People on the Move 2.3.22| Housing Finance Magazine

The Commonwealth Cos. Appoints CEO

Adam Hanson has been named CEO of The Commonwealth Cos., a Wisconsin-based organization working in multifamily real estate development, construction, and architectural design.

Hanson joined Commonwealth in early 2021 as senior vice president of finance, making a significant impact within the finance and accounting functions in addition to other operational areas across the organization.

He has more than 20 years of experience in public accounting and corporate finance. His professional career began with a focus on audit and tax, which, over time, evolved into business owner consultation. He previously held a chief financial officer (CFO) role for a diversified group of specialty contractors and has handled accounting, financial planning, and human resource services for venture capital-backed start-up companies.

While maintaining overall responsibility for the finance function, Hanson will work closely with the presidents of Commonwealth Construction Corp. and Commonwealth Development Corp. on strategically aligning entities, establishing and achieving business objectives, and positioning the organization for future growth.

In 2018, Commonwealth and Mirus Partners merged to build capacity and mentor future leaders. In January 2021, Commonwealth announced Brent Schumacher and David Ritchay as new presidents who would lead the construction and development entities.

“Naming a CEO is the result of succession planning and intentional leadership development that we started executing a few years ago,” said Louie Lange III, principal and founder of The Commonwealth Cos.

Gorman & Co. Names Pacific Northwest Market President

Kevin Kellogg, a veteran affordable housing professional and community development leader, has joined Gorman & Co. as market president for the Pacific Northwest, including Oregon, Northern California, and Washington. He is based in Portland, Oregon.

Kellogg was recently with the Hacienda Community Development Corp. in Portland, where he oversaw all real estate development programs. He brings experience in a range of skill sets from establishing and maintaining co-development partnerships as well as developing affordable rental housing and redeveloping public housing to expertise in policy development, grant-funded research on sustainability, and equitable development.

“The Pacific Northwest region of the United States is experiencing a critical need for housing in its rural and urban communities; Gorman & Co. is excited to have Kevin join our team and further our efforts in developing permanent supportive housing solutions in Oregon, Northern California, and Washington state,” said Brian Swanton, CEO of Gorman & Co.

Gorman revitalizes communities through innovative housing partnerships with municipalities, governmental organizations, and nonprofits. The firm specializes in downtown revitalization, preservation of affordable housing, workforce housing, and the adaptive reuse of historically significant properties. Gorman & Co. was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Oregon, Wisconsin.

Executive Director Named to Lead USICH

Jeff Olivet is the new executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH).

Olivet was nominated through a process led by the White House Domestic Policy Council and USICH council leaders and approved by the full council, per statutory requirement.

He has worked as a street outreach worker, case manager, and technical assistance provider during his career. From 2010 to 2018, he was CEO of the Center for Social Innovation, now C4 Innovations. In addition to his recent consulting work, Olivet co-founded Racial Equity Partners.

He replaces interim executive director Anthony Love, who will return to the Department of Veterans Affairs as senior advisor and director of community engagement for homeless programs.

Woda Cooper Appoints CFO

Troy Rambo has joined Woda Cooper Cos. as CFO. Responsible for the affordable housing firm’s accounting and finance operations, he leads a team of approximately 40 employees engaged in the company’s corporate, development, management, and construction accounting departments.

A certified public accountant, Rambo has worked in the affordable housing industry for more than 25 years. He previously served as the CFO for an affordable housing provider and as part of the real estate group with Ernst & Young.

Woda Cooper Cos. and its affiliates specialize in the development, design, construction, and management of high-quality affordable multifamily apartments, senior communities, and single-family homes. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, the company marked 30 years in business in 2020, with operations in 16 states and a portfolio of approximately 400 communities and 16,000 units.

Dominium Promotes Reinhardt

Shaun Reinhardt has been promoted to vice president and project partner at Dominium, a leading national affordable housing owner, developer, and manager. He will be responsible for new project development, acquisition, and financing.

“As we continue to grow our development capacity, it’s important that we continue to place the right people in the right positions,” said partner and senior vice president of development and acquisitions Mark Moorhouse. “Shaun has proven himself as a creative problem solver committed to creating as much high-quality affordable housing as possible in the communities we serve. We’re excited for him as he takes on more responsibility in his new role.”

Reinhardt started at Dominium as an intern in 2015. Prior to his promotion, he served as senior development associate. His work includes analyzing new acquisition and development opportunities, determining project feasibility, overseeing design and construction, structuring partnerships, and negotiating with lenders, investors, and third-party vendors.

Standard Communities Promotes Mackenzie

Jessica Mackenzie has been named senior director of capital markets at Standard Communities, a leading affordable housing investor and developer.

In her new position, she is responsible for the structuring and closing of Standard Communities’ transaction financing. Since joining the company in 2019, Mackenzie has arranged the financing for over 30 transactions with a total capitalization of over $1.5 billion.

“Jessica is extremely talented in finding innovative avenues to structure our deals,” said Scott Alter, principal and co-founder of Standard Communities. “She had a key role in our record growth in 2021—when we acquired 26 properties, with over $1 billion in total capitalization, comprising over 4,400 units.”

Earlier in her career, Mackenzie was a director in the community development finance group at Union Bank, where she originated debt and equity financing for affordable housing transactions. She serves as a mentor with Project Destined, a leading social impact platform that provides financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and real estate training, partnering with corporations, schools, and nonprofits to help college students across the country gain an understanding of affordable housing investment.

Based in Los Angeles and New York, Standard Communities has a national portfolio of over 13,500 apartment units, including approximately 12,300 affordable and workforce housing units, and has completed more than $3.6 billion of affordable housing acquisitions and rehabilitations nationwide.

Coats Rose Expands Real Estate Practice

Coats Rose, a transactional and litigation law firm focused on development, has added two attorneys, bolstering the firm’s key affordable housing and real estate practices.

Jamia Love joins as an associate in the affordable housing and community development practice in the New Orleans office. Taylor Herpin joins as an associate in the real estate and land use, governmental affairs, and banking practices in the Austin, Texas, office.

Love graduated cum laude from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, where she earned her Juris Doctor and a Certificate in Law, Technology and Entrepreneurship. While in law school, she was a member of Phi Delta Phi International Legal Honor Society, participated in the Technology and Legal Innovation Clinic, and completed a comparative law study abroad program in Vienna.

Herpin’s work is concentrated primarily on residential and commercial real estate transactions and land-use law. He also has experience in business formations, commercial transactions, property tax, title review, and HOA law, and has represented clients in contract and construction disputes.

Rockabill Announces Moves

Sean McNamara has been promoted to vice president at Rockabill Consulting and Development, where he will have increased responsibilities for further elevating the firm’s position as an industry leader in providing financial advisory services and joint-venture partnerships to the affordable, supportive, and shelter housing community.

During McNamara’s five years with Rockabill, he has played a critical role in ensuring the success of preservation projects at all different stages, including Year 15 preservations for both low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) and non-LIHTC portfolios, the preservation of existing portfolios with the participation of public and private funding, and supportive housing preservation.

Rockabill has also welcomed Rebekah Taft to the firm. As assistant vice president, she will work on a wide variety of transactions, ranging from the rehabilitation of shelters to the construction of supportive housing.

She was recently a senior project manager at Neighborhood Restore HDFC, a New York-based nonprofit that focuses on transitioning properties from financial and physical abandonment to responsible third-party ownership. She also worked in institutional advancement at Jubilee Housing, a Washington, D.C.-based affordable housing developer and social service provider

Rockabill specializes in advising nonprofit entities in the development and financing of affordable and supportive housing. The firm has consulted and partnered on over 12,000 units of affordable housing since its inception in 2007.

Merritt Community Capital Bolsters Team

Merritt Community Capital has announced two key promotions and added a new staff member.

Izaac Garcia Singh, who joined Merritt in 2018, has been promoted from senior asset manager to director of asset management. He is responsible for asset management and tax credit compliance of Merritt’s more than $715 million portfolio, and Year 15 dispositions. He has over 15 years of property and asset management experience.

Nedrah Barnes has been promoted to controller and fund manager. She joined Merritt in 2015 and has over 15 years of experience in nonprofit and corporate finances. This is Barnes’ second promotion. She joined Merritt as an asset manager, was promoted to controller in 2018, and has now added fund manager to her role. In this additional role, she will be responsible for financial management of Merritt’s fund from formation through dissolution.

Emma Falley has joined the Merritt team as communications manager. She brings six years of communications and community engagement to this new role.

Cinnaire Makes Appointments to Lending and Underwriting Teams

Cinnaire has announced five key appointments who will support the organization’s growth as a community development lender and equity investor in affordable housing developments.

Sarah Greenberg has joined the nonprofit as senior vice president, underwriting (debt), in the organization’s Madison, Wisconsin, office. She leads and manages the affordable housing lending team, overseeing workflows and business processes, and ensuring sound decision-making regarding portfolio performance. A nationally recognized leader in affordable housing and community development, Greenberg is committed to advancing racial, social, and economic equity. She has worked in community investment and economic development for more than 18 years, holding leadership positions at High Impact Financial Analysis, Forward Community Investments, Northwest Side CDC, and NeighborWorks America. During her tenure at NeighborWorks, Greenberg was one of the founders of the National Community Stabilization Trust. At Forward Community Investments, she launched the Emerging Developer Loan Program to provide financing to BIPOC real estate developers. Greenberg is on the executive committee for the national CDFI Women’s Network and holds board positions with Historic Milwaukee, Housing Resources, Tempo Milwaukee Foundation, and MobiliSE.

Sabrina Iga has joined Cinnaire as senior vice president, finance, in the organization’s Wilmington, Delaware, office. She will play a key role developing and implementing the financial and funding strategy for the lending business, managing investor and loan participant relationships, and identifying new investors in target markets. Iga has dedicated her career to working for a wide range of mission-driven organizations. Most recently, she served as treasury manager with Enterprise Community Loan Fund, creating and maintaining strategic relationships with investors to help developers create affordable homes and community facilities.

Elaine Magil recently joined the Wilmington team as senior vice president of underwriting (equity). She joins from Tax Credit Asset Management, where she helped to build and lead the firm’s advisory and transactions practice area. At Cinnaire, she will provide underwriting review on prospective projects across a nine-state footprint and will focus on building organizational infrastructure to support the company’s ongoing growth. She serves on the board for Action Housing and the steering committee for Women in Housing and Finance of Pennsylvania.

Larry Chan has joined Cinnaire as an equity underwriter, supporting the firm’s LIHTC investing activities across its footprint. He adds to the staff based in Pittsburgh and comes to Cinnaire having recently managed community development lending and investing for BNY Mellon’s community development lending and investing efforts in the Pittsburgh market. Prior to his role at BNY Mellon, he held various positions in affordable housing, local government, and community development over the prior 10 years.

Erik Ingbretson has been appointed portfolio manager, community development, in the Chicago office. He monitors borrowing for reporting and covenant compliance, manages and mitigates potential defaults and credit losses, and conducts annual review of borrowers in Cinnaire’s portfolio. A financial professional with more than 20 years of experience in corporate, middle-market, and small business commercial banking, Ingbretson has excelled in the management of complex and large credit/deposit portfolios. He recently served as vice president of commercial lending at Pan American Bank and Trust, and Chase Bank, where he was responsible for new loan origination, portfolio management, establishing new commercial banking relationships, and the sourcing and closing of multimillion-dollar commercial clients.

Cinnaire is a nonprofit LIHTC syndicator and financial partner that supports affordable housing developments along with community and economic revitalization initiatives. Since 1993, it has invested $4.9 billion to support the development of 863 housing communities in 10 states, providing 53,146 affordable apartment homes for more than 114,000 individuals and families and has provided community development loans to support the creation/retention of more than 4.7 million square feet of commercial, mixed-use, and community space.

Bright Power Announces Promotion

Jeannine Altavilla Cooper has been promoted to vice president of analysis at Bright Power. She joined the company as a senior energy analyst before holding the deputy director of analysis role, and, most recently, she led the New York analysis team.

In her new role, Cooper will lead a team of analysts that examine energy and building data to provide insight into how well buildings perform and enable Bright Power clients to take action to improve buildings.

Prior to joining Bright Power, Cooper worked for Arlington County in Virginia, where she did energy benchmarking, emissions tracking, and community energy planning.

PGIM Announces Promotion

Rick Sherman has been promoted to loan originator with PGIM Real Estate’s agency financing team, which originates Federal Housing Administration, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and affordable loans.

Sherman joined PGIM in 2017 and has been crucial in executing over $10 billion of multifamily and health care financing. He has 18 years of commercial real estate lending experience, including five years as chief credit officer and chief underwriter.