People on the Move 7.7.22| Housing Finance Magazine

NHP Foundation Appoints Senior Acquisitions Director

Polina Bakhteiarov has joined The NHP Foundation (NHPF) as senior acquisitions director. She is focused on sourcing low-income housing tax credit, mixed-income, and permanent supportive housing deals in the New York and New Jersey markets.

Bakhteiarov was previously vice president of development at Omni New York, where she expanded the firm’s business into Connecticut and worked on new construction projects in New York City; Newark, New Jersey; and Philadelphia. Earlier in her career, she served as interim senior vice president of business development at Invest Newark, the economic development corporation for New Jersey’s largest city, and as the inaugural director of preservation at the New York City Housing Authority, where she launched and led a team in repositioning a 10-year pipeline of 62,000 distressed public housing units via subsidy conversion to Section 8 in order to raise $13 billion to address unmet capital needs, equaling the largest residential preservation pipeline in the United States.

Sonya M. Brown has been promoted to senior vice president of affordable housing management at National Church Residences. She takes over the role from Steve Bodkin, who will collaborate on the transition until his retirement at the end of the year.

Since 2020, Brown has served as vice president of property management, leading a team of four regional vice presidents and spanning more than 340 affordable housing communities in 25 states. She joined National Church Residences in 2004 as a property manager and then was promoted to regional manager, then regional portfolio leader and regional vice president, before advancing to her recent position two years ago.

Brown has served the organization’s mission as a certified training associate, on the COVID-19 Task Force, on the Diversity Task Force, and with a team of missionaries developing a new Respectful Living program to improve the culture of inclusion in a mutually respectful work environment.Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, National Church Residences serves more than 42,000 seniors through its array of housing and health care services. It has 340 communities in 25 states and is the nation’s largest nonprofit provider of affordable senior housing and largest manager of service coordinators.

Layne Hurst has been named vice president, affordable housing, at Birge & Held, a private equity real estate investment firm headquartered in Indianapolis.

laynHurst has over 10 years of experience as an affordable housing leader in the Midwest with expertise in property management, affordable housing acquisition and rehab, regulatory compliance, and strategic growth. Previously, he served as a regional vice president for Wallick Communities.

A resident of Cincinnati, Hurst holds the following accreditations: Housing Credit Certified Professional, Specialist in Credit Management, Tax Credit Compliance Systems, Certified Professional of Occupancy, Assisted Housing Management, and Rural Housing Credit Specialist.

WHEDA Appoints Public Affairs Leader

The Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA) has announced that Raechelle Belli has joined its marketing and communications team as public affairs program manager.

She will utilize her public relations and marketing experience to serve as WHEDA’s primary point of contact for the news media, plan strategic communication and public affairs outreach, and connect audiences with WHEDA’s mission, goals, and resources.

Belli’s experience spans many different sectors, industries, geographies, and communities. Prior to joining WHEDA, Belli served as the chief public information officer for Verona Area School District in Wisconsin.

RKTB Architects Announces Promotion

RKTB Architects has elevated Joseph Berlinghieri, NCARB, AIA, to the role of associate.

A driving force behind some of the firm’s most successful work in housing and a key contributor to recently completed works such as 700 Manida Street in the Bronx in New York City, “Berlinghieri’s expertise and acumen have helped to arrive at creative, cost-effective solutions for sustainable design, operational efficiency, and resident health and satisfaction,” said the firm.

Berlinghieri has been with RKTB since 2017.