EBALDC Names CEO
Janelle Chan has been appointed CEO of the East Bay Asian Local Development Corp. (EBALDC), beginning May 15.
Chan’s selection concludes a nationwide search for the next leader to spearhead the Oakland, California-based organization’s commitment to supporting community development and healthy neighborhoods throughout the East Bay.
Chan brings over two decades of housing and community development experience, with deep expertise in affordable housing finance, equitable transit-oriented development, and government and nonprofit management. Her background includes pivotal roles as the undersecretary of the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development, where she oversaw a $1.3 billion budget and significant funding for affordable housing and community assistance, and as the chief of real estate for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, where she spearheaded the first transit-oriented development policy and negotiated complex, large-scale, mixed-use development projects for the second largest land owner in the state. Prior to her public service roles, Chan was executive director of nonprofit Asian Community Development Corp. and expanded the organization’s impact beyond Boston’s Chinatown neighborhood to serve the greater region.
National Church Residences Announces Moves
Tara Aschenbrand, chief human resources officer; Adam Axcell, chief strategy and growth officer; and Paul Koehler, vice president of information technology, have joined National Church Residences in Columbus, Ohio.
Aschenbrand recently served as vice president and associate general counsel at OhioHealth, where she led a team supporting a workforce of 35,000 individuals across an extensive network of 15 hospitals, over 200 ambulatory sites, and administrative offices.
Axcell recently served as general manager, leading the Medicare Support Center at CVS. In this role, he provided multicarrier Medicare support services to consumers of CVS Health, a leading health solutions company.
Koehler is spearheading initiatives to transform the technological landscape, ensuring alignment with the organization's strategic objectives. He is responsible for defining and implementing an IT strategy that helps the organization achieve its business goals and furthers the mission of serving 100,000 seniors by 2030.
With more than 360 communities across the United States, National Church Residences is the nation’s largest nonprofit provider of affordable senior housing and the largest manager of service coordinators.
L+M Development Names Partner
Stephen Bonasera, senior vice president of preconstruction at L+M Development Partners, has been appointed a partner.
He will be an integral part of L+M’s development pipeline and diversification strategy, continuing to drive high-quality, sustainable affordable housing to the market sooner.
With over 25 years of experience in the construction industry and over 15 years at L+M, Bonasera has deep expertise in overseeing projects through the design and construction phases while ensuring they stay on budget. Under Bonasera’s leadership, the preconstruction team has grown to 14 members and has advanced the firm’s capabilities in building sustainable and resilient developments, including complying with passive house design principles.
A leading affordable housing developer, L+M and its affiliate companies are responsible for approximately $16.5 billion in development and investment and have acquired, built, or preserved over 46,000 high-quality residential units in a variety of urban markets nationwide, primarily in New York’s tristate area.
Comunilife Announces President and CEO
Blanca J. Ramirez has been appointed president and CEO of Comunilife, a leading nonprofit organization that provides affordable housing and supportive and mental health services to vulnerable New Yorkers.
Ramirez succeeds Rosa M. Gil, the organization’s founder who is retiring after 35 years.
With over two decades of experience in the housing sector, Ramirez’s career has included housing development, financing, and managing supportive housing initiatives. Most recently, she has served as vice president of acquisition and underwriting at Hudson Housing Capital.
Comunilife operates over 3,000 units of housing for homeless and low-income residents.
Dinsmore & Shohl Adds to Affordable Housing Group
Emily McKinney, partner, has joined Dinsmore & Shohl’s national tax credits, affordable housing, and economic development practice. She is based in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office.
McKinney began her career assisting for-profit and nonprofit developers as well as public housing authorities, leveraging federal housing programs to rejuvenate existing properties and spearhead the development of new ones. With broad exposure to the affordable housing industry, she has developed a specialization in the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) program, gaining invaluable experience representing proprietary investors and syndicators. In her career, she has played a pivotal role in navigating the complexities of LIHTC tax structuring, bond financing programs, and partnership agreement negotiations. McKinney has closed deals across 49 states, often layering complex financing mechanisms and pairing different tax credits, brownfield programs, property and sales tax incentives, state and federal renewable energy credits, and historic tax credits.
Dinsmore & Shohl has a nationwide team of more than 750 attorneys who are trusted advisers to Fortune 500 companies, institutions, associations, governments, professional firms and individuals.
Cinnaire Announces Promotions
Cinnaire, a nonprofit LIHTC syndicator and financial partner that supports affordable housing development, has promoted several team members to key leadership positions that align with the organization’s long-term strategic plan.
Jennifer Everhart has been promoted to chief impact officer and will set the overall strategic and operational goals for achieving Cinnaire’s community impact efforts. She will also oversee activities for seeking and securing funds for Cinnaire’s community development agenda and for identifying private, public, local, and national funding partners. Everhart started her career with Cinnaire in 1997 and transitions into the new role from her previous post as executive vice president and chief underwriter, where she oversaw the underwriting and investment of equity and debt, including more than $3 billion of equity and growing the lending portfolio by over 200%. Everhart is an inaugural member of Cinnaire’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging steering committee.
Donsia Strong Hill has been promoted to executive vice president of equitable engagement and impact strategies. She is charged with leading Cinnaire's efforts to identify and analyze new business opportunities and drive strategies to deepen community connection and advance impact in alignment with Cinnaire’s Theory of Change, the corporate mission and equitable and inclusive development. Strong Hill will also oversee the development and implementation of systems and tools that define and measure the impact of Cinnaire’s work. Strong Hill joined the team at organization in 2020 as senior vice president of corporate capital strategies, working to raise capital among Cinnaire’s financial institution partners and aligning funding with strategy and meeting Community Reinvestment Act metrics. She also served as the lead on strategy and business development for Cinnaire’s work with foundations, charitable funders, corporations, and financial institutions. In addition, Strong Hill led the creation and implementation of Cinnaire’s recent $55 million UBUNTU Equitable Access Fund for emerging developers of affordable housing in the Midwest.
Ryan Robinson has been named president of Cinnaire syndication. He will lead efforts in financing affordable housing projects through LIHTC syndication. Robinson has a strong background in tax credit syndication, investor relations, and fund management. In 2011, he joined Cinnaire as an asset manager and has since served as the vice president of fund management, vice president of asset management, and most recently executive vice president of operations and risk management. In addition, Robinson has served as a key lead among the Cinnaire Managers Group, establishment of the staff engagement committee, and various other initiatives.
