PATH Announces Leadership Change
Joel John Roberts announced that he will be stepping down as CEO of PATH, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization that he has headed for 25 years.
He has asked the PATH board to promote deputy CEO Jennifer Hark Dietz to the top post starting in January 2022. Part of the organization’s staff leadership for eight years, Hark Dietz has been instrumental in growing PATH, leading efforts to protect the homeless population from COVID-19, and guiding the nonprofit to address racial and gender equity.
Roberts says he is not retiring from PATH. He plans to step back from leading Path’s overall family of agencies but will continue to oversee PATH Ventures, its housing development agency, and PATH Partners, its new initiatives entity. PATH Ventures has grown to be a statewide supportive housing developer. PATH Partners is aiming to become a new incubator for social venture enterprises.
Founded in 1984, PATH is committed to ending homelessness for individuals, families, and communities in California. Since 2013, the organization has helped more than 12,800 people move into permanent homes
Facebook Hires Housing Leader
Anu Natarajan has been hired by Facebook to lead its housing initiative. In her new role, she will leverage her background across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to guide the company’s policy initiatives,
partnerships, and investment work, including a $1 billion commitment to address the affordable housing crisis and build 20,000 units of housing for teachers, nurses, firefighters, and those most vulnerable.
She will jump into several key projects, including a teacher housing initiative in Palo Alto, California, and the company’s Community Housing Fund across the Bay Area. Launched in 2020, the fund dedicates the first $150 million to creating 2,000 homes for families earning extremely low income families that are making less than 30% of the area median income. The first round of recipients will be announced by the fall.
Prior to joining Facebook, Natarajan served as the director of policy and advocacy for MidPen Housing, a leading affordable housing developer based in the Bay Area.
Natarajan served 10 years as the vice mayor and a city council member for the city of Fremont.
Indiana Nonprofit Names CEO
Bruce R. Baird has been named president and CEO of Merchants Affordable Housing Corp. (MAHC), a nonprofit that develops and preserves affordable housing across Indiana. MAHC owns more than 2,580 units around the Indianapolis area and in northern Indiana.
Baird has been involved with MAHC for more than seven years, having served on the organization’s board of directors since 2014 and as board chair since April 2019.
In his new role, he will serve in a key leadership position for all service and consulting initiatives within MAHC as well as for the company’s partner project, HomeNow Indy, in partnership with the city of Indianapolis and the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention & Prevention. Additionally, Baird will be responsible for providing financial oversight on the development and program sides of the organization and will contribute to the ongoing asset management of existing MAHC properties.
Baird will also focus on securing new funding sources for future property acquisitions while establishing key partnerships with company stakeholders, industry regulators, and others.
He recently served as chief operating officer for Renew Indianapolis, where he was responsible for increasing land bank property sales by 300% and developing new sales programs to support nonprofit organizations operating across Indianapolis. He’s also held leadership positions with Insight Development Corp., the city of Indianapolis’ Department of Metropolitan Development, and the Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership.
CREA Names Chief Credit Officer
Ed Stone has been appointed chief credit officer at CREA, where he will lead the firm’s credit and underwriting functions as well as its construction feasibility and monitoring group.
He joins the firm with more than 20 years of low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) experience spanning across acquisitions, credit, and asset management. Having previously worked for both investment and syndication firms, Stone offers a unique background to meet the needs and goals of CREA in addition to providing renewed perspectives for its developer and investor partners, said the firm.
Most recently, he was senior director of equity investments at a government-sponsored enterprise, where he was responsible for initiating efforts to restart its LIHTC investment platform and placing over $1.5 billion in new equity commitments after leading the oversight of its $12 billion legacy portfolio in nearly 7,000 properties.
A LIHTC syndicator, CREA has raised over $7.8 billion in equity from its investors and manages funds on their behalf.
KeyBank Adds to Team
Anna Belanger has been appointed senior relationship manager at KeyBank Community Development Lending and Investment (CDLI), where she will work to expand the firm’s activities in the Northeast and MidAtlantic markets.
The move comes as KeyBank is focusing on expanding its CDLI equity platform on a national basis.
Prior to joining Key, Anna worked for two of the largest national LIHTC syndicators and managed the underwriting and closing of more than $300 million of LIHTC equity investment in affordable housing projects.
Tidwell Group Announces Partners
Tidwell Group, a leading accounting and advisory firm with offices in Alabama, Georgia, Ohio, and Texas, has named five new partners.
Andrew Hooper, CPA, is an assurance partner in the Birmingham, Alabama, office. He has been with the firm for more than nine years, starting as an intern. He has primarily specialized in the construction and real estate industries, particularly in LIHTCs, U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development (RD), and Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-assisted projects. In addition to his construction and real estate audit work, he has experience in nonprofit, professional service firms, and governmental audits.
Clint Hamilton, CPA, is an assurance partner in the Atlanta office with eight years of public accounting experience. His primary focus has been with HUD- and RD-financed and subsidized real estate projects.
Patrick Burk, CPA, is an assurance partner in the Atlanta office. With nine years of public accounting experience, his primary focus is real estate with an emphasis on affordable housing, including LIHTC transactions as well as RD- and HUD-assisted projects.
Michael Fournier, CPA, is an assurance partner in the Atlanta office. He has represented different members of the real estate industry, including construction contractors, developers, commercial and residential property owners and operators, senior housing operators, mortgage lenders (Fannie Mae Delegated Underwriting Servicing), tax credit syndicators, and real estate investment funds. Fournier also has experience in health care and nonprofit organizations and is an expert in consolidations.
Sean Hutton, CPA, is an assurance partner in the Columbus, Ohio, office and has 12 years of experience in public accounting. His focus includes affordable housing and his areas of expertise include cost certification audits and LIHTCs. In addition, he was involved with the group that rewrote the current Rural Development Section 515 handbook.
Greysteel Adds Affordable Housing Team
Greysteel’s investment sales platform, which grew to 14 offices at the end of 2020, has further expanded with the addition of the Colliers affordable housing investment sales team based in Newport Beach, California.
Samuel Lacebal has joined the firm as senior associate—Investment sales to cover affordable housing investment sales transactions within Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan.
Doron ‘Ron’ Peled has joined Greysteel as a senior associate also focused on affordable housing investment sales within California, Oregon, and Washington.
Additionally, two others have joined as part of acquisition—Sierra Marangola, senior transaction coordinator, and Joey Civil, senior graphic designer,
The Greysteel affordable team also announced several promotions, Henry Mathies has been named managing director, and Fletcher Hultman has been promoted to director. Both play an instrumental role in the team’s success, achieving over $300 million in total sales volume since Q4 of 2020.
Coats Rose Expands Affordable Housing Practice
Lane Johnson has joined the national affordable housing and community development practice at Coats Rose, a transactional and litigation law firm focused on development. She joins the Houston office as an associate.
Johnson has experience in representing for-profit and nonprofit developers in LIHTC transactions with tax-exempt bond financing, HUD Rental Assistance Demonstration conversions, HUD Section 221 (D)(3) and (4) loans, and HOME financing components. She also has experience in in environmental and energy litigation.
Prior to joining Coats Rose, Johnson represented the Sierra Club in Washington, D.C., as outside counsel in administrative and judicial proceedings, including settlement negotiations, primarily in the Southeast. She is licensed to practice in Georgia and Maryland and is in the process to be licensed in Texas.
With 20 lawyers, the firm’s affordable housing and community development practice is one of the largest legal practices dedicated specifically to affordable housing development in the county.
MFRG-ICON Construction Opens Nashville Office
MFRG-ICON Construction, a leader in construction solutions for the occupied renovation of affordable multifamily and senior housing communities, has opened an office in Nashville, Tennessee, adding to offices in Arizona and California.
The team is made up of 87 members, with 12 based out of Nashville, where it is looking to grow by several more positions.
Along with this office expansion, MFRG-ICON has numerous new East Coast projects in the pipeline in Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, and Texas.
“We are thrilled to expand our reach with our new home base in Nashville,” said Justin Krueger, CEO of MFRG-ICON Construction. “With our East Coast teams currently working on projects throughout the country, this lively city offered the perfect neutral spot with destination appeal.”
The construction solutions firm has more than two and a half decades of experience in the LIHTC industry. Its team has completed renovations of more than 30,000 affordable housing units and $2 billion in construction while temporarily relocating more than 50,000 families and seniors.
