 2020. He was previously a managing director at M&T Realty Capital Corp. and served as CEO of Bellwether Enterprise Real Estate Capital upon acquisition by Enterprise Community Investment, where he was senior vice president and head of the mortgage banking group.
A national commercial real estate finance company, Greystone ranked as the top FHA commercial mortgage provider for 2020, originating more than $5 billion in multifamily and health care loans, according to the firm.
Cullen Joins M&T Realty Capital
Sean Cullen has been appointed managing director at M&T Realty Capital Corp. (MTRCC), where he is responsible for originating affordable housing and multifamily loans across the United States. He is based in New York City.
Cullen has more than 30 years of experience in multifamily and affordable housing finance. He comes to MTRCC from Lument, formerly Red Capital Group, where he was employed for the past two years as a managing director of affordable housing originations and charged with establishing a New York City presence for the brand. Earlier, Cullen held analytical, bond underwriting, and production roles at several financial institutions, including Moody’s, RBC Capital Markets, and Barings Multifamily Capital.
Cullen’s appointment comes off a record-setting year for MTRCC, particularly in the affordable housing sector. The company opened new affordable housing origination offices, hired three other director-level roles, and received a Freddie Mac Optigo Targeted Affordable Housing license, said officials.
Pennrose Names VP
Kevin Hankins has joined Pennrose’s property management executive team as vice president of maintenance.
He is responsible for oversight of maintaining the physical assets of all sites in the organization, executing capital plans, managing on-site insurance claims administration, recruiting and training regional maintenance managers, and managing the teams that contribute to these activities.
With more than 20 years of maintenance and facilities experience, Hankins most recently served as vice president of facilities for Pegasus Residential, where he was responsible for capital projects and budgeting, major projects, maintenance-related policies and procedures, and team training programs.
NHC Announces Policy Staff
The National Housing Conference (NHC), the nation’s oldest and broadest housing coalition, has named new staff members to its policy team.
Brittany Webb has joined as senior policy and research associate. She brings over seven years of affordable housing management experience, starting her career as a leasing assistant at a low-income housing tax credit site and then as project manager for an entire portfolio. Webb helped manage daily operations for various housing programs.
Henry Weiss recently joined NHC as an intern before assuming the role as policy and research associate in early February. Before interning with NHC, Weiss interned at Congress for the New Urbanism. He also interned at several local political campaigns and district offices, where he focused on fundraising and constituent services.
Cassin & Cassin Adds Attorneys
Cassin & Cassin, a law firm specializing in real estate and real estate finance, has announced the hiring of five new attorneys.
Steven R. Ebert has become a partner in the firm’s Purchase, New York, office. He has significant experience representing purchasers, sellers, financial institutions, investors, condominium associations, co-operative housing corporations, landlords, and tenants in the acquisition, disposition, financing, and leasing of commercial and residential real estate. Previously, Ebert was a partner at the Barton firm and founding partner of Ebert Lontok, and he has worked as an attorney at large national law firms.
Sheila A. Murphy also has joined the Purchase office as “of counsel.” She has significant experience representing individuals, small businesses, banks, and other organizations in connection with real estate transactions and real estate litigation matters. In addition, she offers her clients estate planning and matrimonial and family law services. Prior to joining Cassin, Murphy was in private practice handling litigation and transactional work.
Beth R. Budnick has become an associate in the New York City office, where she will focus her practice on representing lenders in the financing of multifamily properties through the Fannie Mae Delegated Underwriting and Servicing (DUS) program and the Freddie Mac seller-servicer program, with an emphasis on affordable housing. Prior to joining Cassin, Budnick was associate general counsel at the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development and was responsible for representing the city in its affordable housing transactions, including the financing of senior affordable housing and supportive housing, conveyances of city-owned land, and matters related to the city’s inclusionary housing zoning program.
Moyosola Soyemi has joined the New York City office as an associate focusing on the representation of lenders in closing commercial real estate loans, with a concentration on the financing of multifamily properties through the Fannie Mae DUS and the Freddie Mac seller-servicer programs.
Sean S. Thorsen has been named an associate in Cassin’s New York City office. He has more than 10 years of experience representing financial institutions, private lenders, and borrowers in closing commercial real estate loans intended for securitization or other sale on the secondary market or to be held on lenders’ balance sheets. In addition, he has significant experience representing clients in connection with real estate-secured bond financings.
