Housing Trust Group Announces Expansion

Miami-based Housing Trust Group (HTG) has announced the appointment of Quinn Gormley as executive vice president of HTG America, the firm’s new national development division. He is based in Austin, Texas.

Quinn Gormley
Quinn Gormley

Gormley, who most recently served as a partner at the Tidwell Group, has over 20 years of real estate development experience, principally centered on affordable housing, tax-oriented investments, and economic development.

“HTG has expanded rapidly the last several years to meet the enormous demand for affordable housing in Florida, earning numerous national and local awards for our people, product, and services,” said HTG CEO Matthew A. Rieger. “With Quinn’s leadership and expertise, HTG is now well positioned to take its platform national and offer our expertise to other communities around the country that are also desperately in need of safe, clean, and affordable housing.”

Prior to joining Tidwell Group, Gormley was director of multifamily housing and real estate finance at Adolfson & Peterson Construction and has also served as vice president with JPMorgan Chase, where he was responsible for community development lending and client relationships in Southwestern states. Gormley has extensive experience in real estate development risk analysis, due diligence, and structured financing, and has successfully provided multilevel oversight on the development and initial operation on over 6,000 units of multifamily and single-family affordable housing.

Max Cruz
Max Cruz

In another move, executive vice president Max Cruz has been named to lead HTC’s multifamily development activity in Florida. The firm has over 6,000 affordable and market-rate units in the state and more than 2,000 in the pipeline.

Cruz, who is based in Miami and has over 19 years of real estate and development experience, has overseen the entitlement, development, and construction of over 3,200 rental homes across Florida and closed on over $500 million of rental financing. He has also overseen the development of over 2,300 for-sale homes and $136 million of for-sale financing. Prior to joining HTG in 2018, he was a vice president of development for the Related Group’s luxury market-rate division and vice president of development and finance for the Cornerstone Group.

Industry Veteran Joins AEI Consultants

AEI Consultants has announced that Randy Ward has joined the firm as vice president of agency services, coinciding with the increased demand for assessment and consulting services by the government-sponsored enterprises (GSE).

Randy Ward
Randy Ward

Ward, a 30-year industry veteran, will oversee a team of professionals that responds to agency lender requests for commercial real estate consulting services. He has authored more than 800 property condition assessments (PCAs) and reviewed or managed more than 9,000 PCA reports. He has also worked extensively in the GSE arena and is well versed in the Fannie Mae Delegated Underwriting and Servicing Guide requirements, the Freddie Mac Multifamily Seller/Servicer guide requirements, as well as the ASTM standards.

AEI Consultants is an employee-owned international consulting firm that provides comprehensive services to commercial lenders, property owners, managers, tenants, and developers.

Raymond James Names Acquisitions Director


Bryan Kilbane has joined Raymond James Tax Credit Funds (RJTCF) as vice president-director of acquisitions in the Great Lakes region. Based in Cleveland, Kilbane is responsible for the origination, acquisition, financial underwriting, partnership structuring, and syndication of historic and low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) investments.

Bryan Kilbane
Bryan Kilbane

He has 18 years’ experience in real estate investment and LIHTC syndication, having participated in the acquisition and syndication of approximately $1 billion in tax credit investments nationwide. He joins RJTCF from another national syndicator, where he was director of acquisitions.

During his career, Kilbane has worked with both nonprofit and for-profit development firms and has structured a variety of property types, including new construction, rehabilitation/adaptive-reuse, HOPE VI, Sec. 236, mixed-income, mixed-use, and historic/state tax credit developments.

A leading LIHTC syndicator, RJTCF has raised more than $9.5 billion in equity for more than 2,000 properties across the United States since the inception of the tax credit program in 1986.

CHFA Names CFO

Thomas Bryan has been selected to serve as Colorado Housing and Finance Authority’s (CHFA's) CFO, effective May 6. He has served as CHFA’s controller and director of accounting since 2014.

Thomas Bryan
Thomas Bryan

As CFO, Bryan will lead CHFA’s finance, accounting, and information technology teams. In this position he will be responsible for overseeing the development and implementation of financing structures that support CHFA’s loan programs, including the sale and management of tax-exempt and taxable bonds, loan securitization and secondary marketing activities, and communication with investors, bankers, financial advisors, rating agencies, counterparties, and other external partners.

Bryan succeeds Patricia Hippe, who is retiring and has served as CHFA’s CFO since 2011.

Prior to joining CHFA, Bryan served as the controller for the city of Centennial and the town of Parker, as well as a senior accountant for FirstBank Holding Co.

NEF Promotes Chen to Regional VP

Emily Chen has been promoted to regional vice president, overseeing the East region for the National Equity Fund (NEF).

Emily Chen
Emily Chen

She first joined NEF in 1999, working in its Seattle-based acquisitions group as an originator until 2009, before returning in 2016 to reclaim her role as an originator on the opposite coast in New York City. Previously, Chen served as a national director at the Local Initiatives Support Corp. (LISC), where she launched and managed its inaugural health-care investment platform, the $200 million impact-driven Healthy Futures Fund.

Chen currently serves on the advisory board of the New York City-based Citizens Housing and Planning Council and previously worked in various advisory capacities in the housing and health-care arenas.

NEF is a leading nonprofit LIHTC syndicator and an affiliate of LISC. NEF has invested $15.3 billion in 2,687 LIHTC developments, creating 176,804 affordable homes for low-income individuals and families as well as 215,701 jobs nationwide

LIIF Expands Team

The Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF) has announced the addition of Sondra Ford, director of the Strong, Prosperous, And Resilient Communities Challenge (SPARCC), and Angie Garling, the organization’s first national director of its early care and education (ECE) team.

SPARCC is a national initiative that supports locally driven efforts to grow, invest, and build regions more equitably.

Sondra Ford (left) and Angie Garling
Sondra Ford (left) and Angie Garling

Ford has spent more than 25 years working in community development as both a lender and a developer in Chicago and New York City. She previously served as a vice president of community development banking at JPMorgan Chase, where she was responsible for national Community Development Financial Institution lending relationships. Prior to that, she served as a vice president of community development at First National Bank of Chicago and director of the Affordable Housing Trust Fund at the Illinois Housing Development Authority. As a developer, Ford spearheaded affordable housing projects including tax credit projects and the construction and rehabilitation of senior housing and single-family homes. She is based in LIIF’s New York office.

LIIF’s early care and education work began in California and has since expanded to programs in New York City and Washington, D.C. Garling will work to continue to grow this sector at LIIF, which to date has invested more than $150 million to create and preserve 270,000 ECE slots nationwide.

She joins LIIF after more than 18 years as Alameda County, Calif.’s ECE program administrator, where she was responsible for the development and implementation of federal, state, and local ECE programs, as well as family support programs. In the early 2000s, Garling partnered to launch the Local Investment in Child Care Consulting Group, through which she advised California counties on strategies to connect ECE to land use and smart growth. She is based in San Francisco.

Riverside Capital Announces Promotions, Hires


Riverside Capital, a leading provider of investment capital for affordable housing, announced today the promotions of two key executives as well as the addition of two vice presidents.

Brant Fensin, vice president of underwriting since 2014, has been promoted to head the underwriting team. In this role, Fensin will have lead responsibility for managing their team of underwriters working with Riverside’s investor partners.

Kelly Henderson
Kelly Henderson

Mark Furey, who recently has served as vice president of underwriting, has been named vice president of acquisitions. He will have primary responsibility for managing Riverside’s affordable housing pipeline for a variety of for-profit and nonprofit developers.

Kelly Henderson has joined the firm as vice president of acquisitions. Based in Long Island, N.Y., she will handle Riverside’s Northeast portfolio. Henderson joins Riverside from WNC, where she served as a senior vice president for originations. Prior to that, Henderson served as vice president and director of acquisitions for a national tax credit syndicator.

Erin O'Neill
Erin O'Neill

Erin O’Neill has joined the firm as vice president of acquisitions/underwriting and will be based in Colorado. She will be involved in securing new tax credit investments for Riverside as well as working with developer partners to successfully manage deals through the closing process. O’Neill has more than 18 years’ experience in affordable rental housing, most recently spending over a dozen years at National Development Council.

The Annex Group Names Development Associate

David Wesner has joined The Annex Group, a student and affordable housing developer, as real estate development associate. In this role, Wesner is responsible for assisting in the real estate development process from inception to close by focusing on market research, underwriting, zoning, and entitlements. His work will assist The Annex Group in increasing its financial and development capacity to ultimately heighten the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the company’s deals.

David Wesner
David Wesner

Before joining The Annex Group, Wesner served as a financial analyst for an affordable housing developer and worked on underwriting as well as applying for and project-managing tax credit projects.

Headquartered in Indianapolis, The Annex Group has overseen nearly $1 billion in commercial projects, including redevelopment and ground-up construction.

Sabal Capital Announces New Hires

Sabal Capital Partners has added several new members to its team.

Three executives have joined the firm’s commercial real estate lending team and include:

· Patrick Nizich, managing director, will help Sabal’s CRE lending operations in the Northwest. Based out of Seattle, his previous roles include director of loan origination at Dexia as well as senior origination roles at Red Mortgage Capital, Freedom Commercial Mortgage, and Greystone Servicing.

· Benjamin Kilgore, managing director, will help manage and lead Sabal’s CRE loan program, based in New York City. He recently held an originations position with Morgan Stanley in New York, where he was involved in the origination of over $5 billion in commercial mortgages inclusive of conduit, stand-alone, floating-rate securitization and balance-sheet executions.

· Alexander Paroda, vice president, will oversee CMBS transactions at Sabal Capital Partners. Paroda’s most recent role was associate in valuation and capital advisory for Cushman & Wakefield in New York.

Sabal also added five members to support the firm’s agency-focused small-balance lending programs:

· Juan Aragon, sizing manager, brings more than 18 years of experience in structuring, pricing, underwriting, and approving capital market debt executions backed. Based in California, his recent positions include director and deputy chief underwriter for Hunt Real Estate Capital, senior underwriter for Berkeley Point Capital, and underwriting manager and team leader for Freddie Mac Multifamily.

· Daniel Greenberg, production management advisor, recently held roles with the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., including underwriting manager for small-balance loans, business operations support manager, and asset transactions manager. He is based in Maryland.

· Thomas Woolsey, trading manager, has more than 16 years of experience in lending and securities. He recently held the positions of senior managing director and trading manager at Lancaster Pollard, where he was responsible for the execution of all U.S. government agency securities for 25 business development officers. He is based in Texas.

· Jack Adler, loan production manager, brings more than 16 years in commercial real estate debt placement to Sabal, having closed more than 600 loans totaling approximately $4 billion. Recent senior roles include managing partner for Lodestone Capital Adler, senior vice president and manager of underwriting for Eastern Union Funding, and vice president of loan origination/placement for Meridian Capital Group. He is in New York.

· Timothy Maloney, underwriter, has more than 15 years in underwriting experience. Recent roles include LIHTC consultant, project manager and finance, as well as underwriter, senior credit analyst, senior disbursement administrator, and portfolio analyst for JPMorgan Chase. He is in California.

Dominium Adds New Members

Dominium, a Minneapolis-based leading apartment owner, developer, and manager, has announced several recent hires.

Sandy Lo has been named a corporate accountant in the firm’s Plymouth, Minn., home office. In this new role, Lo will be is responsible for general ledger coding, journal entries, account reconciliation, and analysis to ensure accurate financial reporting for the company. Prior to Dominium, Lo held positions in accounts receivable for Hmong American Partnership and as an accounting and finance Intern for The Arc Greater Twin Cities.

Anje Jeltema has joined the company as a human resources representative in the firm’s home office. In this new role, Jeltema will be responsible for assisting managers in the hiring process. She will work on recruiting candidates for open opportunities, assisting with phone screening, overseeing background and drug screening, setting up profile assessments, and drafting offer letters. Additionally, Jeltema will provide administrative support to the Human Resources department. Prior to Dominium, Jeltema held a position as the HR coordinator for RSP Architects.

Jonathon Fuentes has been named a property accountant in the home office, where he is responsible for all day-to-day accounting activities of approximately 15 to 20 properties in the assigned portfolio. Prior to Dominium, Fuentes was a property accountant for Silverbay Realty Trust Corp.