CHN Names Executive Director
Kevin J. Nowak will become the next executive director of CHN Housing Partners, taking the helm from Rob Curry, who will step down in June.
Nowak has almost 15 years of community development and related professional experience. He has been part of CHN’s leadership and governance for over nine years—two years on staff and seven years as a member of the board. He currently serves on staff as CHN’s director of strategic initiatives and general counsel. In addition to helping set the direction of the nonprofit, Nowak has worked to align CHN’s staff and services to maximize their impact on clients and to expand throughout Northeast Ohio, and now Detroit, Pittsburgh, and upstate New York.
Prior to joining CHN, Nowak was the national equity investment manager of Key Community Development Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of KeyBank. In his position, he was responsible for both the new acquisition of community development investments and the asset management of a $1 billion investment portfolio. Nowak began his career as an associate in the commercial real estate practice of Thompson Hine, a national law firm based in Cleveland.
CHN Housing Partners, formerly Cleveland Housing Network, was founded in 1981. It is a large-scale affordable housing developer and housing service provider. CHN’s impact in Cleveland includes 2,500 new homeowners, the housing stability services it provides annually to 30,000 individuals, and the development of 6,000 new homes.
Fairfield Homes Announces VP
Jim Baugh has been named vice president of asset management and real estate development at Fairfield Homes. He is responsible for directing the performance of the company’s assets and for leading all of Fairfield Homes’ real estate development activities, which includes managing the acquisition and development process, financial structuring, project oversight to completion, and partner relations.
Prior to joining the Ohio-based company, Baugh held leadership roles with several low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) developers and equity syndicators. With 20-plus years of experience in the affordable housing industry, he has extensive experience leading teams responsible for development, investor relations, and asset management. He has closed $520 million in transactions and delivered approximately 2,700 new or renovated multifamily housing units reflecting more than $350 million in development costs.
Fayne Joins Align Finance Partners
Affordable housing industry veteran Steven Fayne has come out of retirement to join Align Finance Partners, a commercial real estate finance company that provides mezzanine financing for the acquisition, renovation, and development of affordable housing communities in the Western United States.
Align provides financing to developers that include a ratio of at least 20% affordable housing units in their developments by purchasing private-activity bonds. The interest on these bonds is exempt from federal income tax, making this form of financing high in both impact and performance, according to the firm.
“This is a niche that hasn’t been served,” Fayne said. “I’m a junkie for niche products that are on the forefront, especially ones like this that address a huge need.”
As a principal of Align Finance Partners, Fayne will be responsible for the origination and structure of the company’s tax-exempt bond investments. He is a nationally recognized leader in multifamily affordable housing finance, having originated more than $7 billion of investments over 30 years.
Prior to joining Align, Fayne served as managing director of Citi Community Capital. He began his career in affordable housing in 1992 when he formed Eichler Fayne & Associates, one of the first Fannie Mae Delegated Underwriting and Servicing mortgage banking firms in the industry. He founded and led the affordable housing division of ARCS Commercial Mortgage, and he later moved the affordable division to GMAC Commercial Mortgage. Each of these companies was the national leader in affordable housing finance for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Align’s founding partners are Michael Costa, Dani Evanson, Michael Potter and Robert Tetrault.
Freddie Mac Makes Moves
Freddie Mac has announced organizational changes in its multifamily business—the promotion of Robert Koontz to senior vice president, multifamily capital markets, and a new organizational structure for its Multifamily Capital Markets department.
The changes integrate two functional areas—multifamily investments and advisory and multifamily research and modeling—into the Multifamily Capital Markets department under Koontz. In his new role, Koontz will oversee these areas, while continuing his core responsibilities, including pricing, structuring, investor relations and sales, and securitization.
Koontz’s accomplishments include organizing and leading Freddie Mac Multifamily’s first securitization team dedicated to the execution of structured transactions, broadening Freddie Mac’s investor relations platform, and serving as a driving force behind record loan pricing and securitization volumes. Koontz joined Freddie Mac in 2008.
In another move, Steve Lansbury has been promoted to senior vice president, multifamily underwriting and credit. In this role, Lansbury will oversee all aspects of multifamily underwriting, including under its conventional, targeted affordable housing, and small-balance loan offerings, as well as risk distribution and credit governance. He will also be the principal manager of the division’s underwriting and credit approvals for all multifamily debt investments.
Lansbury replaces Deborah Jenkins, who has been promoted to executive vice president and head of the multifamily business effective Jan. 1, 2019.
Lansbury joined Freddie Mac in 1998, bringing deep experience in the multifamily industry. He has contributed significantly to the underwriting team’s repeated success and growth, leading underwriting for its conventional financing business.
AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust Names CEO
Chang Suh has been selected to be the next CEO of the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust (HIT), succeeding Steve Coyle after a succession process that included retaining a national search firm. Coyle has led HIT for more than 26 years.
Suh, who has been senior executive vice president and chief portfolio manager, brings both continuity and a fresh approach to the HIT. He joined the organization in 1998 as a member of the portfolio management team and has served as chief portfolio manager for the last 15 years. Suh, 47, also oversaw $2.4 billion of growth for the fund and strengthened HIT’s reputation as an innovative partner to the highly specialized affordable housing industry.
HIT is a fixed-income investment company (mutual fund) registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, managing over $5.8 billion in assets for some 390 investors, including union and public employee pension plans and labor organizations.
DiPreta Joins WNC as Originator for the Northeast
Diana DiPreta has joined WNC as an originator for the company’s northeast territory.
Prior to joining WNC, DiPreta spent seven years with Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York City, where she ultimately served as senior equity originator and senior vice president. She was responsible for the bank’s northern and central territories, including New York City, Boston, and Chicago, where she closed upward of $850 million in tax credit investments. Previously, she spent three years as a commercial real estate underwriter with Santander Bank, where she was responsible for underwriting real estate transactions and managing a team of portfolio managers, and one year with Blackheath Financial prior to its acquisition by Zenta.
WNC, founded in 1971 and headquartered in Irvine, Calif., is a national investor in real estate and community development initiatives, as well as a leading investor in LIHTCs. WNC has acquired more than $9.3 billion of assets totaling in excess of 1,375 properties in 47 states, Washington D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. WNC’s investor base exceeds 19,500 institutional and retail clients, including Fortune 500 companies, multinational banks, and insurance companies.
Houston Housing Authority Names SVP
Mark Thiele has been named senior vice president of the Houston Housing Authority (HHA), the city’s leading agency on affordable homes and services to more than 60,000 low-income Houstonians.
In his new role, Thiele will oversee the main operational voucher and public housing programs and collaborate with federal and local government agencies to further HHA’s mission to improve lives by providing quality, affordable housing options and promoting education and economic self-sufficiency.
Prior to taking the helm as senior vice president, Thiele served as vice president of the Housing Choice Voucher program, which subsidizes housing for more than 17,000 low-income families. Under his leadership, he oversaw a 115-person staff and $135 million operational budget. Thiele has also secured numerous industry awards for HHA, including a recent award from the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials for quickly relocating families impacted by Hurricane Harvey into new homes.
Prior to joining HHA in 2010, Thiele served as program manager, responsible for all aspects of the Disaster Housing Assistance Program for the Harris County Housing Authority in Texas, following hurricanes Katrina and Rita. He also worked in the affordable housing sector a consultant at Quadel Consulting Corp.
Love Funding Names Senior Director of Originations
Love Funding, a leading provider of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) multifamily, affordable, and health-care financing, announced that Brent Frank has joined the company as a senior director of originations. He is based in the firm’s Chicago office.
Frank brings more than 30 years of banking experience securing Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)–insured financing for multifamily properties and health-care facilities nationwide. He has extensive knowledge of national construction lending programs, municipal finance, and bridge lending.
He previously worked at Love Funding’s parent company, Midland States Bank, specializing in commercial real estate with a focus on bridge-to-HUD program lending. During his career, Frank also held positions at GreatBanc, Beverly Bank, and Devon Bank.
Hunt Real Estate Capital Announces Senior Managing Director and Southeast Regional Manager
Chad Thomas Hagwood has joined Hunt Real Estate Capital as senior managing director and Southeast regional manager. In his new role, Hagwood will be involved in the origination of multifamily and manufactured home community debt throughout the nation and will focus on loan originations through Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, CMBS and FHA programs. He will oversee the Southeast region and the manufactured home community production nationally. He is based in Birmingham, Ala.
Over the course of his career, Hagwood has closed in excess of $8 billion in commercial real estate transactions throughout the United States. He is annually ranked as one of the industry’s leading loan originators. Hagwood was named one of Birmingham’s “Who’s Who” in commercial real estate in 2017, one of the state’s “Heavy Hitters” in banking in 2010, recognized by the Birmingham Business Journal’s as one of the 25 Most Innovative Leaders in the Banking and Finance Industry in 2005, and one of Birmingham’s “Top 40 Under 40” in 2002.
Part of Hunt Cos., Hunt Real Estate Capital is a leader in financing commercial real estate throughout the United States. The company finances all types of commercial real estate: multifamily properties (including small balance), affordable housing, office, retail, manufactured housing, health care/senior living, industrial, and self-storage facilities.
Project Renewal Appoints CEO
Eric Rosenbaum has been named president and CEO of Project Renewal, a leading New York City homeless services nonprofit agency.
Most recently, Rosenbaum served as CEO of Lantern, a nonprofit that works with formerly homeless individuals and those at risk of homelessness. He also served as COO of WIN, a provider of family homeless shelters and family supportive housing. In addition, Rosenbaum serves on several boards, including Homeless Services United, the umbrella organization that represents the city’s homeless services organizations.
Project Renewal, which was founded over 50 years ago, is rapidly expanding as the demand for innovative solutions to the homeless crisis continues to grow. In the coming year, it will open the city’s first diversion center, which will provide the police with an alternative to sending individuals experiencing acute mental health and substance-use disorder issues to jail; launch a tele-psychiatry unit to make mental health care more accessible; roll out a new ScanVan, which provides mammograms and follow-up care coordination to un- and underinsured women across the city; open Bedford Green House, the organization’s fifth and most innovative supportive housing development; and develop a specialized shelter for 200 men in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
