Industry Veteran Joins Pennrose Property Management
Christine Lacy has been named vice president of operations at Pennrose, a leader in multifamily development and management. An industry veteran with more than 30 years of experience, she will provide property management leadership and oversight for properties in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
For the past 12 years, Lacy served as director of Inglis Housing Corp., where she developed and provided property management for housing communities for physically challenged adults. Her industry experience also includes urban planner, property manager, director, and developer roles serving market-rate, senior, disabled, and family properties.
She was awarded the designation of Certified Property Manager (CPM) by the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) in 2013. In 2016, she was named CPM of the Year by the Southern New Jersey Chapter of IREM and has served as its president since 2017.
BGC Advantage Names VP of Development
Demetria Simpson, former CEO of Lucas Metropolitan Housing Authority (LMHA) in Ohio, has accepted a senior leadership role at BGC Advantage, a Louisiana-based affordable housing development, consulting, and management firm.
In her role as vice president of development, Simpson is charged with accelerating the development of high-quality affordable and market-rate housing. She will leverage her 23 years of housing and development expertise to steer the BGC Advantage development team as the company expands its existing Southeast footprint westward.
The move marks Simpson’s return to Mississippi, where she led the redevelopment efforts of affordable housing on the Mississippi Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina prior to her tenure at LMHA.
Simpson will leverage her experience in all aspects of project development, including due diligence, land closings, permitting, grant writing, RFP submissions, construction administration, and professional oversight. She also has considerable expertise with the Rental Assistance Demonstration program, low-income housing tax credits, and other affordable housing programs and initiatives, including the Federal Home Loan Bank and Community Development Block Grant programs.
BGC Advantage partners with nonprofit and for-profit entities to acquire, create, and rehabilitate affordable and market-rate housing communities. The new position brings an expanded Mississippi presence for the company, which now has offices in Ridgeland and on the Gulf Coast, as well as Alabama, Arkansas, and Texas. In the past four years, BGC Advantage has leveraged more than $975 million in funding sources toward community development. It has reinvested more than $46 million in local communities through partner organizations.
WinnCompanies Announces Moves
WinnCompanies has appointed executive vice president Terri Benskin as COO of its property management arm, WinnResidential, as part of the company’s plan to reinforce operational excellence while continuing its progress on strategic priorities.
Benskin joined the company in October 2018 from LEDIC Realty Co., where she served as COO. Her appointment allows Patrick Appleby, president of WinnResdiential, to invest more time in the strategic elements required for continued excellence, including residential and military client relationships, key initiatives, team member engagement, and smart growth, according to the company.
Under Appleby’s leadership, WinnResidential’s management portfolio has grown from 586 properties with 100,669 units at the start of 2017 to 639 properties with 105,214 units at the start of 2020. In that time, the company has significantly expanded operations in California and Texas and added a new state, Illinois, to its portfolio.
In conjunction with Benskin’s promotion, Winn named industry veteran William Wollinger as chief asset officer of WinnCompanies to focus on the Winn-owned portfolio and certain high-profile, high-impact WinnDevelopment projects across the country. Wollinger has been with the company for more than four decades. As of Jan. 1, WinnCompanies owned 116 properties with 14,750 units in 12 states and Washington, D.C.
Horvath Joins CBRE Affordable Housing
Warren Horvath has joined CBRE Affordable Housing as senior vice president. In his new role, he leads CBRE Affordable Housing advisory services, providing capital solutions to affordable housing operators and investors, including sourcing of equity capital, recapitalization and restructuring, and corporate-level strategic planning.
Horvath has more than 20 years of housing investment and finance experience, with broad expertise spanning debt and equity, as an operator and investor in affordable and conventional product. He has significant experience with the financial, tax, legal, and regulatory implications of the multi-tiered financing of affordable housing, having successfully led or overseen more than $1.3 billion of transactions, and over 34,000 units.
Most recently, Horvath was head of capital markets for The Michaels Organization, a leading affordable housing developer and owner.
California HCD Welcomes Director
Gustavo Velasquez has been appointed director of the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HDC) by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Velasquez joins the agency from the Urban Institute, where he served as senior director since 2017. He was assistant secretary for the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at the Department of Housing and Urban Development from 2014 to 2017 and executive director at the Latino Economic Development Center from 2013 to 2014. Prior to that, Velasquez served as director of the Office of Human Rights from 2007 to 2013 and the Office of Latino Affairs from 2003 to 2006 for the District of Columbia.
In another move, Zack Olmstead was appointed chief deputy director at HCD. He has recently served as deputy director of housing policy development and assistant deputy director of homeless and housing policy at HCD. Olmstead has also served as senior assistant to Toni G. Atkins in the California State Assembly from 2013 to 2016. He was also homeless policy director at Housing California from 2006 to 2013.
