IHDA Names Executive Director
Audra Hamernik has been appointed executive director of the Illinois Housing Development Authority.
She has more than 20 years of public and private industry housing experience. As principal of A. Hamernik & Associates, she led a consulting firm that advised local governments and nonprofit agencies on affordable housing development, financial feasibility, development design, and funding strategies. Under her leadership, the firm secured over $100 million in financing and equity for clients.
Hamernik was also executive director and founder of Bluestem Housing Partners, a nonprofit organization that developed more than 300 affordable apartments for working families. Prior to founding Bluestem, Hamernik served as an assistant community development director for the Village of Villa Park, Ill., and as a senior planner for DuPage County, Ill.
Mary Kenney stepped down as executive director of IHDA last year to become director of U.S. government affairs at BMO Harris Bank.
National Church Residences Announces Promotion
Matt Rule has been promoted to senior vice president of development at National Church Residences after previously serving as vice president of affordable housing development.
He supervises the organization’s acquisitions, development finance, originations, and construction teams as well as its closing attorneys. Under Rule’s direction, the nonprofit has won more than 20 low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) awards and purchased more than 2,500 senior housing units in the last four years.
Rule and his team frequently combine tax credit equity financing with Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan products and/or Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) operational subsidies. Notably, his team has developed two of the first Sec. 223(f) Pilot Program/tax credit transactions in the country, the first condominium Assisted Living Conversion Program/tax credit transaction in the country, and a variety of senior independent living/enhanced-services models.
Prior to joining National Church Residences, Rule was a transactional attorney at Squire Sanders, where he served as legal counsel for a variety of LIHTC developers, syndicators, direct investors, and lenders.
New Preservation Firm Launches
Max Kaufman has announced the launch of Joined Development. Headquartered in New York City, the company is focused on the preservation of affordable housing nationwide with an emphasis on transactions that contain a HUD-related component.
Kaufman recently served as director of development at a national affordable housing corporation and assisted in doubling the size of its portfolio over the last several years.
Red Stone Expands Acquisitions Team
Red Stone Equity Partners, a real estate finance and investment company that specializes in the syndication of LIHTCs, has added key personnel to its acquisitions group.
Matt Grosz has been named senior vice president of acquisitions—West region. He is based in San Diego and will focus on the origination, acquisition, financial underwriting, partnership structuring, and syndication of affordable housing tax credit investments throughout the West.
Grosz brings 13 years of combined experience in real estate investment, development, and LIHTC syndication. Prior to joining Red Stone, Grosz worked for Chelsea Investment Corp., a leading affordable housing developer. Before Chelsea, he spent several years as part of the syndication team at Red Capital Group. Grosz will focus his origination efforts on the West region with particular emphasis on Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington.
Darren Swanson has been named senior vice president of acquisitions—Southeast region. He is based in the Charlotte, N.C., regional office and will focus on the origination, acquisition, financial underwriting, partnership structuring, and syndication of affordable housing tax credit investments throughout the region.
Swanson has 10 years of experience in real estate finance and LIHTC equity investments with for-profit, nonprofit, and housing authority developers. Prior to joining Red Stone, Swanson was a vice president at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he worked closely with affordable housing developers to provide a variety of real estate-secured loans, tax credit equity investments, and other bank products and services. Swanson will focus his efforts on Alabama, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
Kevin Bernardo has been named an acquisitions analyst and is based in the Charlotte regional office. Bernardo is responsible for assisting in the origination, acquisition, financial underwriting, partnership structuring, and syndication of affordable housing and historic tax credit investments. Prior to joining Red Stone, Bernardo was an analyst at Wells Fargo Bank.
Bank of America Announces Community Development Hire
Susan Monaco has been named senior credit products officer in the community development banking division at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Based in Washington, D.C., she will help lead the bank’s FHA underwriting platform for multifamily projects.
Monaco joins the bank from Hunt Mortgage Group, where she served as senior vice president and deputy chief underwriter. She has worked in the FHA industry for nearly 10 years and has closed more than 30 loans totaling approximately $500 million.
Livanec Joins ClickNotices
Mark Livanec has joined ClickNotices as vice president of sales and marketing. The firm is a leading provider of delinquency management services to the multifamily property industry.
Livanec’s previous experience includes 17 years with property management software developer Yardi, most recently as vice president of affordable housing and public housing. He will continue his support of the property management industry through involvement with organizations including the National Affordable Housing Management Association, regional affordable housing management associations, and the National Apartment Association.
Hunt Mortgage Adds to Affordable Housing Group
Stephen Wessler has joined Hunt Mortgage Group’s affordable housing group as director. He is based in the Denver office.
Wessler’s experience includes serving as president and national director of Red Stone Agency Lending, where he was focused on HUD/FHA and tax-exempt affordable housing transactions. While at Red Stone, he was part of the loan committee that established lending and underwriting practices for the business.
Prior to that, he served as vice president and co-manager of the Denver regional office of PNC Multifamily Capital. He has also worked at AMI Capital and Silverstate Financial Corp.
Hunt Mortgage Group is long established in the affordable housing debt and equity finance markets, having sourced and originated affordable loans since the 1980s.
RJTCF Adds to Acquisitions Team
Noel Henderson-James has been named associate director of acquisitions for the Northeast region at Raymond James Tax Credit Funds, a national LIHTC syndicator. Based in New York City, Henderson-James will focus on property acquisitions, managing existing business, and cultivating relationships with developers and investors.
Henderson-James has 16 years of experience in the LIHTC business, most recently as vice president at a national tax credit syndicator where he focused on up-front structuring of complex transactions, including reviewing tax-related issues and negotiating the business terms contained in the lower-tier partnership agreement with all developer clients.
He has broad experience syndicating multiple transaction types, in particular mixed-income projects, multi-building portfolio acquisitions, supportive housing, and projects combining LIHTCs with federal and state historic tax credits. He also has significant experience developing affordable housing, having worked in the Chicago office of a large national developer and in New Orleans with the largest nonprofit affordable housing developer in Louisiana.
Century Housing Appoints Senior Loan Officer
Nick Friend has been named a senior loan officer of lending at Century Housing. In his new role, he is responsible for loan originations throughout California, with an emphasis on Northern California. Friend will be based in the firm’s new Northern California office.
He recently served as a mortgage officer at the Community Preservation Corp., providing construction loans in New York City for affordable housing. He is also a former associate in the Structured Lending and Investment Group at Citi Community Capital.
CDT Promotes Three
The Community Development Trust (CDT), which provides long-term debt and equity capital for the creation and preservation of affordable housing, has promoted three senior managers: Bob Rice to senior vice president—debt programs, and both Desiree Fisher and Carol Roman to vice president—underwriting.
Rice, who previously had been vice president–debt, has worked on nearly every type of debt transaction since joining CDT’s Chicago office in 2004. In his new role, he will take on increased responsibilities within the firm’s debt program.
Prior to joining CDT, Rice had been associate director of the Chicago Mutual Housing Network, where he managed affordable housing development, training, and education activities.
Fisher’s responsibilities have increased since she joined CDT in 2012, including training new staff and consultants, conducting external training for CDT clients, and participating in the implementation of the TIAA-CREF forward program. Since 2015, she has managed the credit underwriting process for all forward commitments, permanent conversions, and immediate delivery transactions. In her new role, Fisher is responsible for overall management of the firm’s forward debt program and will provide oversight on CDT’s expanded debt program.
Roman, who joined CDT in 2015, is assuming added responsibilities in the underwriting department, where in her first year she underwrote more than $17 million in forward commitments. She also participated in the development of CDT’s underwriting guidelines for affiliate loan transactions.
Prior to joining CDT, Roman was a vice president with Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s community development group, providing capital to community development financial institutions and tax credit funds that financed affordable housing and community facilities. Previously, she served as a vice president with JPMorgan Chase, with a banking career of more than 15 years as a senior lender and client manager.
