Cynthia A. Parker, a regional president for Mercy Housing, has been selected as president and CEO of BRIDGE Housing, one of the largest affordable housing developers and owners in California. She will take over the top post in February 2010.
Parker, 56, brings more than 30 years of experience to the San Francisco-based nonprofit organization. She has been president of Intercommunity Mercy Housing, which has been active in building affordable housing throughout Washington state.
Prior to joining Mercy Housing, Parker served as a senior vice president at Seattle-Northwest Securities, a public finance firm, where she oversaw affordable housing, commercial, and public facility real estate financing in five Northwest states. She has also worked for the city of Seattle, where she established the new Office of Housing.
Parker’s experience also includes serving as executive director of Anchorage Neighborhood Housing Services and general manager of Portland Student Services. A former president of the National Neighborhood Housing Network and a former director of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, she has chaired the Sound Families Initiative for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
She currently serves as a director of the National Affordable Housing Trust and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle.
Parker fills the vacancy left by Carol Galante, who left BRIDGE Housing in April after being appointed deputy assistant secretary for multifamily housing at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
BRIDGE Housing has participated in the development of more than 13,000 homes serving more than 35,000 Californians.
