NH&RA Summer Institute (2017)

Mansur Abdul-Malik

Mansur Abdul-Malik is an integral member of the NHPF Acquisition/Development Team and participates in the entire acquisition and development process for multi-family affordable housing. In support of the investment process, he produces financial modeling, market analysis, cash flow analysis review, and due-diligence activities for new acquisitions. During the development process, he manages risk, cost management plans, and the development schedule, while providing input and influence on the development strategy. He also engages with all project stakeholders, especially tenant groups, oversees and leads the development team, and helps maintain the budget along with the Project Executive. With over four years of real estate experience in the management of affordable and market-rate investments, he has an in-depth understanding of financial modeling that includes cash-on-cash returns, IRR analysis, and discounted cash flow. He has participated in over $50 million in real estate transactions and has overseen capital improvements, totaling over $10 million.

David M. Abromowitz

David M. Abromowitz is a leader of the affordable housing practice at the law firm Goulston & Storrs PC, where he most recently co-chaired the firm’s real estate group. He is a Chair and board member of the National Housing & Rehabilitation Association, a co-founder of the Council for Energy Friendly Affordable Housing, and a past chair and founding member of both the Lawyers’ Clearinghouse on Affordable Housing and Homelessness, and the American Bar Association’s Forum Committee on Affordable Housing and Community Development. Charitable boards he serves on include The Equity Trust, and B’nai B’rith New England, and until recently he was a long-time board member of YouthBuild USA, where he now serves as Chief Public Policy Officer.
In January 2008, while serving as a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress David wrote the “A Great American Dream Neighborhood Stabilization Fund” proposal, the basis for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program enacted by Congress later in 2008, which has funded nearly $7 billion for communities hard hit by foreclosures. Mr. Abromowitz co-chaired the Housing Policy Working Group of then Governor-elect Deval Patrick (D-MA), and served on the housing advisory task forces of former Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, and current Boston Mayor Marty Walsh.

Thom Amdur

Thom joined National Housing & Rehabilitation Association (NH&RA) in 2004 and currently serves as its as Executive Vice-President and Executive Director. NH&RA is a national trade association and peer-network for affordable housing and tax credit developers and related professionals including: investors, lenders, public agencies and professional advisers. Thom directs the association’s day-to-day operations including legislative and regulatory advocacy, committee activities, conferences and events, publications, financial management and strategic planning.

Thom also serves as the Executive Director of the Tennessee Developers Council, a state-wide trade association for affordable housing developers and professionals active in Tennessee. In 2013 he spearheaded the launch of NH&RA's Preservation through Energy Efficiency Project, a major educational initiative supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Thom also serves on the Board of Directors for International Center for Appropriate & Sustainable Technology (iCAST) as well as the Advisory Board for its ResourceSmart program, a turn-key, cost-effective, green rehab provider for multifamily affordable and market-rate housing communities and nonprofit facilities.

Thom is a frequent speaker at affordable housing, sustainable development and tax credit industry events and has been published in a variety of industry journals including Tax Credit Advisor, Independent Banker, and the Novogradac Journal of Tax Credit Housing. Thom also serves as the Associate Publisher of Tax Credit Advisor, a monthly magazine for tax credit and affordable housing professionals and is an Executive Vice-President at Dworbell Inc., a boutique association management and communications firm in Washington, DC.

Thom was previously employed at a national lobbying firm focusing on financial services and technology issues. Prior to moving to Washington, Thom worked in media relations in the New York State Assembly and as a research assistant for New Hampshire Governor Jeanne Shaheen. Thom graduated Magna Cum Laude from Tufts University with a double major in Political Science and History.

Bill Andrews

Bill Andrews joined ERI in 1999 and currently serves as the Company's head of Acquisitions. In addition to traditional property acquisitions, Bill has significant experience in the acquisition of fractional real estate interests in limited partnership and tenant-in-common structures as well as entity-level investments utilizing both debt and equity. Though he works across all asset classes, he has a particular focus on both market rate and affordable multi-family housing.

Bill holds a B.A. from The College of St. Rose and a J.D. from Boston University School of Law. He services on various boards and committees relating to ERI investments, including a board advisory role with Cottonwood Residential, and is a full member of the Urban Land Institute.

Peter Bell

Peter Bell is President and CEO of the National Housing & Rehabilitation Association, a 46 year old organization of real estate developers, lenders, equity investors, attorneys, accountants, nonprofit and public officials who are involved in the development, financing and operation of affordable housing under various federal, state and local housing programs. Mr. Bell has served as NH&RA's President and CEO since 1976. Mr. Bell is the owner and publisher of Tax Credit Advisor, a monthly magazine focused on real estate development utilizing various federal tax credits, including the low income housing tax credit, historic rehabilitation tax credit and the New Markets Tax Credit. Mr. Bell is also executive director of the Telluride Society for Jazz, a Colorado nonprofit organization that hosts the Telluride Jazz Festival, August 4-6 in 2017.

Holly Bray

Ms. Bray joined Love Funding’s Washington, D.C., office in 2008. In her current capacity as senior director she is responsible for loan origination and focuses on financing apartments, nursing homes and assisted living facilities including affordable transactions with low-income housing tax credits and substantial rehabilitation transactions with historic tax credits.

Ms. Bray has over 25 years of experience in the financial industry. She possesses an extensive background in underwriting, sales and secondary marketing, and loan origination. Before joining Love Funding, she served as a director with Wachovia Multifamily Capital Inc., where she was responsible for originating construction and permanent loans for multihousing projects. Her prior background experience also includes serving as director of FHA Finance for AMI Capital Inc. and as vice president with WMF/Huntoon Paige.

Ms. Bray currently serves on the board of NH&RA and as chair of the Arlington County (Virginia) Housing Commission.

Ms. Bray received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Gordon College. She also frequently participates in industry-related training seminars and conferences on Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and HUD Multifamily Accelerated Processing.

Conchy Bretos

Conchy Bretos saw senior citizens living in decrepit public housing units when she was Florida Secretary for Aging and Adult Services. Many of these seniors were sent to nursing homes at a higher cost to taxpayers. In 1996 she convinced the Miami Dade County Housing Authority to let her turn a run-down building and created The Helen Sawyer Plaza with $1.2 million in Medicaid funding from the legislature. The project became a national model, has been replicated in 23 states and the District of Columbia.

In 2011 she was successful in changing national policy. Mrs. Bretos received the first Purpose Prize in 2006 and became an Ashoka Fellow in 2010. In 2011, and was a finalist at the international World Habit Award competition. She was named one of the most promising social entrepreneurs by Bloomberg Business Week and her work has been featured in all major media, CNN, CBS news, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Business week, among others

Her model combines resident social security incomes with government service subsidies to provide high quality services and model financial viability. Her model has proven to generate economic activity, new jobs, neighborhood revitalization and drastic savings in Medicaid and Medicare by improving health at a time when both state and federal government budgets are facing the impacts of global aging. She is a graduate of Oberlin College and holds an MBA from the University of New South Wales in Australia. She attended Harvard University in 1989.

Geoffrey C. Brown

Geoffrey C. Brown joined USA Properties Fund in 1989 and became President and Chief Executive Officer of USA Properties Fund in 1997. USA Properties Fund develops, through construction or acquisition and rehabilitation, affordable housing for families and seniors in California and Nevada. In addition, its subsidiary, USA Multifamily Management, manages its own projects in a portfolio consisting of approximately 11,000 units.

Before joining USA in 1989, Mr. Brown was employed at Sanwa Bank California in the Real Estate Industries Division. During his tenure at Sanwa Bank as Vice President and Manager of the Pasadena Real Estate Office, he oversaw the construction lending activity for residential and commercial loans. Mr. Brown earned a BA in Economics from Willamette University and an MBA degree in Finance from the University of Washington. Mr. Brown is a licensed Real Estate Broker and Contractor in California and currently serves on the boards of California Housing Consortium, California Council of Affordable Housing, the National Housing and Rehabilitation Association and the National Multi Housing Council.

Tom Capp

Tom Capp has directed Gorman & Company's real estate development since 1994. Under his direction, the company has focused on urban revitalization, mixed-income housing, historic preservation and the preservation of affordable housing. Prior to joining Gorman & Company, Tom was a Senior Associate at Camiros, Inc., an urban planning firm based in Chicago. Tom is a former public official having served as mayor of Fitchburg, Wisconsin, where he also served as chairman of the city's Planning Commission and chairman of its Economic Development Commission. As executive assistant to Dane County Executive Rick Phelps from 1993-1994, he directed land use and development policy for Dane County (Madison, Wisconsin and surrounding areas). Tom has a degree in Economics and Political Science from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. Tom has served on many industry boards and commissions. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the National Housing and Rehabilitation Association. In 2007 he was appointed by the White House as a Panel Expert for the Preserve America Summit, an initiative created by executive order to modernize our nation's approaches to historic preservation. He is a frequent speaker and presenter at conferences sponsored by state housing authorities, planning associations, and housing industry groups such as NCSHA, NH&RA, and IPED.

Darien Crimmin

Darien L. Crimmin has worked in the business of sustainability for more than 10 years. As Vice President of Energy and Sustainability for WinnCompanies, he is responsible for managing a range of energy efficiency projects and sustainability programs across Winn’s residential portfolio. Through Mr. Crimmin’s leadership, Winn has partnered with numerous local, state and federal agencies to reduce energy costs and promote investments in sustainability. Recent greening efforts include the installation of more than a megawatt of solar photovoltaic, numerous HVAC and insulation upgrades, water conservation improvements, and extensive training for Winn management and maintenance staff. Through Mr. Crimmin’s support, WinnDevelopment undertook the nation’s largest “Deep Energy Retrofit” project and recently achieved LEED Platinum Certification for a historic mill conversion.

Prior to joining WinnDevelopment in 2009, Mr. Crimmin was responsible for managing Harvard University’s Office for Sustainability Green Building Services. Among his other accomplishments, Mr. Crimmin helped develop Harvard’s largest solar hot water installation, designed training modules for Harvard University’s Operations Services, and created utility measurement tools to track energy performance across the University. In addition, Mr. Crimmin was a teaching fellow at Harvard University’s Extension School for Green Buildings: Design, Construction, and Operations.

Mr. Crimmin actively engages with many Boston-area energy and sustainability organizations, including LEAN (Low-Income Energy Affordability Network) and NESEA (the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association). Nationally, Mr. Crimmin is affiliated with the U.S. Green Building Council, NH&RA’s Council for Environmentally Friendly Housing, and is a Fellow at the Environmental Leadership Program. Mr. Crimmin holds a Master’s degree from Tufts University and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Vermont.

Diana DiPreta

Diana DiPreta has more than 13 years of experience in commercial real estate serving over 6 years in tax credits and affordable housing. Based in New York City, Diana currently is a senior equity originator for low income housing tax credits for the bank’s northern and central territories, including NYC, Boston, and Chicago. Previously, she served in roles including Commercial Real Estate Banking with Santander where she was responsible for underwriting real estate transactions and managed a team of portfolio managers on the debt side. Diana’s earlier real estate years were spent in the CMBS industry. Diana is a graduate of Binghamton University @ SUNY.

Sharon Dworkin Bell

Sharon Dworkin Bell is a Principal at Dworbell, Inc., the company she co-founded at the beginning of her career. Dworbell, Inc. manages National Housing & Rehabilitation Association (NH&RA), National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association (NRMLA) and the National Aging-in-Place Council (NAIPC) and is also the publisher of Tax Credit Advisor magazine.

Throughout her career, including her tenure at Fannie Mae, Sharon has represented developers and owners of affordable and market-rate rental apartments. In her current role, she is developing a new suite of products and services for executives involved in the development and ownership of multifamily housing to assist them in leading their companies successfully into the future.

Prior to rejoining Dworbell, Sharon was Senior Vice President for Multifamily and 55+ Housing at the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) in Washington, DC. Sharon established the organization as a leading advocate and resource for the multifamily industry and led a turn-around of NAHB’s 55+ Housing Industries Council whose members build single-family lifestyle communities designed to meet the specific needs of the Baby Boomer generation.

Sharon has been named several times as one of the most influential members of the multifamily industry.

Susan Frank

Susan Frank joined Cinnaire in 2014 and was recently promoted to Sr. Vice President of Business Development. She is responsible for Cinnaire’s growth strategy in the MidAtlantic, including equity, debt and Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) initiatives.

Susan Frank brings over twenty five of experience in housing finance and community development. She worked for twelve years at Fannie Mae, including as a Director in Fannie Mae’s Affordable Multifamily Group and as Director of Fannie Mae’s CDFI product.

Prior to joining Fannie Mae, she served for eight years as the Executive Director of Delaware’s state housing finance agency, and was a member of Governor Carper’s (now US Senator Carper) cabinet. She also spent a number of years working on Capitol Hill as a Legislative Advisor, focusing on issues before the U.S. House of Representative’s Banking Committee and Housing Subcommittee.

Tony Freedman

Anthony S. Freedman joined Holland & Knight as a partner in 2006. He has practiced law for 29 years in Washington, D.C., and previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Housing Policy and Budget at HUD from 1978 to 1981.

Mr. Freedman's practice consists of transactional, financial, policy and regulatory matters involving housing. His areas of expertise include federal, state and local housing assistance programs, low-income housing tax credits, public housing privatization, tax-exempt finance, mortgage finance, military housing and limited partnership law.

Mr. Freedman has been involved with the low-income housing tax credit program since its adoption as part of the Tax Reform Act of 1986, and his experience extends to the tax credit exchange and tax credit assistance programs enacted in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. He currently provides regular advice and counsel to more than a dozen state housing credit agencies and has rendered leading opinions on such diverse tax credit matters as the treatment of interest reduction payments under HUD's Section 236 "decoupling" program, the timing of issuance and redemption of tax exempt bonds for purposes of obtaining tax credits without an allocation and the treatment of public housing operating subsidies received under the HOPE VI program. He has worked on more than 1,000 LIHTC transactions and recently represented the investor and syndicator in the largest such transaction ever closed. Mr. Freedman is the author of The Essential Guide to Housing Credit Compliance.

An extensive background in HUD programs has enabled Mr. Freedman to represent a wide range of clients in virtually every kind of development, financing and workout transaction involving Section 8, HUD mortgage insurance, the older assisted housing programs and the Public Housing program. He represented the Atlanta Housing Authority in closing the first "HOPE VI" transaction, and, since 1996, has represented various clients in more than 30 HOPE VI and other mixed-finance transactions. Mr. Freedman also played a pivotal role in structuring the first financings secured by a pledge of public housing Capital Fund Program monies. His work on behalf of the investment bankers for the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) helped to develop the basic security mechanisms that enabled the transaction to achieve an AA rating from all three rating agencies. Since that time, he structured the first state housing agency-pooled Capital Fund financing and has worked on more than a dozen other Capital Fund financings.

John W. Gahan III

For over 35 years, John has concentrated his practice in the development of real estate projects. While his clients have come from a broad range of diverse industries, most of John’s day-to-day representation involves housing. John’s clients have built, owned and/or managed hundreds of thousands of multi-family housing units, including housing for the men and women who serve in our armed forces. John has extensive experience in complicated financing structures including syndication of State and Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits, State and Federal Historic Credits, New Market Tax Credits, Brownfields Credits, energy-related credits and other state credits.

Working with owners, lenders investors, industry groups, as well as municipal, state, federal, governmental and regulatory agencies to obtain approvals and support for proposed developments, John’s skills and experience have earned him the reputation as a lawyer who “gets the deal done.”

John currently serves on the Board of Directors of Preservation Massachusetts and the National Housing & Rehabilitation Association (NH&RA). He assisted in drafting laws and regulations dealing with affordable housing properties to better facilitate the advancement of his clients’ projects, including the preservation law, enacted in 2009, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (Chapter 40T – An Act Preserving Publicly-Assisted Affordable Housing). John continues to serve on the advisory committee which provides advice and recommendations relative to the implementation of Chapter 40T. He also serves, or has served, on the boards of a number of local community banks, hospitals and other social organizations.

Peter Giles

Peter Giles serves as Vice President of Business Development for Cinnaire, joining in 2011. Peter manages Cinnaire’s New Markets Tax Credit program, including selection of potential investments, closing of NMTC transactions and oversight of all back-office administration throughout the compliance period. Previously, Peter, a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), worked for PwC in Detroit, MI. While at PwC, Peter worked in the Transaction Services division of the firm. Within this group, Peter worked on financial due diligence projects, assisting clients in either the acquisition or divestiture of a business. These projects were often complex in nature due to the number of parties involved and the significant purchase price and tax implications. Peter earned a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Science degrees in Accounting, at Michigan State University.

Joshua Greenblatt

Josh joined Vesta in 1998. During his tenure at Vesta, Josh has been involved in all facets of the business, ranging from finance and development, to property operations and construction. To facilitate Vesta’s 2016 growth goal, his emphasis is on identifying new acquisition opportunities. In this vein, Josh is tasked with deal identification, initial due diligence, oversight of deal feasibility analysis, and negotiating with sellers and funding sources. Josh earned an M.B.A. from the University of Connecticut School of Business and a B.A. from Goucher College.

Stan Hannah

Stan Hannah is a Principal for Plante Moran LLC and serves as a leader in the Talent & Organizational Development practice at Plante Moran. His brings 15 years of experience with a specialty is in the area of leadership succession planning, culture improvement and talent development. As a human capital advisor Stan has worked extensively with organizations of all sizes that include large Fortune 100 global organizations and delivered on engagements in Europe, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East. He has consulted across different industries such as financial services, healthcare, manufacturing and energy in the US and on long-term assignments internationally. He has led organizational talent reviews, designed and facilitated 360 degree feedback programs, and provided targeted coaching to senior executives, emerging leaders and newly minted vice presidents. He has served as advisor to senior leaders and entrepreneurs where he helped them to minimize disruption and facilitate leadership transitions. On an engagement, expect Stan to accurately identify the critical opportunities, define the problem, evaluate the current status and develop interventions to address barriers to high performance. Stan earned his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Virginia and BA in Psychology from Michigan State University. He has also received certification in Principles of Market Research from the University of Georgia.

Christopher Hite

Chris Hite is the President of Sugar Creek Capital, an affordable housing firm with offices in both St Louis and Atlanta. Sugar Creek's core business is the syndication of exclusively state tax credits. Founded as The Lockwood Group in 1974, Sugar Creek is also a property management company and its affiliates hold limited partner and general partner interests in affordable housing projects throughout the nation.

Prior to joining Sugar Creek in 2005, Mr. Hite was a founding partner in Dull, Hite & Lowe, and prior to that an associate in the real estate department of the Polsinelli law firm. A substantial portion of his legal practice has been spent representing developers utilizing tax incentives. He has also developed affordable housing projects in Missouri and once served as a law clerk for the Missouri Housing Development Commission.

Mr. Hite graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a bachelor's degree in political science with an emphasis in business. He received his juris doctorate from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

Robert Hogue

Robert Hogue is a member of the Macroeconomic and Regional Analysis Group, with RBC Economics Research. He is responsible for providing analysis and forecasts for the Canadian housing market and for the provincial economies. His publications include Housing Trends and Affordability, Provincial Outlook and provincial budget commentaries. In his functions, he is frequently called to comment on the economy both internally within RBC and externally with clients and the media.

Mr. Hogue joined RBC in May 2008 after spending 15 years with another Canadian financial institution as a senior economist specializing in industrial analysis. At the outset of his career, he spent four years as an economist with Ontario Hydro, where he specialized in industrial and macroeconomic analysis. Mr. Hogue holds a Master’s degree in economics from Queen’s University and a Bachelor’s degree from Université de Montréal.

Cody Z. Langeness

Cody Langeness is President of Red Stone Tax-Exempt Funding LLC, the platform through which all of the Red Stone’s tax-exempt bond funds are managed. Red Stone’s core business is providing acquisition, development period and permanent mortgage capital on properties that are financed utilizing tax-exempt bonds. Mr. Langeness has been employed by Red Stone for more than 11 years, a tenure which has included responsibilities pertaining to the origination, structuring, and closing of multifamily debt and equity investments representing capital in excess of $2.5 billion.

Jeff Lesk

Washington, DC, Office Managing Partner Jeff Lesk is as a nationally recognized finance attorney. He works with investors, lenders, sponsors, developers and other private and public industry stakeholders to finance high-impact, socially oriented community developments.

Jeff has spent most of his career creating and implementing large-scale investment programs, primarily public-private partnerships. He advises financial institutions and other corporate investors in transactions that bring much-needed capital to privately developed affordable housing and other community developments—under the framework and support of publicly sponsored programs. Jeff loves the challenge of bridging seemingly impossible gaps between these worlds, working with and developing new financing tools and programs that meet the goals of sophisticated investors.

Jeff is proud to be a founder and leader of NP’s Legally Green® initiative. It’s been rewarding to integrate my long-standing personal pledge to the environment into my substantive legal practice. As a LEED AP, his participation on local and national advisory boards such as Conservation International, have helped further the firm’s commitment to sustainability. Through his role on the board of the firm’s conference company IPED, Inc., Jeff has also served as a co-chair of the Affordable Housing Summit at USGBC’s Greenbuild®, the world’s largest conference and expo dedicated to green building.

Jeff frequently lectures at local universities and law schools on community development and green building, and I’m on the national speaking circuit for trade association meetings, industry events and seminars. While sharing his technical knowledge, experience and perspective, Jeff stays current and learns from others, especially students who ask tough questions and spark discussions well beyond the legal field.

The current political and economic environment is creating even bigger challenges for investors and developers of affordable housing and community development. Jeff sees big changes in the number and mechanisms for public financial support of community development. We have an opportunity to help shape the future by leveraging existing programs and financial resources to do more with less.

Jeff has received an AV Preeminent® Peer Review RatingTM from Martindale Hubbell®, the highest possible rating for ethics and legal ability.

William G. MacRostie

Bill MacRostie is based in the MHA DC office where he advises clients on historic rehabilitation tax credit design and regulatory issues. From 2000 to 2003, Bill was the Washington, DC principal of a national historic consulting firm. From 1997 to 2000, he was National Director of Historic Property Services for Ernst & Young LLP where he advised developers, institutional investors, and equity syndicators on historic certification matters. While at E&Y, Bill originated historic credit investments for the firm’s corporate and institutional clients. Bill has also worked for Langelier Historic Properties, Inc., an equity syndication firm specializing in rehabilitation development, and served as an architectural historian on the staff of the Technical Preservation Services Division of the National Park Service in Washington, DC where he performed historic tax credit project review.

In private practice for more than 30 years, Bill has advised clients nationwide on projects ranging in size and type from the multi-phased $175 million mixed-use Stroh’s Riverplace project in Detroit, Michigan to a $1.5 million hotel rehabilitation in Santa Rosa, California. He has represented clients in over two dozen tax certification administrative appeals in Washington, DC. For the 14 years that NPS certification project review was conducted in regional offices, Bill worked extensively in every regional office and most major states around the country.

Bill has lectured widely on the subjects of historic rehabilitation and real estate development. His speaking credits include the nationwide, 21-city “Rehab for Profit” seminar series on historic rehabilitation development co-sponsored by the National Association of Realtors and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, as well as testimony before the Committee on Ways and Means of the US House of Representatives. Bill’s recent publications include articles in Urban Land Magazine, Multi-Housing News, Affordable Housing Finance Magazine, and the Section 42 Report.

Bill serves on the board of directors of the National Housing & Rehabilitation Association and is a past treasurer of the board of directors of Preservation Action, the national lobby for preservation and rehabilitation.

Bill holds a Bachelor’s degree in History from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon and a Master’s degree in Historic Preservation Studies from Boston University.

Darrick Metz

Darrick Metz is Senior Vice President of Originations for WNC, responsible for the Originations Department’s production goals and department oversight. Mr. Metz is 25+ year veteran of the tax credit and real estate industry with expertise in financial structuring, multifamily underwriting and investment acquisition/ valuation. Prior to joining WNC, Inc., Mr. Metz worked as a Project Manager for a Minnesota real estate development company and held a Senior Housing Development Officer position at the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency (MHFA) where his duties included the allocation of low income housing tax credits and multifamily loan program underwriting. In addition to originating near $1 billion of LIHTC equity for WNC, Mr. Metz has developed tax credit and market rate residential properties, has been an invitee and active member in the QAP Tax Credit Advisory Committees of several states and has been an invited speaker for state, regional and national conferences/events. Mr. Metz holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance/Economics from St. Cloud State University.

Jeff Morrison

Jeff Morrison is currently Executive Director of the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association. From May 2010 to July 2015, he served as Director of Government Relations and Public Affairs with the Canadian Pharmacists Association, where he was responsible for advocacy, stakeholder relations, policy development, media relations, and external communication for the association. Prior to this role, Jeff served as President of the Association of Canadian Engineering Companies from 2008 to 2009 and as Director of Government Relations and Director of Environment for the Canadian Construction Association from 2000 to 2008. Jeff has also worked for the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, and several Members of Parliament in the 1990s.

Jeff received his Bachelors of Arts from the University of Ottawa in Political Science and History in 1994, and received his Masters of Arts from the University of Ottawa in science politique canadienne in 1996.

He is active in the community, having served as President of the Board of Directors of the Centretown Community Health Centre from 2012-14, President of a condominium Board, served on the Executives of softball and curling leagues, and currently sits on the Board of Directors of Operation Come Home and Bruce House in Ottawa. In 2014, he ran for Ottawa City Council in Somerset ward, finishing 2nd out of 11 candidates.

R. Wade Norris

R. Wade Norris is a partner at Norris George & Ostrow PLLC. Mr. Norris is widely recognized as one of the country’s leading experts in the field of multifamily housing bond finance. Mr. Norris has over four decades’ experience in over 3,500 tax-exempt multifamily housing and other bond financings totaling over five billion dollars, primarily as Underwriter’s or Purchaser’s Counsel or Special Bond Matters Counsel to the Borrower. Mr. Norris has often played a major role in developing new financing techniques in this area of finance. In the past 10 years, these include development of, among other products, the Country’s largest tax-exempt bond and loan bank private placement program; short-term cash-backed tax-exempt bonds used with FHA, RD and other low-rate taxable loans; the Freddie Tax-Exempt Loan or “TEL” structure; and, most recently, Fannie Mae’s M.TEBs tax-exempt monthly MBS pass-through structure. Mr. Norris’ paper entitled “Introduction to Tax Exempt Multifamily Housing Bonds” is widely regarded as the industry’s leading introductory article on tax exempt multifamily housing bond finance. Mr. Norris is a member of the Georgia State Bar and is a member of the State Bar of Georgia, the Bar of the District of Columbia and the American College of Bond Counsel.

John Nunnery

John Nunnery is Senior Vice President, Manager of Preservation Investments within the Tax Credit Capital Group at PNC Bank. He has been with PNC Bank for 10 years. Mr. Nunnery is responsible for overseeing PNC’s investment and management of national investment funds which acquire and operate affordable housing properties with the intent of preserving long term affordability. Mr. Nunnery serves on the board of the firms Registered Investment Advisor as well as its investment, loan asset management and operating committees.

Walter Ohanian

John Weld Peck

John Peck has developed or participated in the evolution of most innovative tax-exempt multifamily housing finance vehicles for more than 40 years. He has served as bond counsel, underwriter counsel, disclosure counsel, borrower counsel, housing authority counsel, and issuer counsel on virtually every type of public and private multifamily housing bond issuance.

As bond counsel, Mr. Peck has participated in several thousand multifamily transactions. These have included public offerings supported by many credit enhancement vehicles in addition to numerous private purchase, unenhanced programs.

Mr. Peck has extensive experience with enhancement and loan/grant programs with federal, state, and local providers which he is frequently requested to advise other participants in financings in which he or the firm is not otherwise involved. He is also a frequent speaker or panelist in the multifamily finance area.

Marshall E. Phillips

Marshall Phillips is a principal in CohnReznick’s Charlotte office. He has over two decades of experience in finance and accounting with a focus on sourcing equity and debt capital for real estate transactions, and has also completed numerous engagements working with operating companies.

Marshall works with clients to structure real estate transactions that include the use of the federal and state Historic Tax Credit (HTC) programs, the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), solar/renewable energy tax credits (ITC) and incentives, and the federal New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) Program. His expertise includes working, sometimes simultaneously, with the tax equity investors, real estate developers, tax credit syndicators, and regulatory agencies to provide his clients with financially feasible and sound deals. His client base includes affordable housing developers, CDEs, governmental entities, commercial real estate developers, housing authorities, and Fortune 100 financial service corporations. He also works with a variety of state credit programs and oversees due diligence on behalf of tax credit investors and tax credit syndicators.

Elizabeth Pierce

Scott Pinyard

Scott Pinyard is a Senior Consultant for Sparhawk Group where he provides energy efficiency and acoustical consulting. His focus is on in the intersection of comfort and efficiency in the built environment. Scott works with clients to develop and implement energy efficiency plans as well as maintenance procedures to assure long-term comfort and savings. He has developed and managed whole-building energy improvement projects to a wide range of clients types including multifamily, hospitality, educational, and industrial customers throughout the country. He lives in Portland, ME with his wife and two kids.

Andrew Potts

Andrew Potts is a partner in the firm’s Tax Credit Finance & Syndication practice where he structures and closes financing for historic preservation and other community-based development projects. He works with a diverse range of clients in a practice centered on the use of federal and state historic tax credits (HTCs), new markets tax credits (NMTCs), HUD programs, grants and conventional finance.

Nick Ratti

Nick Ratti is principal with CohnReznick’s Real Estate Consulting Practice in Boston, Massachusetts. He has more than 15 years of experience in the tax credit industry. Nick is currently responsible for developing and evaluating transaction structures, providing tax compliance advice, evaluating tax credit recapture or tax-loss reallocation issues, strategizing post compliance period exits and providing syndication advisory services. Nick has extensive experience structuring a wide range of Low-Income Housing, Historic and New Market tax credit transactions for his developer and investor clients.

Prior to joining CohnReznick, Nick held positions with Fidelity Investments and Ziner, Kennedy and Lehan, both based in Boston.

Albert Rex

Albert Rex is a partner at MHA and Director of the MHA Northeast office. A Massachusetts-based historic real estate consultant and strategist with 20 years of experience in the Northeast, Albert has worked with clients that include developers and organizations, municipalities, and institutions that have complex preservation, permitting, and zoning issues.

During his career, Albert has focused on the economic impact of historic rehabilitation. He was one of four authors of the original legislation that created the Massachusetts Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit (MAHRTC) and has consulted on that matter as a technical advisor to Preservation Massachusetts, Inc., the statewide non-profit advocacy organization. Albert provides his clients with a unique understanding of the MAHRTC application criteria as a result of his involvement in the creation of the program. He has also represented clients on federal, state, and local preservation matters, including regulatory compliance and local landmark review.

Albert is a former Executive Director of the Boston Preservation Alliance, Boston’s citywide non-profit preservation advocacy organization. While at the Alliance, he was involved in numerous projects and planning processes that focusing on historic preservation’s role as an economic development tool. Previously, Albert was the Program Manager for Preservation Massachusetts. He was the Executive Director of Friends of the Wentworth in New Castle, New Hampshire from 1995-1998.

Albert has a B.A. from the University of Rhode Island, a Master’s degree in Historic Preservation from Boston University, and is currently pursuing an MBA at Babson College

Sharon Shaffer

Sharon Shaffer is Senior Vice President of Senior Living Development at Wallick Communities. She joined the company in June 2012 to start Wallick’s fourth business division, Asset Management.

Previously she was Senior Managing Director of Affordable Housing and Low Income Housing Tax Credits at Red Capital Group. Shaffer also worked with Asset Backed Securitizations at Red Capital. She has held positions at Textron Financial Corporation, Fifth Third Bank, Wheeling National Bank, One Valley Bank and Bank One.

Shaffer earned her BS in Finance from Marshall University and her MBA from The Ohio State University. Additionally, she has earned her Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and is a licensed Series 7 representative.

Active in the community, Shaffer is a board member of the Society of Yeager Scholars and the Marshall University Foundation. She also is a past president of the central Ohio chapter of Robert Morris Associates, a risk management professional association.

Maia Shanklin Roberts

Maia Shanklin Roberts represents housing authorities and private developers in a wide range of complex affordable housing development and real estate transactions. She has been involved in numerous affordable housing, adaptive reuse, and mixed-use transactions involving federal, state, historic, and energy tax credit syndications, tax-exempt private activity bonds, and other public financing.

Ms. Shanklin Roberts also advises clients on fair housing accessibility, and advisability issues related to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act and Fair Housing Act.

Ms. Shanklin Roberts' background is in community development. She worked with Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development and has led several community-based initiatives, where her role was to facilitate public/private partnerships and leverage community-based resources to aid underserved communities in Washington, D.C.

David A. Smith

David A. Smith is the founder and CEO of the Affordable Housing Institute, which develops sustainable housing financial ecosystems worldwide. With more than 30 years direct experience in affordable housing, David uniquely combines the roles of practitioner and theoretician, participant and policymaker.

His work as an international housing finance policy advisor/ program developer encompasses projects on Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, India, Ireland, Kenya, Middle East, Panama, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Turkey, andUnited Kingdom, and he is a much sought-after speaker on affordable housing issues around the world. In the USA, David provides high-quality analysis to Congress, the Millennial Housing Commission, CBO, HUD, and others, and was a principal member of the 1996 Senate mark-to-market working group. A 1975 Harvard graduate, he is an award-winning author with more than 100 published articles in real estate, valuation, and policy periodicals, and a textbook, as well as an influential blog.

David is also founder and Chairman of Recap Real Estate Advisors. (formerly CASFAS, and before that, Recap Advisors), a Boston-based firm that specializes in complex multifamily asset problems, with an active practice area in the finance of existing affordable housing. In this capacity, he was recently awarded the 2009 Vision Award for his lifetime achievement in affordable housing by The National Housing & Rehabilitation Association (NH&RA).

Stephanie Stoll

Stephanie Stoll is an Equity Underwriter for Cinnaire, a full service community development organization. Stephanie has over 10 years of experience working in the field of real estate and specializes in underwriting complex financial transactions utilizing the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, federal and state funds including AHP, CDBG, HUD 202 and others. Stephanie has also provided consulting services to local non-profits and developers on the real estate process, securing financing and best practices. Stephanie began her career in commercial banking where she was involved with assessing portfolio risk, compliance with federal rules and regulations and evaluating the financial strength of business and real estate transactions. Stephanie earned her BS in Entrepreneurship from Northern Michigan University.

Jerome Sullivan

Mr. Sullivan is Chief Financial Officer & Senior Vice President, Midwest Regional Director for Churchill Stateside Group and leads the company’s Chicago office. Mr. Sullivan is focused on originating debt and equity opportunities as well as product development. He has extensive experience originating and underwriting debt for Fannie Mae and FHA-HUD, as well as LIHTC equity.
Prior to joining CSG, Mr. Sullivan served as senior vice president at Great Lakes Capital Fund, a non-profit community development financial institution where he managed their lending business and Illinois and Wisconsin operations. Prior to joining Great Lakes Capital Fund, Mr. Sullivan served as vice president for the mortgage operations of the Enterprise Social Investment Corporation where he established an office in Chicago and oversaw Midwest operations. Prior to joining Enterprise, he served for ten years with a $15 billion private pension fund where he managed community development and investment activities. Mr. Sullivan finished his tenure at the pension fund as manager of alternative investments.
Mr. Sullivan graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting degree and a second major in Economics from the University of Illinois. Mr. Sullivan is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a Certified Public Accountant. He has been a frequent speaker at affordable housing conferences throughout the Midwest.

Daniel Teague

Daniel Teague is Vice President of Business Development for WegoWise. He has overseen project development and management for WegoWise’s clients and partners since 2010, growing the size of WegoWise’s database to over 50,000 buildings. He has been quoted on the subject of water management in Multifamily Executive, the New York Real Estate Journal, and National Real Estate Investor. Daniel holds an MA in International Environment and Resource Policy and International Finance from Tufts University.

Craig S. Wagner

Craig Wagner joined RBC in 2002 and has continued to assume greater leadership responsibility, including key roles on the TCEG Operating Committee and chairmanship of the Investment Committee. He currently serves as Managing Director – Tax Credit Investments for TCEG, responsible for the oversight of the Syndications staff, as well as State Tax Credit and New Markets Tax Credit business. Prior to this role, Craig was Director of Business Development with responsibility for new products business development and managed the firm’s national accounts. Previously, he was also the Director of Originations and a Regional Director – Southeast where he led a team in the areas of origination, financial underwriting, and partnership structuring of investments.

Craig’s experience includes the acquisition and underwriting of LIHTC, HTC, and various state tax credit investments. He has worked with numerous housing authorities, for-profit developers, and non-profit developers on various property types including HOPE VI, mixed-income, and mix-use transactions. Prior to joining RBC, Mr. Wagner served in various leadership roles as an officer in the United States Navy and as a production manager for Frito Lay, Inc. in California. Mr. Wagner, a graduate of Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, earned his Masters in Business Administration with concentrations in Real Estate and Finance from the Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

Paul Weissman

Paul J. Weissman is Senior Managing Director and Head of Affordable Housing Finance at Hunt Mortgage Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hunt Companies.

Mr. Weissman has nearly twenty years of experience in multifamily housing. His experience includes development, tax credit syndication, lending and investment banking. He has been involved in the development and financing of over $3 billion in multifamily transactions over the course of his career including transactions involving nearly every form of assistance available to affordable housing projects. He has experience with tax exempt bond financing, 8 subsidies, 202 and 236 subsidies, low income housing tax credits, HOPE VI, the FHA tax credit pilot program, the Rental Assistance Demonstration program and many others on affordable communities stretching from Connecticut to Hawaii. Prior to joining Hunt Mortgage Group, Paul was a Senior Vice President at Dougherty & Company,
a Director with Credit-Suisse and a Vice President at Newman Capital where he was responsible for the purchase of unrated tax-exempt bonds in highly structured transactions to facilitate the new construction as well as acquisition and rehabilitation of low-income housing tax credit properties. Mr. Weissman began his career in affordable housing as Associate General Counsel for Simpson Housing Limited Partnership.

Mr. Weissman holds an MBA from the Leeds School of Business and a JD from the University of Colorado School of Law.

Holly Wiedemann

Holly Wiedemann, founding principal and President of AU Associates, Inc., earned a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Duke University and Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Design and Land Use Planning from the University of Georgia. She has been responsible for a wide range of projects throughout her career serving as a Financial Analyst, Project Manager, and Developer. She has specifically worked in the renovation, creation, adaptive reuse, and development of affordable housing since 1986.

Jeffrey J. Woda

Jeffrey Woda is a principal and president of The Woda Group, Inc., Woda Construction, Inc. and Woda Management & Real Estate, LLC. Mr. Woda is involved with all aspects of development, construction and property management.

Mr. Woda has been involved in the construction and housing industry for the majority of his career and was fortunate to have grown up around his family’s construction business. Prior to forming The Woda Group, Inc., in 1990, Mr. Woda was employed by Ernst and Young working with construction companies, financial institutions and other corporate entities. Mr. Woda graduated from Bethany College with a B.A. in Accounting and earned his CPA certification while at Ernst & Young.

Appointed to the Ohio Housing Trust Fund Advisory Committee by the Ohio Governor, Mr. Woda also serves as a board member of the Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition, the National Housing and Rehabilitation Association, Benchmark Bancorp, and VisionTrust International. Mr. Woda is a steering committee member of the Housing Credit Group of the National Association of Home Builders, and is past president of the Council for Rural Housing and Development of Ohio and was a founding board member of the Ohio Housing Council.