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Scott heads McGuireWoods’ Land Use Practice Group and is Co-Chair of the Firm’s multidisciplinary Affordable Housing Team. Scott’s practice focuses on land use and development issues in Northern Virginia, where he assists developers and landowners in navigating the land use entitlement process, including obtaining rezonings, special exceptions, special permits, variances, and comprehensive plan amendments. He also assists clients in amending development approvals to more closely align with changing market conditions, including building reposition. Prior to obtaining his law degree and joining McGuireWoods LLP, he was an urban planner assisting developers and advising local governments on a wide range of land use and development issues.
Robert Barnard is an Associate Director with Fairstead where he supports the company’s strategic plan for growth in acquisitions, rehabilitations, and development of affordable and mixed-income communities.
Fairstead is a purpose-driven real estate firm dedicated to building sustainable communities across the country. Headquartered in New York, with offi ces in Colorado, Florida, and Maryland, Fairstead owns and operates more than 24,000 housing units in 170 communities across 28 states.
With over 18 years of construction and real estate development experience, Andy is passionate about doing meaningful work and creating meaningful relationships with his team, clients, partners, and communities. He enjoys sharing stories through the projects he is a part of and seeing progress and hard work come together to achieve the goals of his clients. He is committed to helping his team reach their full potential and striving to be the best version of himself while doing it.
Andy co-founded UrbanCore Construction in 2014 with the goal of providing quality and affordable housing options to Richmond and its surrounding areas. UrbanCore offers a full range of construction services for projects that embrace the rich potential of local communities.
Ashley Bell is an Audit Senior Manager with SC&H Group. She is a graduate of University of Maryland, College Park, with a B.S. degree in Accounting and Operations Management, and a licensed Certified Public Accountant in the State of Maryland.
Ashley has been serving clients in the real estate industry for 15 years. At SC&H she works with the Affordable Housing Group, specifically with IRC Section 42 (Low-Income Housing Credits) and related state and federal agency reporting and compliance, providing a wide range of attest and consulting services to clients in real estate development. Additionally, Ashley’s work experience includes 5 years in private industry, providing third party property management accounting services to properties across Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.
Joseph Browne Development Associates (JBDA) is a real estate development and consulting company that focuses exclusively on affordable multifamily housing. Principals Gerry Joseph and Paul Browne formed JBDA in 2018, bringing together over 50 years of experience in the affordable housing and community development industry. JBDA specializes in the financing of affordable housing from a developer’s prospective.
Over the years, JBDA has developed all types of multifamily housing using just about every variety of financing tool. A recovering lawyer, Paul began his career in affordable housing with Community Preservation and Development Corporation in Washington, DC, where he served for more than 10 years, eventually becoming the Vice President of Real Estate and overseeing projects in Maryland, DC and Virginia.
Mandy Burbage joined Piedmont Housing Alliance’s real estate development team in 2020 with 13 years of planning and development experience in the Charlottesville area. Mandy currently serves as senior development manager for Kindlewood (formerly Friendship Court), a multi-phase resident-led redevelopment project that will result in the creation of 450 new affordable homes. She has also managed due diligence, entitlement, design development, and site planning efforts for several other affordable multifamily projects in PHA’s pipeline.
Prior to joining PHA, Mandy managed land development activities for Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville, including the successful rezoning of Southwood, a resident-led, master planned trailer park redevelopment with a commitment to non- displacement. Prior to Habitat, Mandy worked in the public sector as a senior land use planner for Albemarle County and the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission.
Mike Chiappa joined APAH in January 2023 as Senior Vice President of Real Estate. His previous roles at APAH include Vice President of Real Estate Development and Director of Real Estate Development. In addition to asset management since September 2022, Mike oversees APAH’s $720.5M real estate development portfolio, including acquisition, entitlement, financial underwriting, legal documentation, and construction management. He has doubled the size of the real estate team since 2018, attracting top talent. As a result of his leadership, APAH has received prestigious awards. For the second consecutive year, APAH’s Gilliam Place received the Virginia Governor’s Housing Conference Award for Best Affordable Housing Development. HAND, the Housing Association of Nonprofit Developers, named APAH Developer of the Year in 2021.
APAH’s Queens Court Apartments was a recipient of Urban Land Institute’s inaugural 2022 Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Attainable Housing award, joining developers that span from the United States to Canada. In the same year, APAH’s Lucille and Bruce Terwilliger Place received the Virginia Governor’s Housing Conference Award for Best Affordable Housing Development.
Lauren Dillard is a dedicated housing and community development professional who strives to create positive change in communities with the purpose of leaving the world in a better place for future generations. Throughout Lauren’s ten years working in the affordable housing field, she has crafted a career that also allows her to do what she enjoys – improving neighborhoods and the lives of those who live in them. Lauren currently works as an Associate Tax Credit Allocation Officer. In this role she is responsible for assisting with all aspects of implementing and enforcing affordable housing policy through the federal Low- Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) Program, assisting with changes to Virginia’s Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP), and reviewing both 4% and 9% LIHTC applications.
Lauren firmly believes in Virginia Housing’s mission to help Virginians attain quality, affordable housing and is dedicated to continuing to encourage, engage, and equip communities to create more sustainable futures.
J.T. Engelhardt has more than 20 years’ experience in the finance and development of affordable housing. While at NHT, he has acquired three unrestricted, naturally affordable, well-located apartment properties in Connecticut, Washington D.C., and in Prince Georges County, and in partnership with the localities, introduced new long-term deed- restricted affordability to the properties.
J.T. leads NHT’s redevelopment of 150-unit Friendship Court apartments in Charlottesville, Virginia in partnership with Piedmont Housing Alliance. First acquired and renovated in 2002, this resident-led four-phase redevelopment will replace the existing buildings with almost 400 new units and maintain
zero displacement of existing households.
William Fiederlein is a Vice President at Advantage Capital where he focuses on originating State LIHTC investments across the country. He has over a decade of experience in facilitating tax equity investments across a range of federal and state programs including LIHTC, historic, and new markets tax credits.
William graduated from the University of South Carolina and currently resides in Arlington, Virginia with his wife Emily and dog Wally.
Michael Font is the President and Founder of New Harbor Development, a Maryland based development company specializing in Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and a co-founder of New Harbor Analytics, a company that provides data and consulting services to the affordable housing industry. New Harbor Analytics offers data-driven solutions to support the industry’s decision-making process through its flagship product, Compass.
Compass provides forward insights to Income Limits, Qualified Censust Tracts, and Difficult to Development Areas. Michael received his BA from Dartmouth College and serves on the Board of Directors for St. Mary’s Housing Corporation and the Maryland Affordable Housing Coalition.
Jon has over sixteen years of experience in the affordable housing and urban planning fields. Since joining Housing Alexandria in 2014, he has overseen the development, acquisition, or renovation of over 898 units across nine communities, with an additional 514 units in planned development. Prior to Housing Alexandria, Jon worked as the director of development for Volunteers of America where he oversaw all real estate development activities for the organization in the mid-Atlantic region. Jon sits on the Alexandria Housing Affordability Advisory Committee and the Northern Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance Advisory Committee.
With over 20 years in the multifamily housing sector, Nate specializes in business development, project management, and sustainable solutions. As the National Business Development Manager at ICAST, Nate champions green initiatives in multifamily affordable housing, addressing affordable housing and climate change challenges. By 2025, our goal is to benefit 100,000 LMI households, reduce utility costs by $270M, decrease carbon emissions by 1.5M tons, and foster 2,000 sustainable jobs. Based in Richmond, VA, Nate’s mission is to merge business growth with environmental responsibility, continually seeking partnerships for a sustainable, equitable future.
Bryan Horn serves as the Director of the Virginia Department of Housing and Community development. He brings years of experience to the administration. He is a skilled attorney whose primary areas of practice were construction law, eminent domain law and general commercial and real estate litigation. While at his firm, Horn led its Construction Law and Eminent Domain Law Practices, and he also was the managing director from 2016-2019.
Horn received a bachelor of science degree (with honors) in physics from Roanoke College and a JD and LL.M. from Duke University School of Law. He has been regularly profiled in Virginia Super Lawyers magazine’s “The Top Attorneys in Virginia” and in Virginia Business magazine’s “Legal Elite.” Horn maintains the highest rating available from the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory. He has been a speaker and presenter for industry groups, construction law and eminent domain conferences and seminars.
Horn is also actively involved in his community and regularly advocates on issues related to Type 1 diabetes (T1D), also known as juvenile diabetes.
Joy Amaryllis Johnson, a 67-year-old Jamaican-American, is a dedicated community activist known for her advocacy work. She has four children and is a public housing resident. She’s currently the Resident Services/Section 3 Coordinator at Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority. With over two decades at Westhaven Nursing Clinic, she’s shown unwavering commitment. Throughout her career, Joy has been a champion of affordable housing and robust resident representation.
She co-founded the Public Housing Association of Residents in 1998, enhancing citywide engagement. Chairing PHAR, serving as Vice- President of Legal Aid Justice Center’s Board, and leading the Charlottesville Housing Advisory Committee, she’s a prominent presence.
Certified in Public Housing and trained by HUD and NLIHC, Joy’s expertise is remarkable. She’s received recognition like the 2020 Cushing Niles Dolbeare Lifetime Service Award and 2023 Reflector Award. Beyond work, Joy finds solace in her faith at Mt. Zion First African Baptist Church. Her joys include gardening, dancing, and treasured moments with supportive friends and her beloved grandchildren.
Jennifer joined CAHEC in 2022 as Manager, Acquisitions, with more than 20 years of experience in real estate, primarily in affordable housing. Her prior experience includes real estate loan syndications, multifamily asset management, LIHTC syndication, and most recently LIHTC development.
Founded in 1992, CAHEC is a community development organization that strengthens communities by providing affordable housing and supportive service initiatives to residents in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. CAHEC engages in diverse product areas, including low- income housing tax credits, historic tax credits, new markets tax credits, and renewable energy credits.
Tom Liebel, FAIA, LEED Fellow is a Vice-President with Moseley Architects, where he leads their Multifamily Housing Studio. Tom has been involved in integrating
sustainable design principles into a variety of ground-breaking adaptive use and historic preservation projects over the past twenty years, with these projects recognized with multiple awards for design, smart growth, sustainable design and historic preservation.
Elevated to Fellowship to both the AIA and USGBC in 2011, Tom is involved in ongoing research exploring the relationship between sustainability, preservation and urban design, with a particular emphasis in the use of urban adaptive use projects to promote neighborhood revitalization and civic engagement. Tom served two terms as Chair of the Maryland Green Building Council and chaired Baltimore City’s Commission on Historical and Architectural Preservation for a decade, served on the Maryland Advisory Council for Historic Preservation, and served as the 2020 Moderator for the American Institute of Architect’s Strategic Council.
Linda T. Nguyen is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Elletienne Property Partners, a Land Use Advisory & Development company that creates mixed-use developments in urbanizing areas like Tysons and the Greater Toronto-Hamilton Area. In order to maximize portfolios, combat industry headwinds, and fulfill the company’s mission of building community and creating spaces that matter, the company partners with developers, property owners, auto groups, municipalities, and public- private partnerships across North America.
As the director of the Attainable Housing Initiative in Fairfax County, Linda’s company serves as a GP partner and development consultant for projects in VA and beyond. Its unique ability to build consensus among disparate parties, facilitate negotiations, and expedite the development process provides an executive-level resource to augment development teams and run point on certain challenges that arise.
Lisa R. Porter is the Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer at the Bristol Redevelopment and Housing Authority. She has spent her career in affordable housing having served in positions at Cumberland Plateau Regional Housing Authority, Marion Redevelopment and Housing Authority, and the Housing Authority of the City of Yuma, AZ. Having recently completed a four-year term on the Board of Commissioners for Virginia Housing, she is also Past President of both the Virginia Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (VAHCDO) and the Little Ten Housing Authorities of Southwest Virginia.
She currently serves on the NAHRO Small Agency Advisory Committee, the Housing Forward Virginia Board, the United Way of Bristol Board, Abuse Alternatives Board, and is Chair of the SERC-NAHRO Small Agency Task Force (SATF).
Bernard is responsible for helping achieve Investor IRR targets through the management of VCDC Fund models, monitoring the timing of capital needs, and tracking the delivery of LIHTC credits and other benefits. He coordinates the Investor Relations team, maintaining Investor relationships, outreach, and reporting needs. He joined VCDC in 2022. Prior to this role, he was Assistant Vice President of Development with Community Housing Partners. He has over 20 years of experience in deal origination and real estate development strategy.
He has a Master’s in Urban and Regional Planning from Virginia Commonwealth University and a bachelor’s degree from James Madison University.
Steve Rubin joined the Harkins team in 2008 as director of project development and was promoted to project development executive in 2020. He oversees business development and client relationships in various markets that Harkins serves, including the Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, Central Virginia/Hampton Roads, and Southeast regions. Often working with clients during the early stages of project development, he provides invaluable assistance with planning recommendations, site analysis, market intelligence, and early cost projections. With his long career in development and vast experience in the construction industry, Steve always offers his clients a perspective from a developer’s point of view.
Steve has a wide range of experience, including affordable, senior living, mixed-use, multifamily, student housing, renovation and commercial projects. He has worked on approximately 10,000 units during his 30-year career. In addition, he is well-versed in LIHTC and other HUD funding sources, including Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and the District of Columbia’s tax credit agencies.
Anna Shapiro is the Deputy Director for Real Estate Development and Finance at the Fairfax County Department of Housing and Community Development, which also acts as staff to the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority (FCRHA). Anna is an executive leader and an officer of the FCRHA who manages three agency divisions that finance private affordable housing development; partner with developers through land dispositions; self-develop affordable housing on RHA owned land; facilitate the preservation of market affordable housing and manufactured housing within the County; manage the local inclusionary zoning programs; and facilitate affordable homeownership. Currently, Anna is managing a development pipeline of more than 3,000 new affordable homes.
Anna is dedicated to public service with over a decade of experience in the Fairfax County and District of Columbia governments managing affordable housing programs and public private partnerships.
Lysandra M. Shaw is the Deputy Executive Director of the Newport News Redevelopment and Housing Authority (NNRHA). In her position, she supports the Executive Director in overseeing the daily operations and programs of the Housing Authority. Her primary focus since she joined the Housing Authority’s team has been the oversight of the City’s Choice Neighborhood Initiative Grant. She holds a B.A. in sociology and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration.
Her housing career has included extensive work in homeownership and rehabilitation programs, as well as, the development of multifamily housing projects. She has over 20 years of housing experience and expertise in federal housing programs.
Steve Smith is Senior Vice President and Equity Relationship Manager for Truist Community Capital, LLC, (TCC) a subsidiary of Truist Bank. He is responsible for originating, underwriting, and closing investments in multifamily housing using the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) in Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
Steve joined Truist in 2015 after 12 years with Enterprise Community Investment, where he was Vice President in charge of LIHTC originations for the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions. Steve has extensive experience evaluating, analyzing, and structuring complex transactions with multiple layers of financing.
Steve earned a BS in Chemical Engineering from Michigan State University and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Natalie Talis, MPH, is the Population Health Manager for the Alexandria Health Department. In this role, she works with residents and community partners to identify local health issues, and develop policy and system solutions with equity at the center. During the COVID response, she served as the Health Department’s Public Information Officer, leading communications and outreach efforts.
Natalie led the development of Alexandria’s first Healthy Homes Action Plan, the launch of the Healthy Homes Network (a local coalition dedicated to safe, hazard- free homes), and the creation of a home-based asthma and COPD program. She received her bachelor’s degree in French from John Carroll University, and her master’s in public health, concentrating in health policy, from George Washington University.
Moha Thakur joined National Housing Trust (NHT) in 2018 and currently serves as the Public Policy and Mid-Atlantic Initiatives Manager.
In this role, Moha leads NHT’s Mid- Atlantic policy work, in addition to supporting NHT’s work on state and local public policy initiatives in all 50 states, working with elected officials, government employees, and advocates from around the country to shape public policy that promotes housing stability. Her work focuses on modernizing affordable housing finance programs such as the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, expanding housing supply, and protecting and supporting residents, including promoting racial equity in housing outcomes. Moha also partners with communities who want to create and preserve affordable housing, providing tailored policy solutions to public, private, and nonprofit partners based on best practices from around the country.
As President of the Crescent Halls Resident Association, Alice leads participation in redevelopment participation for the building. Crescent Halls is a 105-apartment high rise for people who are seniors or who have disabilities. Redevelopment planning began several years ago with monthly, sometimes weekly, meetings with staff from the Public Housing Association of Residents (PHAR) and Legal Aid Justice Center.
Alice is a newly appointed Commissioner on the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the Public Housing Association of Residents (PHAR).
A founding member and owner of SCG Development and its affiliated company Stratford Capital Group (the “Company”), Steve is primarily responsible with the management and oversight of the Company’s property development activities. Committed to developing high quality affordable and workforce housing to support healthy, diverse communities, the Company has participated in the capitalization and development of over 290 properties comprising 35,000 apartment units across 45 states. SCG Development has active development projects in 12 states and maintains offices in Tysons, Virginia and Peabody, Massachusetts.
Steve graduated from the University of Richmond with a bachelor’s degree in Finance and holds an MBA from The George Washington University. He is a 35-year resident of northern Virginia and currently lives in Vienna with his wife, 3 kids and a dog.
Ava Gabrielle-Wise is President and Executive Manager of the New Road Community Development Group. For nearly three decades, she has been committed to planning and community and economic development in Virginia and around the southeast region of the US. As a young paid organizer in 1992, she worked to form the organization with her mother, the late Ruth Wise and other members to serve the New Road community for which it is named.
Together, they acquired and redeveloped the 30 acre neighborhood in the decade that followed. Today, the New Road Community Development Group continues to develop affordable housing, advocate for strong public policy and support the production of quality, affordable home solutions for citizens of the region. She currently is the founding convener of the Eastern Shore Regional Housing Coalition which is a forum of federal, state and local leaders who are committed to increasing the scale of development and construction of affordable housing on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.
Alex Zeltser is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Tiber Hudson LLC, where his practice is focused on public finance for affordable housing transactions.
He represents institutional lenders, bond underwriters, developers, and municipal issuers in a range of tax-exempt and taxable housing financings around the country, including public offerings of rated bonds credit-enhanced by FHA, Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as private placements of unrated, unenhanced bonds. Alex advises his clients in the structuring and federal income tax aspects of tax-exempt debt transactions, maintains an in-depth understanding of credit rating agency criteria, and prepares cashflow projections and a variety of calculations required under the tax-exempt bond rules.
Prior to joining Tiber Hudson, Alex was a transactional tax associate with Ernst & Young LLP, where he provided technical tax advice with respect to the federal income tax treatment of mergers, acquisitions, spin-offs, and internal restructurings.
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