President Barack Obama has announced his intent to nominate Mercedes Márquez as Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. She currently is General Manager of the City of Los Angeles Housing Department; before that she served as Vice-President of NH&RA member firm McCormack Baron Salazar, Inc. Márquez served in the Clinton Administration at HUD as Senior Counsel to the HUD Secretary and as Deputy General Counsel for Civil Rights and Fair Housing. She was principal advisor to then-HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo on civil rights policy, and led investigations and negotiations of housing discrimination cases resulting in landmark settlements. She also advised the Secretary on rural housing and economic development policy, supervised farm worker and Colonias Community Builder specialists in five states, and was a U.S. delegate to international commissions. Márquez is currently scheduled to deliver the Keynote Address at NH&RA’s 2009 Spring Developers Forum, May 11-12 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles.  read more…