BHC Announces New Leader
Charlene Melville has been named executive director of Broadway Housing Communities (BHC), a nonprofit that has provided permanent housing for thousands of New Yorkers for four decades.
Melville succeeds Ellen Baxter, who founded the organization in 1983. She has vowed to continue the organization’s pathbreaking mission of integrating affordable housing with educational support, cultural arts opportunities, and community-based outreach.
Melville, who takes over the top post after serving as associate executive director and leading BHC’s educational and museum programs, was instrumental in the development of the Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling, the cultural capstone of BHC’s most recent affordable housing initiative, and has provided oversight since it opened in 2015. Dedicated to supporting the cognitive and creative development of young children, the museum serves as a vital community hub. Over 250,000 visitors have engaged with, learned from, and contributed to the important cultural legacy of Harlem’s Sugar Hill historic district.
Community Housing Works Appoints SVP
Kevin Leichner has joined Community HousingWorks, a leading nonprofit affordable housing developer and owner, as senior vice president of housing and real estate development.
Leichner most recently served as vice president of development, housing finance, and acquisitions at Eden Housing, where he supervised a new-construction pipeline of more than 1,000 apartments, completed substantial rehabilitation of more than 2,500 apartments, and led Eden’s acquisition strategy. He also managed the organization’s debt and equity investment placements and was a vital contributor to Eden’s policy and advocacy efforts.
He serves on the board of East Bay Housing Organizations in Oakland, California.
Active in California and Texas, Community HousingWorks owns over 4,000 apartments in 46 communities, serving over 11,000 working families, children, and seniors, with a pipeline of more than 1,200 new apartments.
Columbia Residential Adds to Leadership Team
Columbia Residential, an Atlanta-based developer, owner, and manager of affordable and mixed-income communities, has added two executives to its leadership team.
Scott Manspeaker has joined as senior vice president of accounting and finance, and Rhonda Brown has joined as vice president of property management.
Manspeaker brings more than 20 years of experience in multifamily and real estate management, development, and acquisition. In his new role, he will provide financial oversight for the company’s operations, including accounting, financial analysis, performance metrics, and planning. He will be based in the firm’s Atlanta office.
Brown brings over 25 years of experience in property management, mostly in the affordable housing industry. She will oversee operations and profit and loss for a portion of the Columbia Residential Properties property management portfolio, which includes 10,000 apartments. She is based in New Orleans.
JPMorgan Chase Names Lending Leader
Jessica Zgobis has been elevated to executive director and team lead of permanent lending for the community development banking (CDB) team at JPMorgan Chase, managing the firm’s construction-to-permanent loans and fixed-rate permanent loans for stabilized properties.
Based in Chicago, Zgobis brings nearly 25 years of affordable housing experience, primarily focused in affordable multifamily property and asset management. She has been with the firm since 2018, starting as a compliance manager for the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) team. She joined the CDB team in 2021 and served as both a portfolio manager and a senior portfolio manager.
Earlier in her career, she held roles at Bellwether Enterprise Real Estate Capital, Equity Residential, and Related Management.
LIHTC Industry Veteran Joins Advantage Capital
Lynn Ambrosy has been named managing director at Advantage Capital, a leading impact investment firm. He will help lead a capital markets team working to expand the firm’s LIHTC and renewable energy business lines.
Ambrosy will lead LIHTC syndication initiatives and place tax credit equity in the firm’s other growing lines of business, including renewable energy, while helping to bolster Advantage Capital’s investor relations function.
He joins the firm from Aegon Asset Management, where he led its syndication platform with direct responsibility for capital raises, fund structuring, and investor relations. At Aegon, he originated more than $4.5 billion of tax credit equity in 43 proprietary and multi-investor funds and served as co-head of the LIHTC platform. Ambrosy has more than 25 years of commercial real estate experience spanning both debt and equity with a primary focus on affordable housing.
Ortlip Joins NewPoint Real Estate Capital
Mike Ortlip has been named senior managing director at NewPoint Real Estate Capital. Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, he will focus on providing financing solutions to commercial real estate owners on a national basis through NewPoint’s agency, Federal Housing Administration/Department of Housing and Urban Development, proprietary, and third-party loan programs.
Ortlip was recently a senior vice president at Grandbridge Real Estate Capital, where he managed the firm’s production office in Charlotte. He was with Grandbridge and its predecessor companies for 25 years. Over his career, Ortlip has originated more than $7 billion in volume across a variety of loan structures and asset classes, including permanent, acquisition, transitional bridge, mezzanine, preferred equity, and construction financing for multifamily and senior housing, hotel, and other commercial properties.
