Dominion Due Diligence Group Announces President
Mike Ferguson has been named president of Dominion Due Diligence Group (D3G). He moves to the post after serving as vice president, technical services.
Ferguson assumes the day-to-day responsibilities in the areas of technical leadership and guidance both internally to staff as well as external support for D3G clients.
“Mike has proven himself a leader at D3G since joining the company, demonstrating dedication, critical thinking, accountability and most importantly empathy with fellow employees. Mike has gained immense trust with senior leadership and staff alike by embodying the core principals of D3G—integrity, quality, innovation, and teamwork, and we could not be more fortunate than to have him accept the position of president,” said CEO Rob Hazelton.
Ferguson is an engineer and has been with D3G for 15 years, starting as a project manager performing capital needs assessments and had been vice president for the past two years.
D3G is a full-service environmental, engineering, and energy due diligence firm specializing in affordable housing and health care.
LIIF Announces CFO and CAO
The Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF) has announced that Giles Coates has been named CFO and Sabrina Baptiste has been promoted to the newly created role of chief administrative officer. In their roles, they join LIIF’s executive team.
Coates was previously the global head of finance and accounting for FINCA Impact Finance, an international network of financial services providers using fintech to expand financial inclusion for low-income clients. Prior to FINCA, he worked at Capital One, where he served as CFO of the commercial real estate business and CFO of the community development finance business.
In her new role, Baptiste, LIIF’s former human resources director, will oversee LIIF’s human resources, information technology, and administration teams and will continue to be based in San Francisco. She has worked domestically and internationally with mission-driven organizations, most recently as the head of human resources for Goodwill Industries of San Francisco, San Mateo, and Marin Counties.
Real Estate Attorney Joins Ballard Spahr
Tamara L. Osborne brings more than 20 years of experience in affordable housing and community development law to Ballard Spahr's Los Angeles office.
Osborne, of counsel in the firm's real estate practice, has represented syndicators, investors, and developers in all phases of affordable multifamily property acquisition, ownership, and financing, with emphasis on low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC)-driven transactions. She negotiates all financing documents and reviews and oversees borrower due diligence and closing documents for institutional and tax-exempt bond financing as well as for funding from government sources such as the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)/Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development programs.
She joins Ballard Spahr from VLP Law Group, where she was a partner. In addition to years of experience at law firms in the Los Angeles area, Osborne has served in legal and business capacities at three large, national LIHTC syndication companies, including as senior vice president in the Los Angeles office of Boston Financial Investment Management.
Ballard Spahr's Housing Group represents major developers of affordable and other multifamily housing. The group is part of the firm's real estate practice, one of the country's largest and most active, with more than 130 attorneys in offices nationwide.
MidPen Housing Names CFO
Mick Vergura has been named CFO of MidPen Housing Corp., a leading nonprofit affordable housing developer and owner. Headquartered in Foster City, Calif., MidPen has developed and managed over 8,000 affordable homes for residents across 11 northern California counties.
As CFO, Vergura will oversee MidPen’s real estate assets, which total nearly $1.5 billion, and will drive all aspects of financial planning, reporting, and forecasting. His organization includes MidPen’s finance, accounting, asset management, and legal teams.
He joins MidPen from The Community Builders, a large nonprofit affordable housing developer headquartered in Boston.
NHC Announces Appointments
Antoinette Sykes has joined the National Housing Conference (NHC) as its communications director.
She brings to NHC over 13 years of extensive communications experience. Most recently, she served as a senior program and project manager at the Department of Justice (DOJ), where she oversaw payment communications for the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund. Prior to joining DOJ, Sykes served as a senior project manager and marketing and communications strategist at NeighborWorks America, where she was the lead publisher and marketer of the book, “NeighborWorks Works.”
Quinn Mulholland and Nathan Park, who will work on NHC’s policy and research initiatives, have also recently joined NHC. Mulholland recently graduated from Harvard University, where he wrote his thesis on the experience of Sec. 8 voucher holders in suburban Atlanta, which earned him a Thomas T. Hoopes prize for outstanding undergraduate scholarly work. Park is a recent graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, where he completed a thesis on energy efficiency and housing.
DCHFA Appoints COO
Monte J. Stanford has been named COO of the District of Columbia Housing Finance Agency (DCHFA).
In his new post, he will oversee day-to-day business operations, including the single-family programs, multifamily lending, and neighborhood investments division, the Housing Investment Platform, IT, and business intelligence.
Stanford has over 20 years of experience working in public finance and has spent much of his career working with local and state housing finance agencies. Prior to joining DCHFA, he spent three years as chief of staff at MassHousing in Boston.
AEI Consultants Announces Promotions
Kim Spalding and Rovin Narine have been promoted to vice presidents of national accounts at AEI Consultants.
Spalding oversees many of AEI’s national operations, including technical project oversight, client management, and business development. Her positions at AEI have included due diligence project manager, national client manager, and director of national accounts.
Narine is responsible for ensuring consistency and quality of all due diligence and engineering services for select national clients.
Their team will collaborate with the firm’s due diligence, building assessment, zoning, ALTA Survey, construction risk, site mitigation, and capital planning division leads. Spaulding and Narine also work closely with AEI’s HUD division leads.
AEI provides comprehensive services to commercial lenders, property owners, managers, tenants, developers, institutions, government agencies, and insurers. These services include environmental, property and facility assessments, zoning, energy consulting, site investigation and remediation, industrial hygiene, and construction risk management.
Love Funding Names SVP
Mark Brunsma has been promoted to senior vice president, director of business development, at Love Funding, a leading provider of FHA multifamily, affordable, and health-care financing. He will continue working out of firm’s Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., office.
In his new role, Brunsma will lead originations and marketing efforts. He will coach, develop, and grow the originations team.
He joined Love Funding in 2011 as a member of the underwriting team and most recently served as vice president, deputy chief underwriter, with a focus in the affordable housing space. Additionally, Brunsma was awarded Love Funding’s annual Outstanding Service Award in 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, and 2017.
Before joining Love Funding, Brunsma served for 15 years as a multi-state licensed real estate appraiser.
JLL Adds to Senior Housing Investment Sales Team
Mike Garbers and Cody Tremper have joined JLL as managing directors and will focus on advising owners, investors, and operators of senior housing and skilled-nursing real estate assets.
They will represent clients nationally, with local market support across the country, complementing JLL’s finance and valuation professionals focused on senior housing. Garbers is in Orlando, Fla., and Tremper is in Dallas.
Most recently, they were managing directors at a major commercial real estate firm, focused on senior housing. Garbers has over 18 years of experience in the industry and has been involved in developing, acquiring, and selling over $5.5 billion in senior housing properties. Tremper has worked in the sector for 14 years and has been involved in $4.5 billion of seniors housing transactions.
RUPCO Names VP of Portfolio Management
Jake Michels has been promoted to the newly created position of vice president of portfolio management at RUPCO, a Hudson Valley, N.Y.–based community developer and chartered member of NeighborWorks America.
He joins the nonprofit’s executive council and will handle responsibilities involving RUPCO’s property portfolio, communications and fundraising, and real estate development pipeline.
Michels has been with RUPCO since August 2017, originally as director of property management, with a later promotion to assistant vice president for operations.
RUPCO owns/manages 22 properties with 586 apartments providing homes to 762 people. The majority of those residents represent the area's most vulnerable populations: the elderly, seniors, disabled, and working-class families. In its $90 million real estate development pipeline, RUPCO currently plans to add another 185 apartments in 25 buildings in four communities, including commercial space for rent.
MRI Software Names CFO
Bruce Duner has been appointed CFO at MRI Software, a leading provider of real estate software applications and hosted solutions.
Duner previously served as CFO at Accela, Bomgar Corp., and Surgical Information Systems.
He joins the firm as MRI revenue increased 56% in 2018 over the prior year and more than doubled in the past two years, according to company officials. MRI also continued its strategy of building its position in key sectors, including affordable and public housing by acquiring Happy Software, IPM Software, and TCAM Asset Management.
Sabal Capital Expands Team
Sabal Capital Partners, a diversified financial services firm specializing in commercial real estate lending and investing, has announced several key personnel moves.
Three executives have joined Sabal’s commercial real estate lending team:
· James Barry, managing director of CMBS (New York): Barry will originate CMBS and bridge loans covering Sabal’s internal production network throughout the United States. Prior to joining Sabal, he served as a director at Dexia Credit Local in New York.
· Patrick McNulty, managing director of CMBS (Chicago): McNulty will originate CMBS and bridge loans, with a focus on the Midwest. A real estate finance veteran with 20 years of experience, McNulty has originated more than $6 billion in commercial real estate loans, spanning multiple capital sources. Prior to Sabal, McNulty served as managing director at Cantor Commercial Real Estate and Guggenheim Partners, and director at CW Capital.
· Christina Frey, director of CMBS (New York): Frey will help screen, size, and manage the origination process, from underwriting to closing and securitization. Before joining Sabal, she served as vice president and head of underwriting at Bedrock Capital Associates.
Sabal also expands its agency lending platform with the addition of:
· Matthew Nelson, production manager (New York): Nelson will support Sabal’s Freddie Mac Small Balance Loan (SBL) program. Prior to joining Sabal, he spent more than four years at Community Preservation Corp. (CPC).
· John Sullivan, production manager (New York): Sullivan brings more than 15 years of experience to the Sabal team, where he will support the firm’s Freddie Mac SBL program. Previously, he served as managing director with Viceroy Capital.
· Keith Kiecker, production manager (Los Angeles): Bringing nearly 20 years of nationwide experience to his new role, Kiecker will support Sabal’s Freddie Mac Targeted Affordable Housing Express Program. He previously served as multifamily solutions director at PACE Equity, while also operating his own consulting practice. Previous positions include underwriter at JPMorgan Chase as well as dispositions specialist and asset manager at Enterprise Community Investment.
· James Vestal, loan production manager (Florida): With more than a decade of experience in commercial real estate and finance, Vestal will support Sabal’s SBL lending platform in Florida. Recent positions include senior vice president for Pinnacle Financial Partners and vice president with Pennymac Commercial Real Estate Finance.
· Trent Tibbits, sales associate (New York): Tibbits brings experience in underwriting both Freddie Mac Targeted Affordable and Freddie Mac Small Balance Commercial Loans to Sabal. Recent positions include underwriter at CPC and Largo Real Estate Advisors.
