Oregon Announces OHCS Director
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has appointed Andrea Bell to head Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS). As director, Bell will lead the agency responsible for state supports, financing, and coordination across the housing continuum.
She had been serving as acting director since February after Margaret Salazar left the state housing finance agency to join the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Bell joined OHCS in 2019 as assistant director of homeless services and became director of housing stabilization in 2020, leading the implementation of a wide range of homeless services, energy and weatherization assistance, rental assistance programs, and policy initiatives.
Previously, she served as the housing director within an Arizona Medicaid health plan administration, where she directed the operations and expansion of state-funded permanent supportive housing programs.
AHC Appoints Bernard to be CEO
Paul Bernard has been named president and CEO of AHC, bringing nearly 30 years of urban planning and real estate development experience to the Arlington, Virginia-based organization.
Most recently, he was executive vice president of advisory and educational services at the Urban Land Institute (ULI), a nonprofit research and education organization focused on issues affecting urban communities, including housing. Bernard managed four international and global-oriented programs and provided development services to municipalities, corporations, students, and real estate professionals. He also led a program that provided dozens of clients with solutions in affordable housing, sustainability/disaster recovery, economic development, mixed-use master planning, urban regeneration, parks and open space, and other land-use issues.
Prior to ULI, Bernard was a vice president at Enterprise Community Partners, where he grew a $45 million national public sector advisory platform. He has also worked at Walker & Dunlop and MMA Realty Capital.
Bernard’s appointment follows the retirement of Walter Webdale, longtime CEO of AHC, which has developed more than 7,800 apartments in 50-plus properties in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.
The NRP Group Names Principals
Jennifer Baus and Rachel Johnson have been appointed principals at The NRP Group, a leading affordable housing developer, builder, and manager. They are the first women to become principals at the Ohio-based company.
Baus, executive vice president of design and entitlements, directs all activities related to horizontal and vertical design and entitlements and oversees all project management for NRP’s development team. She joined NRP in 2005 as a project manager for affordable housing development.
Johnson, chief information officer, leads all aspects of technology, including infrastructure, networking, IT operations and security, software business solutions, building technology, and innovation. She joined NRP as an asset manager in 2010.
Both Baus and Johnson are passionate about creating pathways for career development and mentorship across the organization, as well as advancing the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion in every aspect of business operations, noted company leaders. In addition to her day-to-day responsibilities, Baus founded the Women’s Inclusion Network in 2018 with the mission to hire, develop, and promote women at NRP through education, awareness, and programming.
Enterprise Appoints Community Loan Fund President
Elise Balboni will serve as the new president of the Enterprise Communitiy Loan Fund (ECLF).
She will steward nearly $450 million in assets and oversee the organization’s distribution of high-impact capital to communities across the country. Her focus areas include lending to developers to finance affordable housing, New Markets Tax Credit investments, and filling gaps in capital funding created by decades of systemic racism in housing through Enterprise’s Equitable Path Forward initiative.
Balboni previously served as ECLF’s interim president and senior vice president of strategic initiatives and capital programs. Earlier, she was managing director for lending at the Local Initiatives Support Corp., where she oversaw loan origination and asset management functions.
ECLF, a community development financial institution, is an affiliate of Enterprise Community Partners—a national nonprofit that exists to make a good home possible for the millions of families without one.
EAH Announces New Vice President and Promotions
Karen Seddon has joined EAH Housing, an affordable housing nonprofit organization, as regional vice president of Hawaii.
In her new position, she is responsible for EAH’s business pipeline, supervising its staff, and overseeing a $125 million pipeline of new construction and renovation of affordable housing apartment developments.
Seddon brings decades of real estate development and affordable housing experience to the position, including serving five years as the executive director for Hawaii Housing and Finance Development Corp., the state agency that develops and finances affordable housing. Most recently, Seddon was with The Michaels Organization as vice president and regional vice president in the Hawaii region.
EAH also announced several promotions.
Steve Spielberg has been promoted to vice president, real estate development. He was hired in 2016 as the first real estate development teammate in Southern California and has spearheaded the nonprofit’s growth in the Los Angeles area.
Denice Wint has been promoted to vice president, real estate development. She started with EAH Housing as a director in 2018 and has managed the team in securing hundreds of millions of dollars in local, state, and federal funds to develop housing throughout California.
Lissa de Leon has been elevated to vice president, human resources. She has been with EAH Housing since 2007, starting as a senior human resources generalist and has served in various HR roles of increasing responsibility. As vice president, she will be responsible for talent acquisition, employee relations, training, and organizational development.
Kristin Taylor has been promoted to vice president of resident services. She joined EAH Housing in2017 as resident services manager. Within a few short years, Taylor has grown and expanded the department into the vibrate thriving team they are today.
Michelle Parker has been promoted from manager of resident services to director of resident services. She joined EAH Housing in 2010 as a resource coordinator in the Central Valley. Parker will transition into supervising community engagement, technology programming, and overall StayWell! services initiatives.
Tim Koehler will have a rebranded role as director of permanent supportive Housing (formerly director of supportive services) to best reflect his invaluable leadership and contributions to our overall approach in developing and maintaining quality supportive housing communities.
Conifer Realty Promotes Three
Conifer Realty, a nationally recognized industry leader in the investment, development, and management of affordable housing, has announced several key promotions.
Robert C. Corredine has been promoted to executive vice president, finance and accounting, where he will focus on corporate strategy, asset management, and the capital finance and accounting departments as Conifer expands into new markets and new product offerings. Corredine is a member of the firm’s executive leadership team and co-leader of its senior leadership team.
Corredine joined Conifer in 2013 and previously served as senior vice president and corporate controller.
Roxann Gendron has been promoted to senior vice president, controller, where she will oversee the accounting department. In this expanded role, she has responsibility for Conifer’s property management, development, and corporate accounting groups. This change allows Gendron to work across the department to ensure consistency and collaboration. It additionally ensures the accounting department continues to partner with the business as Conifer continues to grow. Gendron is also co-leader of Conifer’s senior leadership team.
Gendron joined Conifer in 2010 as a residential accounting manager and was quickly promoted to vice president and corporate controller for residential property management.
Lisa M. Kaseman has been promoted to senior vice president, development operations. She is responsible for creating organizational systems and best practices across Conifer's development team, enabling its continued success in its current markets and expansion into new regions. She leads a team of development analysts and project managers focused on executing through the development process from inception to conversion.
Kaseman joined Conifer in 2006 and previously served as regional vice president, development. During her tenure at Conifer, she has led efforts to develop 43 housing communities within New York, totaling 3,696 apartment homes with more than $805 million in total development costs.
KeyBank Continues Northeast Expansion
KeyBank Real Estate Capital has appointed Raymond Li as a senior mortgage banker focused on affordable housing to expand community development lending and investment activity in the Northeast. He is responsible for new affordable housing business development and relationship management as part of a team providing off-balance sheet financing solutions to for-profit and nonprofit real estate owners, investors, and developers. Li is based in the firm’s New York City office.
The move comes as KeyBank continues its commitment to affordable housing across the country, with a focus on expanding its affordable platform.
Li brings more than 15 years of real estate experience in affordable housing, finance, and investment banking to KeyBank. Previously, he was a director with Santander Bank’s community development finance team, where he led the debt and equity originations team, managing a $2 billion portfolio of assets that qualify for Community Reinvestment Act credit. Earlier, he worked at Citi Community Capital.
Portland Housing Authority Welcomes Director of Finance
Sarah E. Dodge has been named director of finance at the Portland Housing Authority (PHA) in Maine. She joins PHA from the Maine Office of the State Auditor (OSA), where she was an audit manager sharing responsibility for the state’s single audit and supervisory authority over its 25 auditors. The Maine OSA provides independent assurance that the state government is accountable to the people by examining whether funds are spent legally and properly, and that data and systems are secure.
At PHA, Dodge will serve in a chief financial officer capacity, overseeing the authority’s finance department and managing maintenance of the authority’s central accounting system. Earlier in her career, Dodge, CPA, was an audit partner at Otis Atwell, where she worked for over 10 years. Her practice focused on auditing housing clients including public housing authorities and projects involving low-income housing tax credits, state agencies, U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development, and HUD multifamily financing.
Spires Retires From Fairfield Homes
Pat Spires, who has been with Fairfield Homes since 1976, has retired, announced the company. He served as vice president of construction beginning in 1984, with responsibility for all phases of construction; in 2017, he was promoted to the vice president of physical assets.
He managed the construction of numerous multifamily housing projects—subsidized and conventional—throughout Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia. Spires has overseen numerous rehabilitation projects and commercial developments, and supervised the construction of commercial and residential historic buildings in the Lancaster area.
