SPEAKERS
ANNOUNCING KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Meet this year's speakers.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Stephanie Land
Activist and Author
Stephanie Land is an American author and activist whose writing focuses on social and economic justice and parenting under the poverty line. Her debut book, Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive, was a New York Times bestseller and was adapted into a limited series on Netflix. The book details Land’s personal experience with poverty, relying on government assistance programs to support herself and her daughter. It received critical acclaim and was included on Barack Obama’s “Summer Reading List” of 2019.
The Netflix series adaptation reached 67 million households in its first four weeks and became the streaming service’s fourth most-watched show in 2021. The National Domestic Violence Hotline was mentioned after each episode of Maid and received more calls in the month of its premiere than any other month in its entire 25-year history.
Land’s second book, Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education, debuted in November 2023 as Good Morning America’s Book of the Month. It follows Land’s senior year in college and her daughter’s first year of kindergarten. Land’s other work has been featured in numerous outlets, and she is a frequent speaker at colleges and national advocacy.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Kevin F. Adler
Social Entrepreneur and Author
Kevin F. Adler is an award-winning social entrepreneur and the author of the new book, When We Walk By, a must-read guide for ending homelessness in America. Since 2014, Kevin has served as the Founder and CEO of Miracle Messages, a nonprofit that helps people experiencing homelessness rebuild their social support systems and financial security through family reunification services, a phone buddy program, and the first basic income pilot for unhoused individuals in the US, backed by Google.org and as part of a $2.1 million randomized control trial led by researchers at USC. Kevin’s pioneering work on homelessness and relational poverty has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, PBS NewsHour, Los Angeles Times, CNN, on a billboard in Times Square, in his TED Talk, and in his groundbreaking (and hopeful) new book, When We Walk By: Forgotten Humanity, Broken Systems, and the Role We Can Each Play in Ending Homelessness in America.
Kevin is also the author of Natural Disasters as a Catalyst for Social Capital, a book that explores how shared traumas can unite or divide communities. An in-demand public speaker, Kevin has given talks at The Commonwealth Club, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, Google, UC Berkeley, and more. Kevin has been honored as a Presidential Leadership Scholar, TED Resident, MassChallenge winner, SXSW Community Service Award winner, Singularity University Graduate Studies Program participant, and Rotary scholar, for which he served one year in Oaxaca, Mexico. Prior to his work tackling homelessness, Kevin co-founded three education technology startups: alumn.us (acquired), Entangled Group (acquired), and BetterGrads (nonprofit).
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
David Bradley
Executive Director, National Community Action Fund
David Bradley is a regular contributor to Housing Washington offering valuable insights into the Washington DC world. For more than 30 years, David, co-founder and CEO of NCAF, has been one of Washington’s leading advocates on behalf of low-income programs. In 1981, David helped found the National Community Action Foundation (NCAF). As a private non-profit organization funded solely by non-governmental contributions, NCAF represents funding and policy interests of the nation’s 1000 community action agencies before Congress and the Executive Branch. David currently acts as NCAF's Chief Executive Officer. In this role at NCAF, David was the primary architect of the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG). Besides the CSBG, David’s legislative activities include the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), Head Start and job training programs. In an age in which partisan gridlock is too often the norm, David has shown an uncanny ability to make poverty issues a concern to both parties. After facing elimination in the 1995 House Republican’s Contract with America, David was able to work with key House Republican leaders to ensure CSBG funding procured the largest percentage received of any domestic program in FY 1997. In his role at NCAF, David has also helped power CAPLAW, a legal resource center for the Community Action Agencies (CAA) network and CAPPAC, a Political Action Committee.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Ben Jealous
Former Director of the NAACP; currently with Sierra Club
Ben Jealous, a civil rights leader, has spent his professional life at the nexus of social change, media, and emerging technologies.
He has held significant leadership roles, including being a former Democratic Nominee for Governor of Maryland, former National President and CEO of the NAACP, and former Executive Director of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA). For over half a decade, he has been investing in social impact startups.
While at the NAACP, Jealous led a series of wholesale changes in how the organization used social media and related technologies to enhance its organizing. He is a visiting scholar at the Annenberg School for Communication.
His initiatives have had a profound impact, starting with the successful online viral voter registration drives in the 2008 Presidential Election. The NAACP’s online activist numbers skyrocketed when Jealous began using their platforms to mobilize support for individuals fighting injustices in the criminal justice system. The last campaign he led for the NAACP recruited over 600,000 new activists on email and approximately 400,000 via text in less than two weeks. These efforts have also been acknowledged by a major polling firm for shifting public opinion and paving the way for significant civil rights state legislative victories.
2024 SESSION & LEARNING LAB SPEAKERS
Meet this year's speakers.
Quinton Baker, Founder & Executive Director, Forge
Quinton currently oversees the development and management of all direct service programs. He also establishes partnerships with other agencies to create community development projects and is the primary grant writer for the organization.
Quinton received his Psychology bachelor’s degree and Public Health master’s degree from Eastern Washington University and has spent the last 8 years focusing on population health both internationally and domestically. His work in Spokane county has focused on developing direct service programs and community projects that aim to reduce barriers to health and housing. He founded Forge with the goal of creating the infrastructure to relief through community development, advocacy, and access. In his free time, he enjoys trail running and playing with his dog, Apollo. His involvement in community activities include: Board President for The Way to Justice; Healthcare Committee Chair for NAACP Spokane; Self-Help Federal Credit Union Advisory Board Member; Member of Washington Low Income Housing Alliance’s Resident Action Project; and Member of the Take-all Black Coalition.
Brandon Bay, Inspection Protocol Trainer, US Housing Consultants
Brandon has worked in the affordable housing industry for over ten years. He founded a real estate investment and development company in Oregon during that time. Then, he transitioned to compliance oversight for the Oregon Housing Finance Authority as a senior inspection compliance analyst. He joined US Housing Consultants in 2023 as an inspection protocol trainer, training owners, managers, investors, and state agencies nationwide.
Todd Beyreuther, PE, Director of Product, Mercer Mass Timber
Todd is a design engineer working to advance product and policy development related to mass timber value chains. By aligning public research (WSU), development codes (City of Spokane), and building codes (State of Washington) with private investment for manufacturing supply chains, Washington and the greater Pacific Northwest are leading an integrated approach to modular mass timber market diffusion to address our housing, energy, and environmental crises. Todd’s career has been focused on addressing the complexities of these tectonic and technoeconomic challenges with a grounding in design methodologies applied not only to our traditional understanding of architecture and engineering of buildings, but also applied to investment across the entire mass timber value chain. Todd is a vice chair of the WA State Building Code Council and a past president of the Spokane Plan Commission.
Becky Bicknell, Client Relationship Manager, Walsh Construction Co.
Walsh is a general contractor that has been partnering with mission-driven clients throughout the Pacific Northwest since 1961. Walsh is committed to building strong communities and improving lives, principles that have guided the company since its founding. With a focus on clients, service, and a strong company culture, Walsh delivers the highest value in construction, ensuring that each project reflects its dedication to these core values.
Jess Blanch, Program Director, Pacific Northwest, Enterprise Community
Jess Blanch is program director in Enterprise Community Partners' Seattle office. She will oversee the Home & Hope Initiative. With experience both designing and developing affordable housing and community facilities, Jess brings a unique perspective to our work.
Jess comes to Enterprise from Capitol Hill Housing (CHH) in Seattle, where she was an Enterprise Rose Fellow and senior design manager. She managed mixed-use real estate development projects co-locating affordable housing and vital community programs and led CHH’s Healthy Homes Initiative to improve health outcomes of residents and staff through the use of safer building materials and cleaning products.
Prior to CHH, Jess was an architectural designer at Environmental Works Community Design Center, where she worked on a wide variety of projects including affordable housing, child care centers and community and cultural facilities.
Jess grew up in Rainier Beach, one of the most economically challenged and diverse neighborhoods in Seattle. Her childhood experiences inspired her commitment to racial, social, economic and environmental justice. She aims to manifest more resilient, equitable communities through her work in the built environment. Jess holds a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College in Environmental Earth Sciences and Human Development and Education, and a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Washington.
Greg Blount, Founder, Manufactured Housing Communities of King Country (MHCP)
MHCP (“Manufactured Housing Community Preservationists) was founded in 1992 to preserve existing Manufactured Housing Communities in King County. MHCP owns five M-H communities housing 342 low-and moderate-income households. They are Vue and Empire View in Skyway-West Hill, Paradise and Meadows in Kent and Avon Villa in Redmond. These “trailer parks” were all constructed around 1960.
MHCP also provides services to other non-profits operating resident-owned and agency-owned manufactured housing communities. MHCP and King County Housing Authority are developing a new 30-space Manufactured Housing Community in Skyway.
Starting in 1993, Greg volunteered on the MHCP Board of Directors for 15 years. In 2008 he became MHCP’s Executive Director, following his twenty-three-year career as a multi-family architect.
David Bluhm, Co-founder & President, Plunk
David has spent the past three decades starting and growing technology companies. In a variety of founder, director, and senior operational roles, David has been involved in over 20 start-ups that have achieved a combined “high water” equity value of over $36 billion, including two IPOs and seven company acquisitions — four of which valued over $100M. For decades, Bluhm has been a huge proponent of real-time transparency and digital accessibility within the real estate industry, and he finds gratification in now being able to bring that to fruition with Plunk.
Loretta Cael, Homeownership Program Director, Parkview Services
Mansour Camara, CFO, Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle
Mansour provides financial leadership, oversees the annual audit, budgeting process, banking relations and financial reporting for the organization. He started working at the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle in June 2017 and served in various positions such as Staff Accountant, Grants Manager, Budget Officer, and Controller before becoming the CFO in September 2021. He holds a MBA in Finance from City University of Seattle and an undergraduate degree in Accounting from the University of the Gambia.
AJ Cari, Senior Program Officer, LISC Puget Sound
AJ and leads its Housing Equity Accelerator program. AJ has always been driven to serve his community in ways that create access to opportunities, reduce barriers and ultimately uplift neighborhoods as diverse and thriving places to live, work and play. AJ brings to LISC a wealth of experience in community and economic development including affordable housing, new markets tax credits, finance and small business support.
As an affordable housing developer at Beacon Development Group, he worked with housing providers across the state of Washington to bring housing projects from inception to operations. He developed more than $130M in projects that ranged from rural and farm worker housing to historic rehab, serving families, veterans and formerly homeless individuals. At the City of Seattle Office of Economic Development, as a Small Business Finance Advisor and Asset Manager, he managed the city’s NMTC and HUD 108 programs, overseeing a portfolio of more than 15 projects worth over $300M, as well as the allocation of $28M of NMTC leveraging a total of $100M in community development projects.
Additionally, as a Small Business Advocate, AJ provided support and technical assistance to small businesses. He created a bilingual resource center to help small businesses, especially those that have been marginalized and underserved, access and navigate the full spectrum of complex recovery resources from private, local, state, and federal agencies.
Colleen Carr, Executive Vice President, Allied Residential
Colleen is a seasoned professional with nearly three decades of expertise in the real estate industry. Her journey began in 1995 when she took on the role of an on-site manager, marking the inception of a remarkable career that would see her excel in various facets of property management.
Throughout her career, Colleen has deftly navigated the diverse terrain of real estate, overseeing conventional, affordable, senior, student multifamily housing, as well as commercial properties. Her extensive experience has equipped her with the skills and knowledge to manage properties under various state, federal, agency-based, and local affordable housing programs, including low-income housing tax credit, project-based Section 8, rural development, and conventional multifamily properties.
Colleen's strengths shine through in her ability to handle properties with intricate layers of funding and financing. Her keen attention to compliance, coupled with her knack for project due diligence, has ensured the seamless execution of numerous ventures. As a leader, Colleen has spearheaded teams, demonstrating her exceptional leadership capabilities in the industry.
In 2011, Colleen achieved a significant milestone in her career by ascending to the role of Principal at Allied Residential. This accomplishment underscored her dedication, expertise, and invaluable contributions to the company. Within Allied Residential, Colleen holds a pivotal position in the Affordable Housing Division, further cementing her reputation as a key figure in the organization.
Krosbie Carter, Washington Department of Natural Resources
Krosbie holds a master’s in public administration from The Evergreen State College and has a background in international politics and relations from her studies in Florence, Italy. Driven by a personal motto — to affect change, you must be part of the mechanism working to create it — Krosbie's work continues to reflect her commitment to creating meaningful and last impact in her community.
Kimberly Castle, B.A., CPC, Foundational Community Supports Quality & Alignment Analyst, Washington State Health Care Authority’s Division of Behavioral Health & Recovery
Kimberly’s role is to support policy, quality Assurance and aligning the technical assistance and training to help agencies provide quality Supportive Housing services to fidelity and Supportive Housing as a Medicaid reimbursable service. Kimberly’s passion is care- coordination and serving individuals holistically from unhoused to finding a home in their community. Ms. Castle brings an understanding of not only the issues that face individuals with behavioral health challenges but an overall understanding of the various systems that may be involved in that person’s life. A Washington native, Kimberly began her journey as a certified peer counselor in 2011 when she was employed as a Permanent Supportive Housing Recovery Coach for the Permanent Options for Recovery Centered Housing (PORCH) pilot program. She went on to become a peer case manager and an outreach specialist for the Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness (PATH) program for 2 years before moving into her current role. Kimberly earned her bachelor’s degree in social science from Washington State University.
Jed Chalupa, William D. Ruckelshaus Center, Washington State University
Jed joined the Center as a Lead Facilitator in August 2022. He will be working to increase collaborative capacity-building efforts throughout Washington State and the Pacific Northwest.
Jed brings over eight years of facilitation, engagement, conflict management, and training/teaching experience. He holds certifications in both Mediation and Women and Gender Studies. His work has regularly focused on issues related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion within public engagement efforts.
Jed completed his BA in Communication Studies with a Minor in Peace and Reconciliation and his MA in Communication Studies with a specialization in Deliberative Processes from Colorado State University in 2015 and 2018, respectively. He is currently completing the final stages of his PhD in Communication Studies with focuses on Engagement and Conflict Management from Texas A&M University.
Michael Chinn, Civil Rights Enforcement Manager, Seattle Office for Civil Rights (SOCR)
Mike serves as the Civil Rights Enforcement Director and is responsible for enforcing Seattle’s civil rights and antidiscrimination laws in employment, housing, public accommodations, and contracting. Mike is a certified mediator with the Washington Mediation Association and mediated for the Seattle Federal Executive Board, Interlocal King County Dispute Resolution Program, and City of Seattle ADR Program. Mike was appointed to serve on the Washington State Access to Justice Board which addresses issues of equity in the legal system. Mike is a former member of the citywide Race and Social Justice Initiative Core Team 4 and Change Team which addresses racial equity in city government. Mike received his Juris Doctorate from Gonzaga University School of Law and Masters Business Administration from Gonzaga in 2006.
April Connors, Washington State Representative, 8th District
A lifelong Tri-Citian, Rep. April Connors is a successful residential real estate agent. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Washington State University. Her prior professional experiences include writing and maintaining city codes as a legal assistant, during which she was involved in a housing case brought to the U.S. Supreme Court. She lives in Kennewick with her husband and their four children.
Bryan Copley, Founder, CityBldr
Bryan is a leader in the Proptech industry with over two decades' experience at the intersection of real estate, technology, data and finance. In 2016 he co-founded CityBldr with Devyn Cairns, pioneering the use of AI in commercial real estate.
Bryan is a frequent speaker at leading industry conferences and collaborates with universities including Stanford, Harvard, MIT, Berkeley, and more on the topics of real estate, design, housing policy and engineering.
A husband and father of five, Bryan enjoys hiking, music composition, sports, chess, gaming, reading, writing and family trips to Marymoor Park with his dogs Rainy and Pepper. He believes deeply in the importance of building better cities and is dedicated to contributing to his home city of Redmond, WA in his role as a planning commissioner.
Founded in 2016, CityBldr provides best in class intelligence to power real estate decision making for some of the world's most admired companies. Forbes listed CityBldr #1 of 11 companies transforming commercial real estate through AI in 2017. As of 2024, the platform is live in over 150 cities in the US and Canada. The company plans to expand the platform to Japan in 2025.
Paul Cummings, SVP, Capital Markets
Paul joined the National Affordable Housing Trust (“NAHT”) in 2014 and oversees capital markets efforts for multifamily investments using the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC). In this role, Paul helps continue NAHT’s over 35-year history of working with strong, mission-based organizations serving lower income residents across the country. NAHT has placed over $2Billion of equity to create and preserve quality affordable housing. Paul brings more than 30 years of experience in affordable housing finance and building effective affordable housing finance/ development partnerships. Before joining NAHT, Paul worked for over 17 years with Enterprise Community Partners and Enterprise Community Investment, serving most recently as senior vice president, and managing market strategy, relationship management, and syndication. Prior to this, Paul worked for the Vermont Housing Finance Agency as a development officer, administering multifamily loans and the state’s LIHTC program. Paul serves as an investment committee member for New Market Funds, which makes double bottom line investments in Canada. Paul also serves as a board member of REACH Community Development, a nonprofit organization based in Portland. Paul has served as captain and fundraising chairperson for the Running for Shelter Hood to Coast Relay team, raising $1Million for affordable housing over the last 25 years. Paul holds a master’s in city Planning from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Bachelor of Science in Urban Architectural Design from the University of California, Davis. He is based in Portland, Oregon.
Gregory Davis, founding member, Rainier Beach Action Coalition
Gregory has served as a volunteer and board chair with the Rainier Beach Community Empowerment Coalition, which became RBAC in 2015, since 2003. Although Mr. Davis officially became a paid member of RBAC in December of 2017, he sees RBAC as an organization that has “helped to manifest the genius that the Lord has instilled him with.” He views himself as a synthesizer and RBAC has given him the opportunity to encompass that as it is reflective of what he has been able to achieve. His goals are to build community and give all Rainier Beach residents a pathway to contributing to their neighborhood in a meaningful way. As such, working at RBAC has provided him with the opportunity to achieve his purposes in life. Some people have dubbed Mr. Davis “the mayor of Rainier Beach” while he humbly presents himself in serving the position, he understands that there have been many people before him that have done work for the neighborhood who deserve the moniker more. His aspiration is to be the best person he can be as he strives to live through Proverb 22:1 “A good name is preferred over riches and gold”. This is a piece of wisdom he also shares with the younger generations.
Tsega Desta, Program & Housing Director, Ethiopian Community of Seattle
Tsega is a committed advocate and community organizer with over a decade of experience in navigating community dynamics and managing projects. With a strong background in addressing crucial issues such as housing affordability and community engagement, she currently serves as the Program Director and Housing Program Manager at the Ethiopian Community in Seattle. In these roles, Tsega collaborates closely with community members to instigate positive changes and tackle challenges related to gentrification, as well as cultural, linguistic, and systemic issues within the community. Tsega led the Ethiopian village housing project on behalf of ECS, managing an 8 million housing project allocated to renovate the existing community center and expand into the first floor of the residential space.
Meghan Doring, Architect, Atelierjones, LLC
Meghan is an architect with eight years of experience, licensed in Washington and California. She leads the firm’s mass timber housing work, from Seattle to Salt Lake City to California. A highly focused, detail-oriented professional, Meghan brings extensive experience in design, BIM, and end-to-end project management.
Meghan led the design and project management on Gardner Mass Timber Multi-family Master Planning process of 850 units in multiple Type IV-C buildings outside of Salt Lake City, doing extensive analyses of contractibility, systems, and cost comparisons. She delivered permits for the rapid response Sierra Institute Mass Timber Housing in four months to supply affordable and permanent wildfire replacement housing in California.
John E. Eliason, Vice President Development, King County Housing Authority
John has worked in real estate development for 4 decades. As vice president of development for the King County Housing Authority, John is managing the redevelopment of two World War II -era public housing complexes - Greenbridge and Seola Gardens − into award-winning, three-star Built Green master-planned and mixed income communities. John specializes in master planning, entitlement, environmental review, engineering, permitting, platting, construction and land sales. Previously, John was the senior development manager Redmond Ridge and Trilogy at Redmond Ridge master-planned communities for the Quadrant Corporation. John has developed over 3,000,000 square feet of commercial property. He has also been responsible for design and construction over 5,000 Built Green Certified homes and four Built Green Certified Communities that include parks and infrastructure. John is a graduate of the University of Washington.
Nick Federici, Government Relations Consultant
Nick is an experienced, dedicated, strategic, and passionate professional advocate with a lengthy, demonstrated history of working in the government relations industry, particularly on behalf of non-profit organizations. Skilled in Coalitions, Networking, Policy Analysis, State Government, and Government Relations. Strong consulting professional deeply knowledgeable on public policy issues of affordable housing, homelessness, behavioral health, human services, health care, long-term care, revenue, budgets, local government, and environmental protection.
Brooke Finn, Senior Vice President, Evaluation, Leadership & Peer Learning, NeighborWorks America
Brooke leads multiple program and service teams for NeighborWorks America — including Success Measures, Achieving Excellence, Excellence in Governance and Network and Resident Leadership Development — which offer the community development field, and the NeighborWorks network, innovative and effective tools to strengthen organizations, leaders, programs and ultimately communities. Her work includes directing a national initiative for members of the NeighborWorks network to use a shared measurement framework to track the impacts of their housing and community development efforts on target communities.
At NeighborWorks, Brooke previously served as deputy director of National Initiatives and Applied Research, and as director of program integration and planning responsible for corporate-wide coordination and implementation of the strategic plan, as well as related performance measurement strategies and initiatives. Before joining NeighborWorks in 1996, Brooke worked in international community development through Peace Corps, as a Volunteer in the Central African Republic and as Peace Corps Fellow, Associate Peace Corps Director/Philippines, and National Director of Placement.
She holds an M.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University with a concentration in International Development, a B.A. in American Studies from Kirkland College and recently completed a cohort training in the practice of Emergent Learning.
Amanda Lee Gross, Vice President of Training & Compliance, US Housing Consultants
Amanda brings unmatched experience in affordable housing to our training and compliance services. She learned the affordable housing industry from the group up, starting as a site manager and quickly becoming a Compliance Director. Amanda has leveraged that experience to become a nationally recognized expert in trainer in Fair Housing, LIHTC, RD, HUD< and HOME. She conducts hundreds of training workshops and seminars throughout the country, helping property management professionals become more effective and better able to protect the assets and reputation of companies. Amanda is a thought leader in the Affordable housing industry, speaking at several industry conference each year and working closely with a number of state agencies.
Conor Hansen, Managing Principal, Affordable Housing
West Coast developer and builder SRM Development (www.srmdevelopment.com) expanded its development and construction services to include affordable housing. SRM has hired Conor Hansen to lead the new division that will focus on projects in the Western United States.
Conor has been an affordable housing developer since 2008. He comes to SRM with experience of acquiring, renovating, entitling, and/or constructing more than 1,500 affordable housing units. He was also instrumental in creating the Urban Brownfields program with the Washington State Department of Ecology that allows affordable housing developers access to funding and liability protection for projects that have contaminated land.
Maggie Harris, Senior Associate, Holst
Maggie has more than 10 years of project management and design experience on a variety of projects including housing, retail and workplace. She is currently continuing her research in housing and community health through the Toulan School of Urban Studies PhD program at Portland State University. In September 2024, Maggie joined the Oregon Housing Stability Council, which reviews and sets policy for the development and financing of affordable housing in Oregon.
Cory Hawbecker, RA, LEED AP, CPHC —
architect, leader, and longtime proponent of sustainable design — to Principal
Cory joins Kim Wilson, Kevin Valk, Dave Otte, and Renée Strand as Principals to share responsibility for the Holst's direction, overall performance, and fulfillment of our core values.
Since joining Holst in 2005, Cory has been a key contributor to many of Holst’s most recognized and technically challenging projects, including One North, Bud Clark Commons, and the Ziba Headquarters. Cory excels at building relationships with clients, builders, and consultants to achieve the best possible solutions to difficult technical and design problems. As Sustainability Director, he advocates for sustainable building practices.
Mike Hemmens, Managing Director, Citi Community Capital
Mike has been involved in many aspects of the structuring of affordable housing real estate financings, including providing construction & permanent loans, securing credit enhancement, conducting due diligence, performing financial analyses and collaborating with the sales and trading professionals to market securities. He has extensive experience with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and currently sits on the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae Affordable Housing Advisory Boards. He has closed over $5 Billion dollars of financing during his career. Mr. Hemmens worked as a commercial lending officer for ARCS Commercial Mortgage Bank prior to joining Citi Community Capital in 2002. Mr. Hemmens received a B.A. from The University of California, San Diego and holds a FINRA series 7, 53 and 63.
Brigid Henderson, Manufactured Housing Community Strategies Specialist, Washington State Department of Commerce
Brigid has worked at the Department of Commerce since 2004, focusing on housing-related work, including the Low-Income Home Weatherization Program, HOME Repair and Rehabilitation, Foreclosure Fairness, and Manufactured/Mobile Home Relocation Assistance and Coordination Programs. Prior to working for Commerce, Brigid started her career in affordable housing at Fremont Public Association (now Solid Ground) administering foreclosure prevention programs and providing case management for homeless families, and at Spokane Neighborhood Action Programs managing energy education programs.
Miguel Hernandez, Director of Facilities, HumanGood
Miquel oversees its regional maintenance team and has more than 19 years of experience in affordable housing property management. He is not only responsible for the maintenance and regulatory compliance of our grounds and facilities, but also works with development contract managers on new construction and remodeling projects. He leads various capital improvement projects as well as critical asset planning.
I enjoy creating new beginnings for our residents and seeing the excitement in their eyes when they move into one of our communities. Each day, I strive to make our communities great places to live by keeping them safe and beautiful for our residents.
Marley J. Hochendoner, Executive Director, Northwest Fair Housing Alliance (NWFHA)
J.D. has served as Executive Director for Northwest Fair Housing Alliance (NWFHA), a private non-profit fair housing education and advocacy organization based in Spokane, Washington since 2005. Prior to joining NWFHA, Ms. Hochendoner was an in-house staff attorney and policy analyst for the Nez Perce Tribe and a staff attorney at Idaho Legal Aid Services. She has taught Landlord Tenant Law as adjunct faculty for Gonzaga University School of Law, is a Washington State licensed Real Estate Instructor, and a member of the Greater Spokane Progress Race Equity Subcommittee and Race Equity Trainers Cohort.
Laura Hodgson, Housing Planning and Data Manager in the Growth Management Services unit at the Washington State Department of Commerce
Laura supports local governments updating their housing elements as communities take a more active role in planning and accommodate housing needs of all incomes and address racially disparate impacts, exclusion and displacement. She also oversees development of resources to help local governments plan for housing for their most vulnerable residents and oversees a new grant program to coordinate low-income housing and emergency housing planning. Laura has been with the Department of Commerce since January 2020 and has been working in the urban planning field for 17 years. Prior to working at Commerce, she worked for a county planning department in Maryland and did consulting work in transportation and urban planning. Laura has a Bachelor of Architecture and a master’s in urban and Regional Planning from Virginia Tech.
Aaron Holm, entrepreneur (Markham Street Media) & heart patient
From 2003 to 2016, Aaron founded and co-founded a series of innovative technology companies, including Markham Street Media (acquired), Industrial Color (acquired), and Mylio (growing), and was a member of the founding team building Amazon’s physical retail business, launching Amazon Go cashier-less grocery store and Amazon Books.
In 2016, Aaron started Blokable. Aaron raised $35M from investors, including Vulcan Capital, Kapor Capital, Marc Benioff, and Revolution Ventures. Blokable built multiple factories in Washington State and housing communities in multiple states, laying the foundation for a market shift to energy-efficient modular housing development.
In 2018, Aaron had a heart attack and a quintuple bypass, which changed the trajectory of his professional and personal life. In 2024, Aaron founded PatientCircle, a peer community, education, and coaching platform for surgery patients.
Aaron is a developmental coach for entrepreneurs and patients and a strategic advisor to innovative companies, investors, policymakers, and governments on housing, energy, and infrastructure innovation.
Kathleen Hosfeld, CEO & Executive Director, Homestead
Kathleen leads Homestead’s initiatives to grow the number of permanently affordable homes for ownership in our region through community partnerships. She came to Homestead in 2014, after more than two decades as a strategic consultant to financial services and non-profit organizations. Under her leadership, Homestead has increased homes in trust by 35% and has built a pipeline for housing development that will double the homes in trust over the next 6 years. She leads efforts to deepen partnerships for equitable development in neighborhoods at high risk of displacement from rapid growth and gentrification. She has led the agency to develop two exemplary “deep green” housing developments that pilot standards for future replication. She serves as the chair of the Housing Development Consortium’s Homeownership Affinity Group and served in two officer roles on the Board of the Northwest Community Land Trust Coalition.
Whitney Joy Howard (she/her), MSW /Housing Integration Unit Manager
Whitney Joy Howard is the Housing Integration Unit Manager for Home and Community Services within the Aging and Long-Term Support Administration. She has over 14 years of experience working in Permanent Supportive Housing/Housing First on the east and west coasts; from direct service with Pathways to Housing DC and DESC to Director of Training for North America with Pathways to Housing National. She is a Vulnerability Assessment Tool (VAT) trainer and has provided VAT trainings to Housing First agencies across Canada. She brings this background into her current work with ALTSA to bridge the housing and long-term care worlds to assist communities support the Activity of Daily Living needs of people with disabilities and older adults, so individuals can live and age where they want to. Whitney Joy has a passion for true community integration and social inclusion. She holds a Masters of Social Work with a concentration in social justice and change from The Catholic University of America and a B.A. in Political Science from American University.
Joel Ing, Principal, Edge Developers
Joel has been a specialist in community development for over thirty years, managing a wide range of projects throughout the Northwest. He has expertise in both private and public financing structures including regulations associated with affordable housing funding, and Federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits. He is a primary contact in negotiations with property owners, funders, lenders, and investors, and is responsible for the financial feasibility analysis of development opportunities. This includes managing new project opportunities, negotiating property acquisition terms, structuring development budgets, formulating partnership documents, and overseeing the due diligence leading to financial closings. He previously worked as a public finance banker and municipal credit analyst.
Chauncey Jones, Executive Director, Take Up The Cause
Jared Jonson, Co-Executive Director, SCIDpda
Jared (he/him) has nearly 20 years of experience in the non-profit and public sector, and has served the SCIDpda on the board and staff for six years. Jared most recently served as SCIDpda’s Director of Property Operations, overseeing the department responsible for residential and commercial property management and maintenance, and prior to his staff role Jared served as Board President of SCIDpda’s Board of Directors for two years. Jared’s career includes roles in running political campaigns and building civic/political power for AANHPI communities, built environment policy and government relations roles at the King County Department of Transportation and the Urban Land Institute, and real estate development at Seattle Housing Authority. Jared has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science & Comparative Ethnic Studies from Washington State University.
Grace H. Kim, FAIA (she/her), Founding Principal, Schemata Workshop
Grace H. Kim, FAIA is an architect and co-founding principal of Schemata Workshop, a Seattle-based architectural practice with a keen focus on community, social equity and sustainability. Specializing in affordable housing, her projects prioritize race, equity, and inclusion by incorporating diverse voices and cultures. Grace has designed housing projects utilizing volumetric modular and panelization; and has also been involved with national and regional symposia for knowledge and policy sharing on the topic of offsite construction.
As Vice President on the Board of Directors for the Housing Development Consortium of Seattle and King County, she champions racial equity and inclusion, collaborates with community-based organizations, and advocates for offsite construction.
Marty Kooistra, Black Home Initiative
Marty (he/him) is the Network Weaver of the Black Home Initiative (BHI) network, a regional effort to address the systemic injustices in our housing system. Marty is a champion of coalition-based work at the intersection of community development, equity, and affordable housing. As executive director and board president of the Housing Development Consortium of Seattle-King County, Marty formed several coalitions and networks, including Seattle for Everyone. His local, national, and global leadership roles with Habitat for Humanity include CEO of Habitat’s Seattle-King County affiliate. He currently co-chairs the University of Washington’s West Coast Poverty Center Housing Roundtable and serves on the board of Global Washington.
Jamie Lee, Co-Executive Director, jamiel@scidpda.org
Jamie (she/her) has nearly 20 years of experience in the non-profit and public sector and has held leadership roles at SCIDpda for eight of those years. She most recently served as SCIDpda’s Director of Community Initiatives, overseeing external partnerships, fundraising, small business assistance, public space design, and neighborhood safety. Jamie is currently the Board Chair at the International District Emergency Center, and has served on a number of other boards and committees, including Chinatown International District Business Improvement Area and Historic South Downtown. In 2021, Jamie received the Friend of Housing Community Crisis Response Award for her work supporting residents and small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Jamie has a Master of Public Administration and a Master of Social Work from the University of Washington.
Brian Lloyd, Vice President of Development, HumanGood
Brian oversees the development of affordable housing projects in Washington for HumanGood and for our development consulting clients. The best part of his job is the grand opening when he gets to see a finished project filled with happy residents in their new homes.
Kimberly Loewen, Associate Director of Strategy for Washington State, Elevate
Elevate is a nonprofit organization that designs and implements programs that reduce costs, protect people and the environment, and ensure the benefits of the clean energy economy reach those who need them most. In this role, Kimberly leads strategy for design and implementation of programs in WA state that center community priorities. Kimberly’s focus is to build trusted relationships that align with mission-oriented projects addressing housing stability, climate resiliency, and racial equity. Before their current role, Kimberly served as Associate Director of Contractor Development working to address barriers and provide access for businesses owned by people of color and women in the clean energy workforce, specifically on Elevate projects. Kimberly also coordinated diversity tracking and documentation across the organization.
Mari Leavitt, Washington State Representative
Mari is a mom, small business owner, former PTSA leader, and strong supporter of Washington’s military families. She joined the Washington State Legislature in 2019. She serves as Vice Chair of the Housing Committee and a member of the Capital Budget Committee and Rules Committee. In 2022, she was elected by her colleagues to the leadership role of Deputy Majority Whip. She has been a resident of the 28th Legislative District for 32 years and currently resides in University Place with her husband, children, and pets.
Jeffrey Lubell, J.D., Principal Associate, Abt Global
Jeffrey is Principal Associate and Director of Housing and Community Initiatives, Social & Economic Policy and a leading authority on housing and community development — is the director of Housing and Community Initiatives at Abt Global. In that capacity, he provides policy, program and research expertise to assist policymakers in solving the nation’s pressing challenges in the areas of affordable housing, economic inclusion and asset-building, and community development.
A creative and outspoken thought leader, Lubell has expanded awareness of the important role of housing in advancing key societal outcomes such as health, education, economic development and environmental sustainability. He is frequently invited to share his innovative ideas for expanding the availability of affordable homes, developing alternatives to traditional homeownership, helping low-income households advance toward economic security, ensuring that families of all incomes can afford to live in growing neighborhoods near transit and job centers, and meeting the housing and services needs of older adults. He writes a column, In House, for At Home, a quarterly e-newsletter published by Abt’s Housing & Communities Practice.
Prior to joining Abt, Lubell was the executive director of the nonprofit Center for Housing Policy and earlier served as director of the Policy Development Division in the Office of Policy Development and Research at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Jonathan Mallahan, Chief Housing Officer, Catholic Charities Eastern Washington
Prior to joining Catholic Charities of Eastern Washington (CCEW), Jonathan worked at the City of Spokane leading efforts to end homelessness, grow business and create great neighborhoods. In this role, he saw the work of many amazing organizations making a difference in our community.
Patience Malaba, Executive Director, Housing Development Consortium
As Executive Director, Patience leads the association in a shared effort to increase access to affordable housing. She is recognized for her leadership in addressing the intersecting crises of affordable housing, racial equity, and climate change and is the 2020 Bullitt Foundation Environmental Fellowship awardee. A commitment to environmental and economic justice and her passion for an equitable society led her directly to the affordable housing sector. Prior to this role, she served as HDC’s Director of Government Relations and Policy. Previous positions include work with Seattle for Everyone, a broad coalition that was central to the success of Seattle’s Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA), Futurewise, and the Services Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 6. Patience co-chairs the Eastside Housing Roundtable, co-chairs Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC)’s Regional TOD Advisory Committee, Chairs the Seattle Planning Commission Housing and Neighborhoods Committee, and serves on the PSRC Growth Management Policy Board. She serves on the board of directors of the Transportation Choices Coalition and is a member of Sound Communities. Her appointments include the City of Seattle’s Redistricting Commission and Washington State Department of Commerce Homeownership Disparities Workgroup. Patience holds a Master of Public Administration from Seattle.
Dawn Miller, Washington State Health Care Authority
Dawn is a passionate advocate for employment as an important part of behavioral health recovery. Her experience includes supervising a supported employment program in a community mental health center for 21 years, Prior to her experience in serving people with behavioral health challenges, she worked in vocational and residential programs providing services to people with a wide range of challenges. She has fought to decrease stigma, and to increase the focus of looking at people for their abilities and not their labels. She is currently working for the state of Washington as a Supported Employment Program Manager/IPS trainer, a position which allows her to train and mentor agencies to provide IPS Supported Employment and in the process, extend the message of looking at people for their abilities.
Michelle Morlan, Principle, Lotus Partners
Michelle has been actively engaged in the direct development of affordable housing and community facility projects for over 30 years. As Principal of Lotus Development Partners LLC, a mission-driven development consulting firm, Michelle oversees the work of Lotus team members and provides project management, finance strategy and development services for nonprofit housing owners, primary and behavioral health providers and for-profit developers interested in affordable housing inclusion.
Michelle previously spent ten years as a regional director for a national nonprofit intermediary, where she served as a lead underwriter for their New Markets Tax Credit program, taught housing and economic development finance through a nationally recognized training curriculum to thousands of practitioners each year and provided technical assistance to nonprofit and government clients.
Since 1998, Michelle has managed development of more than 2,500 housing units including shelter beds, transitional housing and permanent supportive housing serving homeless individuals and adults with special needs. She has also developed several community and social service facilities including three multi-service centers, two federally qualified health centers, integrated primary care and behavioral health clinics and several facilities serving low- income youth.
Michelle holds master’s degrees in social work and urban planning from the University of Michigan. She is a past-Chair of the University of Washington Design and Urban Planning Professionals Council and serves on the Boards of the Seattle-King County Housing Development Consortium, the Public Facilities Group and the Community Roots Housing PDA.
David Musial, Senior Tax Credit Equity, National Equity Fund
Senior real estate profession, highly skilled in structuring complex acquisition, refinancing, new construction, and rehabilitation multifamily Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) affordable housing transactions across the United States. Considerable experience in people leadership and talent development, strategic planning, organizational development, operations management, client and stakeholder relations, problem solving, and project management.
Michelle Pappas, Spokane Program Manager, Racial Equity Staff Liaison, Future Wise
Pavel Parfilo, Affordable Housing Program Manager, Spokane County
Pavel grew up in Spokane on the lower South Hill in a low-income family and has lived most of his life in Spokane. He works at Spokane County and has been a strong advocate for innovative housing solutions and finding new approaches to help navigate the current housing shortage in Spokane County. His approach has challenged the status quo to more efficiently and effectively invest in affordable housing to ensure its sustainability.
Pavel has a broad investing and finance background, mostly gained from independent study and learning, but is currently working on his MBA with a concentration in Finance at Gonzaga University. He came to Spokane County as a United State Navy veteran after 8 years of service with experience in national security inspections concerning strategic arms under the New START Treaty as well as aviation maintenance.
Melodie J. Pazolt, Managing Director of the Office of Apple Health & Homes/Permanent Supportive Housing Unit, Department of Commerce’s Housing Division
Melodie has over 35 years of experience serving people with behavioral health conditions, homelessness, and justice involvement, having implemented more than 20 different grant-funded projects. She has worked in local and state government within Washington State for the last 16 years developing policy, implementing projects and programs, and expanding services and resources. She has facilitated multiple stakeholder groups leading to the development of strategic initiatives to address employment, housing, and recovery support services. She has actively participated in the evaluation of multiple grant projects as well as internal and external quality reviews of Medicaid benefits. Ms. Pazolt brings not only an understanding of the issues that face individuals with behavioral health challenges, but also an overall understanding of the various systems that may be involved in that person’s life.
Christopher Persons, Chief Executive Officer, Community Roots Housing
Christopher has led Community Roots Housing since 2007 and has more than three decades of senior nonprofit leadership experience. Prior to joining Community Roots Housing, he was the executive director of Inspiration Corporation, a homeless and housing services agency in Chicago. Under his leadership, it grew from a neighborhood agency to a city-wide, award-winning corporation. Chris guided the organization through two mergers, started a housing program, and opened a restaurant that doubled as a job training and employment center.
Chris has led the organization through significant transition and growth and has overseen the development of several award-winning properties including 12th Avenue Arts, Liberty Bank Building, the Jefferson, and Station House. In 2010, he oversaw the creation of the Community Roots Housing Foundation, and in 2012 he oversaw the creation of the Capitol Hill EcoDistrict, which leads the community’s efforts around resilience and equity. Chris has provided leadership on many external community boards and currently serves on the boards of the Housing Partnership Network and Seattle Crescent Collaborative.
Brian Points, President & Economist, Points Consulting
Brian founded Points Consulting in 2019 after 14 years in the consulting industry. Points Consulting’s work specializes in the intersection of land-use, economic development, and real estate, with a portfolio of clients across 36 states. He lives with his family in Moscow, Idaho in a single-family home. And he won’t complain when the field behind him is developed into a multi-family complex.
Philip Porter, Senior Vice President & Head of Acquisitions, Enterprise Housing
Credit Investments, and Enterprise Community Partners affiliate. While managing the originations and underwriting team, he personally originates investments with sponsors based in Alaska, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maryland, Northern California, Northern Virginia, Oregon and Washington. Since joining Enterprise in 2001, Philip has managed the investment of over $5.3 Billion Low-Income Housing and Historic Tax Credit equity in 454developments with over 37,812 homes across 26 states.
Philip’s involvement with multifamily housing began in 1992. He managed market-rate housing with Oxford Management Company in California, underwrote HOME loans with the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency, and developed and managed affordable housing with Woodland Associates, Inc. in North Carolina.
Philip has a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and holds master’s degrees in Regional Planning and Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a Housing Credit Certified Professional and is active with the Urban Land Institute and Stanford Professionals in Real Estate (SPIRE).
Cindy Proctor, VP Development, Beacon Development
As a member of the Executive Leadership Team, Cindy jointly oversees the overall development pipeline for the HumanGood Affordable Housing portfolio and Beacon client-based projects in a multi-state area. She provides direct supervision to development and asset management teams in Washington and California, as well as overseeing Beacon’s key operational areas including organizational finance, compliance, and office support teams. Cindy has developed over 28+ projects worth over $625+ million while at Beacon. She provides deep project management and oversight to her project development teams. Cindy has worked with a vast array of funding sources, public and private including: LIHTC and Historic Housing Tax Credits, taxable and tax-exempt financing. Prior to Beacon, she served as Manager of Housing Development at the Low-Income Housing Institute and Credit Review Analyst at Wells Fargo (fka as First Interstate Bank) Cindy is a past Planning Commissioner and currently serves on Governor Inslee’s Affordable Housing Advisory Board. Her experience in both housing finance and policy groups allows for Beacon and HGAH to contribute thoughtful and strategic regional policy input. In her free time, she enjoys gardening, photography, and volunteering.
Victoria N. H. O’Banion, Housing Cooperative Development Manager, Northwest Cooperative Development Center
Mrs. Victoria O’Banion currently serves as the Housing Cooperative Development Manager at Northwest Cooperative Development Center out of Olympia, Wash. Since March 2020 she has guided the acquisition of over a dozen cooperative purchases of manufactured home communities. This represents nearly $50M in assets and over 600 affordable and attainable homeowner opportunities preserved. Previous to NWCDC, Victoria lead program implementation and the project management team at the national office of Rebuilding Together. Victoria is well versed in the affordable housing arena and is passionate about the preservation of affordable housing.
Corey Orvold, Real Estate Managing Broker, Coldwell Banker & member of CORE Team, Black Home Initiative
Corey is a member of the CORE Team of the Black Home Initiative and a strong advocate for equality in housing. Her passion for serving her community and helping others attain housing security and homeownership, came at a young age when she and her family faced housing discrimination and were forced to move.
Volunteering her time with multiple affordable housing groups, the Tacoma Urban League and the Black Home Initiative, Corey is a Real Estate Managing Broker by trade and a mentor to new real estate brokers. Because Corey understands the conversation is not always about selling a home, she is a part of a Pierce County project that provides free monthly home maintenance classes to community members to empower them to learn how to fix their homes.
Before real estate, Corey was a general news reporter and a spokesperson for an emergency management department. She is a proud graduate of Washington State University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in communications with an emphasis in Broadcasting.
David Reddy, Principal, Building Performance, O’Brien 360
David has more than 15 years’ experience analyzing the performance of buildings, from single-family homes to sports stadiums. He is an advanced user of both the eQUEST and EnergyPlus whole building energy simulation software, and a lead developer of CBECC-Com, an open-source software for California T24 compliance analysis. He is also well-versed in utility/degree-day regression modeling and other methods for evaluating building utility consumption.
His breadth of experience includes using these models to evaluate and optimize building efficiency strategies, complete measurement and verification studies, and document compliance with energy codes and green building certifications, such as LEED®. David is passionate about helping clients make informed decisions on efficiency measures, providing unbiased recommendations for reducing costs while meeting sustainability goals, and expanding the use of actual performance data to inform the building modeling process.
Shannon Rowan, Project Architect, People & Culture Advocate, Environmental Works
Shannon (they/them) was drawn to EW by their interest in community driven design and the impact culturally specific, supportive spaces can have on people’s everyday lives. She holds a master’s in architecture, University of Washington and Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art, Interior Design Concentration, James Madison University.
Them Representative projects Include: Renovations for Housing Authority of Snohomish County (Tall Firs, Westend, Glenwood Apartments); Mountainview Housing; Ethiopian Village; Compass Health Supportive Housing; and Clare’s Place.
Michael Seiwerath, Executive Director, Seed Seattle
Michael Seiwerath (SIGH-wrath) has two decades of experience working on affordable housing, cultural space, and community building issues in Seattle. Prior to SEED, he led fund development, communications, and government relations for Community Roots Housing (formerly Capitol Hill Housing). At Community Roots, he was instrumental in the creation of the 12th Avenue Arts building as well as launching the Capitol Hill EcoDistrict, the Capitol Hill Arts District, and the $25 Million collaborative Rise Together campaign. Prior to Community Roots, as Executive Director of Northwest Film Forum, he elevated the film arts organization to a position of national prominence and led the development of its current home. Seiwerath serves on the Governing Counsel of Cultural Space Agency in Seattle. Previously he has served on the Seattle Arts Commission (chair), Washington Low Income Housing Alliance State Legislative Committee, Seattle Asian Art Museum Community Advisory Group, and the Cal Anderson Park Alliance Advisory Council.
Anzhane Slaughter, Program Director, Pierce County
Anzhane is a natural-born advocate for the African American community. At 24 years old, Anzhane is the youngest Program Director in Pierce County. She first put her community at the epicenter of her work in 2012 with her fight for education reform within Seattle Public Schools. Her devotion and leadership towards social justice and equity carried throughout her educational career as she obtained a degree in law from the University of Washington.
Throughout her research, Anzhane found that in order for the African American community to achieve true liberation one must be free financially. She quickly applied this learning to her life and in 2018 passed the Real Estate Exam in Washington state to help bring financial freedom, stability, and generational wealth to her community. Since then, Anzhane has held prominent positions within the social justice community securing government contracts for Minority-Owned Businesses, managing political campaigns for State Legislatures, and uplifting other young leaders through financial and civic literacy
Heidi Termer, Civil Rights Specialist (she/her), I N C L U S I V I T Y and E Q U I T Y Washington State Human Rights Commission
Tony To, retired
Tony, retired, has a history of activism within the CDC movement. Starting in the 1970’s, as a student, Tony helped to establish Asian American for Equality in NYC’s Chinatown and actively supported one of the oldest CDC in the country in Philadelphia’s Chinatown. As the Director of HomeSight, a CDC and CDFI in Seattle, Tony participated in the formation of the National Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans for Community Development (NCAPACD). HomeSight is a charter member of NeighborWorks America (NWA)- national network and intermediary made up of urban and rural CDC’s and CDFI’s, including many if not most of the Black and POC led organizations across the country. Tony served as a national advisor within NWA in the areas of homeownership, real estate development, and DEI. Tony’s passion has been to develop and advocate for race center equitable policies and funding programs in urban planning, community development, housing, and transit.
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King County Board of Appeals and Equalization- present
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King County Comprehensive Plan Update Equity Work Group- present
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King County Metro Mobility Equity Cabinet, Co -Chair- 2021-23
Tonya Todd, Housing Managing Director, Hilltop Securities
Tonya Todd is the Managing Director of HFA TBA at Hilltop Securities. She is a national leader in the affordable housing industry and has a solid reputation in the first-time homebuyer and purchase market. Tonya works closely with housing finance agencies, their lenders, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Mortgage Insurance Companies, and other industry partners to support down payment assistance programs across the nation. Prior to joining Hilltop Securities, she led the affordable housing team for a regional lender in California, where she accepted many awards for driving the company forward in their specialty lending production. And prior to that, Tonya spent nearly 9 years at Bank of America managing the Master Servicing of Housing Finance Agency programs with hundreds of participating lenders. She is tremendously instrumental and very involved in working with housing agencies around the country to develop and design loan programs to operationally serve their lending community while keeping the lowest rate possible for the homebuyer.
Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin, Firelands Workers United/Trabajadores Unidos
Lindsey advocates for economic policies that benefit working people in rural western Washington. He joined the staff of Firelands Workers United/Trabajadores Unidos in 2021. Firelands’ member-leaders identified healthy home repairs as a vital area to organize after multiple years of deep listening interviews in our neighborhoods where we heard over and over that people of all walks of life cannot afford to maintain their homes (or ask for landlord repairs for fear of increased rent). Lindsey is an attorney, and also a Port Angeles City Councilmember since 2018.
Adrian Smith is a Long-Range Planner at the City of Port Townsend’s Department of Planning and Community Development (PCD). Their work focuses on writing and implementing policies to support affordable housing, emergency housing, and emergency shelter. Adrian began their planning career with a thesis on transitional housing options in Jefferson County, Washington. After graduating with a master’s degree in public policy, they worked as a Planning Technician and Assistant Planner in Jefferson County before joining Port Townsend PCD. Adrian’s current project is Port Townsend’s 2025 Periodic Review.
Cindy Waldron, Vice President, Housing Insights & Solutions, Single Family Acquisitions Division, Freddie Mac
Cindy is vice president of Housing Insights and Solutions within Mission and Community Engagement in the Freddie Mac Single-Family Acquisitions Division. Her responsibilities include driving business solutions for the Single-Family business and its clients by leveraging research, data and analytics to target and overcome barriers to homeownership. Through partnerships with lenders, nonprofit organizations and industry networks, she addresses the issues of housing and financial education, homeownership preservation, affordability of housing, housing supply and access to credit.
Cindy also identifies opportunities for growth and oversees the design of offerings, programs and services that promote sustainable homeownership. In addition, she provides leadership and coordination of Duty to Serve, Equitable Housing and affordable regulatory goals by monitoring performance and providing insights to meet our community mission.
A mortgage industry veteran, she joined Freddie Mac in 1999 and has held several leadership roles within Single-Family. She holds an MBA in finance and entrepreneurship from George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree in math and business/economics from Augsburg University.
Freddie Mac makes home possible for millions of families and individuals by providing mortgage capital to lenders. Since our creation by Congress in 1970, we've made housing more accessible and affordable for homebuyers and renters in communities nationwide. We are building a better housing finance system for homebuyers, renters, lenders and taxpayers. Learn more at FreddieMac.com, Twitter @FreddieMac and Freddie Mac's blog FreddieMac.com/blog
Tim Walter, Senior Vice President of Development & Asset Management
Tim has been with the Authority since 1992 and is responsible for acquisition, development, financing and/or management of the financial operations of approximately 9,000 units in the Workforce Housing, Homeownership, Tax Credit, HOPE VI, and Development programs of the Authority. His department is responsible for all contracted management of the Authority-owned property and the on-site staff of the homeownership programs. Mr. Walter has a bachelor’s degree in finance, magna cum laude, from Seattle Pacific University.
Bec Wilder (Chapin), CEO, Co-Founder, Green Canopy NODE
Bec combines their vision for creating the world we know is possible with their background in sustainability, prefab, technology, construction, and development. Bec loves building teams to generate and operationalize creative solutions to move away from scarcity paradigms, fossil fuels, and the housing shortage, towards sustainability, abundance and love.
Originally from the northeast, Bec moved to the West Coast to learn how to build green buildings. Quickly Bec joined a custom modular prefab company engaging with the promise and opportunity of prefab building. Bec earned an MBA in Sustainable Systems from Bainbridge Graduate Institute (Presidio Graduate School). From there, Bec helped companies and leaders build stronger, more effective teams before joining Don Bunnell as a founder of NODE, a construction technology start-up creating software enabled prefab components for fast, sustainable, and cost effective house assembly.
Bec is fueled by scaling construction products to bring sustainable affordable housing to everyone and the company wide innovation coming from everyone on the team.
Rebecca Wold, Director of Real Estate Development, Habitat for Humanity Seattle-Kittitas Counties
Rebecca is an experienced real estate development manager and lawyer with more than seven years of experience leading multifamily affordable development projects through community partnership, due diligence, acquisition, and pre-development entitlements. Rebecca’s role on the development team is to manage affordable housing development projects through feasibility, acquisition, funding and pre-development design.
Rebecca has a wealth of experience in the legal and financial structuring of affordable housing projects. She has also led complex community engagement efforts with multiple stakeholders in communities throughout the PNW. Rebecca is passionate about increasing affordable home ownership opportunities in the pacific northwest, especially in BIPOC communities.
As the Director of Real Estate Development at Habitat for Humanity SKKC, Rebecca works closely with community partner organizations to build a strong foundation for collaboration and communication through the course of the development project. She manages the team responsible for all public funding and pre-development of affordable home ownership projects including feasibility, acquisition, and conceptual design.
Rebecca has a Juris Doctorate (Law Degree) from Seattle University Law School and a Master of Science in Real Estate from the University of Washington Runstad Real Estate Program.
Carson Valley, Economic Analyst, Points Consulting
Carson joined Points Consulting in 2023 and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Economics at the University of Idaho in 2024. He has experience conducting data analysis, along with bringing both quantitative and qualitative skills for economic research. He is a current resident of Spokane, Washington in a multi-family complex. His favorite Spokane development is the mixed-use community of Kendall Yards.
Phebe Vayanos, Co-Director, Artificial Intelligence in Society, University of Southern California
Phebe Vayanos is passionate about harnessing artificial intelligence and operations research to solve critical challenges and improve the world. Vayanos’ work tackles the planet’s most urgent crises, from homelessness in Los Angeles to protecting biodiversity in South America’s vulnerable rainforests.
Vayanos, an associate professor in the Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, will now be in an ideal position to further her research vision as she takes on the role of co-director of USC’s Center for Artificial Intelligence in Society (CAIS).
CAIS began in 2016 as a cross-disciplinary partnership between USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work and USC Viterbi School of Engineering, with the ambitious vision of leveraging innovative AI solutions to society’s most pressing problems. It was one of the first research centers of its kind in the world. Vayanos will lead CAIS, alongside her co-directors Associate Professor of Computer Science Bistra Dilkina and Professor of Social Work Eric Rice.
George Zeno, Partner, The Athena Group
George is a social ecology practitioner who combines his lived experience with formal knowledge of academia, business intelligence, and the wisdom of community to co-create collective action for a more equitable, just, and sustainable future.
George is a social ecology practitioner who combines his lived experience with formal knowledge of academia, business intelligence, and the wisdom of community to co-create collective action for a more equitable, just, and sustainable future. His work involves bridging and weaving power holders to community, corporate, and civic engagement opportunities while fostering social and civic responsibility through emergent learning, strategic planning, impact delivery, and upstream systems transformation. George integrates academic theory, design innovation, partnership development, and grassroots thinking to co-create community-centered, equity-focused learning journeys to build the capacity of institutional effectiveness and personal development.
A career developed through a co-creative approach of business development, system innovation, community resource development, and restorative justice, George's work and purpose have been centered on creating strategic sustainable solutions for leaders of business, local and state agencies, tribal governments, and community-based organizations. He’s led community-driven strategic initiatives to advance youth development, Native sovereignty, Black wellbeing, population health and health equity, post-secondary access and achievement, workforce development, civic literacy, participatory democracy, and diplomacy.
Jess Zimbabwe, Executive Director, LEED AP, Environment Works
Jess (she/her) became Environmental Works’s Executive Director in 2021. Previously, she founded a consulting practice, Plot Strategies, and served for ten years as the founding Director of the Daniel Rose Center for Public Leadership — a partnership of the National League of Cities and the Urban Land Institute. The Center’s flagship programs were the Daniel Rose Fellowship in Land Use and the Equitable Economic Development Fellowship.
Before that, Jess was the Director of the Mayors’ Institute on City Design and Vice President for Programs at the American Architectural Foundation. She has also served as the Community Design Director at Urban Ecology, providing pro bono community planning and design assistance to low-income neighborhoods in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Jess is a member of the urban design and planning faculty at the University of Washington, and previously taught at Georgetown University and the University of Texas, Austin. Jess was an Urban and Regional Policy Fellow at the German Marshall Fund and a Fellow of the Women’s Policy Institute. She serves on the boards of Next City, the National Main Street Center, and Colloqate. She has held a mayoral appointment to the DC Green Building Advisory Council.