2012 Rural Seminar
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Matt Barczak
Matthew Barczak is the Executive Director of Northern Cambria Community Development
Corporation. He worked as a Project Director for NCCDC for 2 years before becoming the
Executive Director in 2009. Matt has a bachelor’s degree in Finance, Minor in Economics,
and a Master’s in Business Administration. He has over 10 years of experience in working in
construction and project development. Since working with NCCDC Matt has developed
several construction projects including two that NCCDC has recently got funding verification.
In 2007 Matt was a guest keynote speaker at the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s
annual convention for his work during the historical renovation of NCCDC’s Schoolhouse
Gardens. Most recently as Executive Director, Matt has developed NCCDC’s Property
Management ventures, expanding on their Housing Portfolio, and produced Economic
Development in their region. He is a member of Western PA Region 13 Task Force, SHARP
Hazardous Materials Response Team, and numerous Volunteer Firemen’s Associations. Matt
is active in the community as being a high school football coach, member of several coach’s
associations, and Board member for Cambria County Visitors and Tourism Bureau.
Ludy Biddle
Ludy has over 25 years experience in nonprofit management beginning as the founder of the
Poetry Series at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC and a few years at the
National Endowment for the Arts before she and her family moved to Vermont in 1982. She
was appointed executive director at NeighborWorks in 2001. Her education includes a BA
from George Washington University and studies in leadership at the University of Minnesota,
the Snelling Center’s Vermont Leadership Institute and Achieving Excellence at Harvard’s
Kennedy School of Government.
Paul Boyer
Paul grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area in East Palo Alto graduating from Ravenswood
High School in 1969. He received a BA in Earth Sciences and Environmental Studies from UC
Santa Cruz. In 1977 Paul moved to the San Joaquin Valley and began working for Self-Help
Enterprises where he continues to work as Community Development Manager. Through SelfHelp Enterprises he has assisted over 50 disadvantaged rural San Joaquin Valley communities
in developing funding for over 70 water and sewer projects. This work included assistance to
community groups and Boards in forming Districts, assessing water quality problems,
assessing water system needs, and applying for and administering government loans/grants
for project financing. Project work included assistance in the preparation of water quality
investigations, CEQA and NEPA documents including initial studies and environmental impact
reports, feasibility studies, and revenue programs. Service outside of employment currently
includes serving on the Farmersville City Council as Mayor Pro Tem, the Tulare County
Association of Governments, the Tulare County Consolidated Waste Management Authority
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and the San Joaquin Valley Regional Policy Council. Previously, Paul served as convener of
the water supply, quality and reliability workgroup for the California Partnership for the San
Joaquin Valley.
Tina Brooks
Tina Brooks is Executive Vice President for Programs for the Local Initiatives Support
Corporation (LISC). She is responsible for the successful implementation of LISC’s
comprehensive community development strategy across LISC’s 30 urban sites and national
rural program. Tina is also responsible for sharing the program innovations and measurable
results with partners, funders and policy makers. Before coming to LISC Tina was appointed
by Governor Deval Patrick to serve as Undersecretary for Housing and Community
Development and Director of the Department of Housing and Community Development
(DHCD) for Massachusetts. Under her leadership, Massachusetts reinvigorated its community
development agenda. Tina oversaw the strengthening of the state’s public housing portfolio,
the efficient investment of state and federal housing resources to preserve and produce
affordable housing and expand housing responses for extremely low-income households and
the homeless in the face of declining national economic trends. Tina also directed DHCD to
pursue a number of initiatives advancing the economic development of Massachusetts
communities from Gateway Cities programs to IDAs. Tina came to state government
following over fifteen years in affordable housing and community development. Ms. Brooks
was a Vice President for Emerging Markets with GMAC Mortgage, creating affordable and
first-time homebuyer programs. At GMAC Commercial Holdings she was Vice President for
Development Facilitation, where she supported the efforts of tax credit developers in
structuring transactions for investment.
Barbara Burnham
Barbara is Vice President for Federal Policy with the Local Initiatives Support Corporation
(LISC) in Washington, DC focusing on urban and rural federal housing and community
development policy. She was formerly the Senior Program Director for the Greater Miami
LISC program and Senior Program Director of Rural LISC. Barbara began her career in
community development as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Venezuela, South America working
with consumer and credit cooperatives. Since that time Barbara has worked in many areas
of community development including banking, grant-making, education, workforce
development and city and state government and as the Executive Director of the Fenway
Community Development Corporation in Boston. Presently Barbara serves as a member on
the boards of The National Housing Conference, Citizens Housing and Planning Association in
Massachusetts, and the National Rural Housing Coalition. She is also a Steering Committee
member of the Campaign for Housing and Community Development Funding. Barbara has a
Bachelor and a Masters degree from Boston University and is an alumna of the JFK School of
Government’s Executive Program for Local and State Government.
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Tom Carew
Tom is currently the Executive Vice President of Membership and Advocacy at the Federation
of Appalachian Housing Enterprises (FAHE), a consortium of 46 non-profit corporations
producing affordable housing in Central Appalachia. Prior to his position at FAHE he served as
the Chief Operating Officer and Director of Communities and Design at Frontier Housing, a
non-profit corporation building and developing affordable housing in NE Kentucky. Tom has
also worked for the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s Housing Finance Agency, Kentucky
Housing Corporation, as the Director of the Appalachian Program and the Director of the
Design and Construction Division. While at KHC, Tom oversaw the development of the
Appalachian Housing Summit, an annual event for the Central Appalachian Housing Finance
Agencies and the non-profit builders and developers working in these 4 states. Tom also
created and implemented a Universal Design and Minimum Design Standard for Kentucky
Housing. Kentucky Housing was the first State Housing Finance Agency in the nation to
develop these design standards. Prior to his work with KHC, Tom was the founding Executive
Director of Frontier Housing (25 years) a non-profit affordable housing developer based in
Morehead, KY. Tom received an Honorary Doctor of Law Degree from Fairfield University in
1992. In 2010 Tom received the Cochran Collings award from HAC for service to Rural
America.
Peter Carey
Peter Carey is President and CEO of Self-Help Enterprises, a regional nonprofit housing and
community development organization serving 8 counties in California’s agricultural San
Joaquin Valley. Self-Help Enterprises has developed 5900 self-help homes and 1200 units of
multifamily rental housing. In partnership with local governments, SHE has rehabilitated over
6000 homes, assisted 1500 first-time homebuyers, and provides planning and technical
assistance to dozens of small, unincorporated communities. Peter has been involved in rural
development work since 1969, when he served with the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone.
Following work in the early 70’s in West Virginia, he came to the San Joaquin Valley as a
VISTA Volunteer in 1974. Peter is past president of the National Rural Housing Coalition,
California Coalition for Rural Housing and the National Rural Self-Help Housing Association.
He is also a Board member for the Housing Assistance Council and sits on the board of
governors for the California Housing Consortium. In 2004, Governor Schwarzenegger
appointed him to the Board of the California Housing Finance Agency, where he currently
serves as Acting Chair. As past Mayor, Council Member and Planning Commissioner for the
City of Visalia, Peter is active in his community and has served on many local boards and
committees.
Tom Collishaw
Tom Collishaw has been in the nonprofit rural housing development business since 1980. As
Vice President and Director of Development for Self-Help Enterprises, Mr. Collishaw has direct
responsibility for all land purchase and entitlements, single family ownership and multifamily
rental housing development, and water/wastewater activities. The oldest and largest selfhelp housing organization in the country, Self-Help Enterprises was a pioneer in the
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development of sweat-equity housing for rural low income people. Since its beginning in
1965, the nonprofit organization has assisted nearly 6,000 families in the construction of their
own homes. The organization has also developed over 1,200 units of affordable rental
housing which it owns and operates. Collishaw served on the state legislature’s Housing
Element Working Group, and routinely is sought out for input on legislative matters related to
housing at both the state and national levels. He also serves on the boards of the National
Rural Housing Coalition, the National Farmworker Housing Directors Association, and the
California Community Reinvestment Corporation.
David R. Dangler
David is the director of NeighborWorks America’s Rural Initiative. Of the 235 chartered
community-based organizations that comprise the NeighborWorks network, 91 are members
of the Rural Initiative. Among his professional affiliations, Mr. Dangler is a board member of
the National Rural Housing Coalition, a strategic partner in both CFED’s I’M HOME program
and the 502 Direct Consortium, as well as board chair of Next Step, a social enterprise in
formation whose mission is to transform the manufactured housing industry one home at a
time. In addition, Mr. Dangler is a founding organizational member of the National Alliance
for Rural Policy network. Prior to joining NeighborWorks America in 2000, Mr. Dangler served
as founding director of NeighborWorks of Western Vermont from 1986-2000.
David DeLeonardis
David has served as the President and CEO of Crossroads Diversified Services since 1991.
Crossroads Diversified Services is a nonprofit social enterprise based in Sacramento,
California, which provides education, training and on-going support to empower persons with
disabilities or other social barriers to achieve sustainable employment. Passionate about the
Sacramento region, David was appointed to the Human Rights/Fair Housing Commission of
the City and County of Sacramento in 1997. Throughout his career, David has served on
numerous government task forces and committees, including those which redesigned
Sacramento County’s mental health treatment system and the County’s Welfare to Work
program (Cal Works). In addition, David is an active participant in the Sacramento Metro
Chamber’s Education & Workforce Development committee. He is a former Surveyor for the
Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF), an appointee to California’s
State Rehabilitation Council, a member of the Executive Committee of the Golden Sierra
Workforce Investment Board, a member of the National Council of Work Centers and the
California Association of Social Rehabilitation Agencies (CASRA) and a Director of Dynamic
Solutions Insurance Services, a for profit subsidiary of the nonprofit California Disabilities
Services Association.
Jesse Elton
As a member of LISC’s Affordable Housing Preservation Initiative team, Jesse is involved in
policy advocacy and technical assistance to support the preservation of multifamily rental
housing nationally. Her recent work has included an examination of strategies to advance
energy retrofit of operating affordable housing properties. Previously, Jesse worked at
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BRIDGE Housing Corporation, where she managed the recapitalization, financial
restructuring, and physical rehabilitation of the organization’s portfolio of properties. Jesse is
a LEED Accredited Professional and holds an M.P.P. from the Harvard Kennedy School.
Stacey Epperson
Stacey, the President and CEO of Next Step® Network, LLC, is a native of rural Kentucky and
has worked in affordable housing her entire career. In 2010, she assumed leadership of Next
Step, a social venture that mobilizes a national network of nonprofits to provide affordable
housing solutions tailored to the needs of their communities. Next Step evolved from Mrs.
Epperson’s service of ten years as President and CEO for Frontier Housing, where she worked
to triple Frontier’s total production, loan fund and net worth. In 2009, Mrs. Epperson was
named one of CFED’s Innovators-in-Residence, strong leaders who will take their proven
ideas for economic and social improvement to scale nationally. She completed the Achieving
Excellence in Community Development Program at Harvard’s JFK School of Government. Mrs.
Epperson received a Masters of Public Administration at Western Kentucky University and
attended the University of Kentucky Patterson School of Diplomacy and International
Commerce.
Sam Erickson
Sam Erickson is the Vice President and a founding member of Community Housing Initiatives,
Inc. (CHI) Based in Spencer, Iowa, Community Housing Initiatives is a non-profit housing
development and consulting group dedicated to increasing affordable housing options for
Iowans. CHI, Inc. has developed and manages over 1200 units of housing. Housing projects
include new construction, historic adaptive re-use, preservation and special needs housing.
To date, CHI has invested over $70 million in historic adaptive re-use projects in Iowa.
Strategies include integrating market rate and affordable housing, commercial/retail space
and integrating community service facilities. She serves as an Iowa Advisor for the National
Trust for Historic Preservation, is a member of Preservation Iowa and served on the Iowa’s
Most Endangered Properties Nomination Committee. She was a member of Lt. Governor’s
advisory group for Housing for Persons with Disabilities Iowa and Governors Vilsack and
Culver appointed her to the Citizen Advisory Board for the Iowa Great Places initiative. She
also serves on Main Street Iowa’s Urban Advisory Council.
Sherry Farley
Sherry L. Farley has been President & Chief Executive Officer of Frontier Housing since
August of 2010. Prior to becoming President & CEO, Sherry played a crucial role at Frontier
as Acting CEO and as Vice President & CFO for over three years. Frontier Housing, a
nonprofit committed to providing affordable housing choices for families living in the rural
northeastern part of the Commonwealth, is located in Morehead, Kentucky. Frontier is a
NeighborWorks® Chartered Member with an Exemplary rating. Sherry’s hands-on
experience with Frontier’s financial and budgetary policies, finance and investment
management and human resource management allowed her to bring a stable continuity.
During her tenure with Frontier, Sherry guided the process for Frontier to achieve the
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designation of Community Development Financial Institution from the US Treasury and
launched an energy efficiency rehabilitation program, “Green Solutions”. Prior to her work
with Frontier, Sherry served as Senior Vice President, CFO and COO of Peoples Bank in
Morehead, Kentucky where she worked for more than twenty years. Sherry has completed
the Achieving Excellence in Community Development Program at Harvard’s JFK School of
Government. She has a graduate degree in banking from the University of Wisconsin, and
an undergraduate education in business administration and accounting.
Denise Fletcher
Ms. Fletcher has a Masters degree in Public Administration and joined the Self-Help
Enterprises staff in 1984. She is responsible for overall management, budget development,
planning, and project analysis of contracts implemented by the Housing Rehabilitation and
Homebuyer Department. In addition to housing rehabilitation and homebuyer assistance
activities, the department provides Homeownership Counseling and Education services,
Foreclosure Counseling, as well as management of CDBG, HOME, CalHome, and RDA loan
portfolios for local governments. Currently, Ms. Fletcher oversees the implementation of
numerous CalHome, HOME, BEGIN and CDBG contracts with cities and counties throughout
the San Joaquin Valley in addition to contracts with the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Rural
Development Service. The department annually assists over 200 participants in purchasing
or repairing their homes. During her tenure with Self-Help Enterprises, Ms. Fletcher has
overseen preparation of over 400 grant applications resulting in nearly $233 million of
funding to San Joaquin Valley communities; and has guided the department in the
administration of approximately 500 grants and contracts that have been free of audit
findings while meeting performance goals. Ms. Fletcher is a member of the national Council
of State Community and Economic Development Agencies (COSCDA) and a member of
California Housing and Community Development CDBG and HOME advisory committees.
Joni Foster
Joni Foster has more than 25 years of experience in community development and community
building. She has worked with more than 100 community development organizations in 12
states and two countries, and raised more than $30 million in grants and loans that
leveraged more than $100 million in community real estate projects. Foster worked with the
Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) as program officer for the Rural LISC program
and as executive director of LISC Jacksonville in Florida. At LISC, she developed leadership,
grew community development organizations, designed new programs and invested in
revitalization – the affordable housing development being the first and predominant of
strategies. Prior to LISC, Foster worked in the self-help program at Rural California Housing
Corporation in Sacramento; and in Nicaragua for El Porvenir where she developed safe
drinking water and sanitation facilities. Foster holds a master’s degree in social work with a
community organizing, planning and administration emphasis from the California State
University, Sacramento.
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Madeline Fraser Cook
Madeline is the Program Director for the Green Development Center at the Local Initiatives
Support Corporation (LISC), is an urban planner with a strong commitment to greening
community based economic development. Her focus at LISC has been to fully integrate green
issues into LISC’s comprehensive community development approach. Fluent in Spanish, Ms.
Fraser Cook has worked extensively on housing and economic development projects with
low-income Latino communities. Ms. Fraser Cook has a keen understanding and enthusiasm
for economic development, community organizing and the importance of sustainable
development for creating and maintaining vibrant urban centers. Her experience includes
providing technical assistance on microenterprise development and real estate market
analyses, organizing affordable housing tenants to address social services needs and security
issues, and providing consultation for Hope VI projects. Prior to joining LISC, Ms. Fraser Cook
was Vice President at New Ecology, Inc. where she worked with community developers on
green affordable housing and provided technical assistance to implement green strategies.
She is a LEED accredited professional with over 10 years of experience in direct technical
assistance to green projects. Ms. Fraser Cook received her Masters of City Planning from
M.I.T.’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP) where she was a HUD Community
Development Fellow. She also holds undergraduate degrees in Economics and Political
Sciences from Swarthmore College.
Lisa Graphenteen
Lisa Graphenteen is the Chief Operating Officer of the Southwest Minnesota Housing
Partnership.
Her responsibilities include oversight of the internal operations of the
organization including human resources, contract and grant management, organizational
marketing. Previously Lisa was the Community Development Director and worked in areas of
community and project planning, multifamily analysis and underwriting, technical assistance
and grant writing for local affordable housing initiatives. The SWMHP provides technical
housing services to its customers in over 25 counties of Southwest and Southern Minnesota.
Lisa has over 18 years experience in housing, community development, land use planning,
market research, and economic development. Prior to joining the SWMHP, her previous
experience included the Central Minnesota Housing Partnership and Southwest Regional
Development Commission. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from St. Cloud State
University in Local and Urban Affairs with a minor in General Business.
Peter Hainley
Peter is executive director of CASA of Oregon. CASA specializes in programs, housing and
related facilities for farmworkers and other low income populations. CASA has created
housing that serves over 7000 farmworkers and their families along with community centers,
Head Start facilities and medical and dental facilities. CASA is a Certified Development
Financial Institution as well as the administrator of the Valley Individual Development
Account (VIDA) program - a collaboration of 40 CDCs, Housing Authorities and non-profit
organizations that helps low-income families accumulate assets. Over 200 people have
graduated from our IDA program. CASA is also a Certified Technical Assistance Provider of
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ROC USA and works with residents of manufactured housing communities to help them
purchase and own their parks. To date, we have converted four parks into resident owned
communities.
Gregory E. Hancock
Greg Hancock is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Wyoming Housing Network,
Inc. (WHN). WHN is a nonprofit organization that educates homebuyers and homeowners
and works with partners to create and preserve affordable housing in the entire state of
Wyoming. After leading for-profit and non-profit organizations to award-winning efficiencies
and success, Greg came to WHN in October 2008. During his tenure WHN has forged a
strong working relationship with the Wyoming Community Development Authority and many
other financial partners. As a result, WHN has become the highest producer of educated
homebuyers in the entire NeighborWorks® America network and is now initiating a financial
education program. Greg advocates for solutions to the housing challenges of low income
households as a member of the Federal Home Loan Bank Advisory Committee and President
of WyoNAHRO. Prior to joining WHN, Greg delivered technical assistance to rural
communities and housing organizations seeking to expand their capacity to address
affordable housing needs in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Montana. Greg’s background
includes design and delivery of financial management and capacity-building services to end
the cycle of homelessness, formation of housing and community plans to address the
affordable rental housing need, and leading multiple for-profit operations to financial and
service-delivery success.
Judy Voehringer Herring
Judy serves on the Board of Directors of Southern Mutual Help Association, Inc. She was a
member of SMHA’s staff from 2004 until her retirement in 2011, joining SMHA after 25 years
as executive director of non-profit organizations dedicated to helping disabled citizens,
formerly incarcerated individuals, and welfare recipients receive life skills and jobs training to
become employed. During her tenure with SMHA, Judy founded and led until her retirement
SMHA’s Directorate for Family and Community Development. Following 2005’s Hurricane
Katrina and Hurricane Rita (and continuing through 2008’s Hurricane Gustav and Hurricane
Ike), Judy led field recovery efforts under SMHA’s Rural Recovery Response that has helped
1,068 homeowner families, fishers and other small businesses, and churches rebuild and
recover.
Dirk Holkeboer
Dirk Holkeboer has worked with nonprofit housing organizations since 1988. As Director of
the New Homes Program for Self-Help Enterprises, Dirk has direct responsibility for
marketing & outreach, loan packaging, and construction technical assistance and
management for the mutual self-help homeownership activities at SHE. Prior to joining SHE,
Dirk served as executive director of two Habitat for Humanity affiliates (Miami, Florida and
Holland, Michigan) and in various capacities with the U.S. national office of Habitat for
Humanity International. Dirk is a “reformed lawyer” with a J.D. degree from Wayne State
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University Law School and a B.A. from Calvin College. It took him only six years of law
practice to realize that his calling was with not-for-profit organizations.
Matt Josephs
Matt Josephs is the Senior Vice President for Policy for The Local Initiatives Support
Corporation (LISC). LISC is a national non-profit organization that provides financial
investments, policy support, and technical and management experience to local community
development organizations to help them to transform distressed neighborhoods into healthy
and sustainable communities. As the SVP for Policy, Matt is responsible for developing LISC’s
federal policy agenda; communicating this agenda to LISC employees, board members,
funders, and other stakeholders; and pursuing this agenda through engagement with
members of Congress and other Federal officials. Matt joined LISC in March of 2012 after
serving for 13 years at the Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial
Institutions (CDFI) Fund -- most recently as Senior Advisor for Policy, where he was
responsible for coordinating policy development and implementation across the CDFI Fund’s
programs, as well as planning and implementing new initiatives and interagency
partnerships. Matt also served for six years as the Program Manager of the New Markets Tax
Credit (NMTC) Program, which to date has facilitated over $25 billion of private sector
investments into businesses and real estate projects in the nations’ most distressed rural and
urban communities. Prior to joining the CDFI Fund, Matt served as professional staff for the
Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, where his portfolio of issues
included public and assisted housing programs, homeless programs, FHA insurance, and HUD
reform. Matt also served as a policy analyst with the Department of Housing and Urban
Development’s office of Public and Indian Housing. Matt received a BA in Political Science
from Emory University, and a Masters in Public Policy from the University of California at
Berkeley.
Arlen Kangas
Dr. Arlen Kangas served for two years as MMCDC’s business loan officer prior to assuming
the role of president in 1988. Under his leadership, the company’s asset base has grown
from $2 million to over $129 million, not including investments in tax credit partnerships,
which add an additional $260 million to that total. During the same period, the company’s
revenues increased from less than $500,000 per year to more than $12 million. MMCDC is a
diversified non-profit company that owns and operates several subsidiary companies
including a bank. Products and services include commercial lending, subdivision
development, housing construction, mortgage lending and equity investments. He received
his Bachelor’s degree from Bemidji State University and his Master’s and Ph.D. in Economics
from Washington State University.
Katrin Sirje Kärk
Katrin is a Program Officer with National LISC’s Family Income and Wealth Building program,
where she provides research and technical assistance on workforce development and asset
building issues. She has over a decade of experience working with community and economic
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development intermediaries in a wide range of capacities including program development,
grantwriting, policy, and strategic communications. Prior to joining LISC, she was a Program
Associate for External Affairs at Seedco and Senior Writer at PolicyLink. Katrin earned an
MPA in policy analysis and evaluation from Baruch College, City University of New York and
has done additional graduate work in geography and urban planning.
Elena Kaye-Schiess
Elena is an Americorps VISTA serving with the NeighborWorks Rural Initiative based in
Boston, MA. With a commitment to the asset-building potential offered through
NeighborWorks’ organizations IDA programs and VITA sites, Elena has assisted with the
distribution of capacity-building grants to increase the reach of these critically-needed
gateway programs to wealth creation. Elena joined the Rural Initiative after spending nearly
four years studying land rights in rural areas around the world. Having witnessed the
tremendous impact secure access to land and housing can have on communities across
China, India and Costa Rica, Elena returned to the US with a passion and commitment to
rural community economic development strategies.
Stan Keasling
Stanley Keasling has been the CEO of Rural Community Assistance Corporation since January
2008. He began his community development experience as a VISTA Volunteer with Self-Help
Enterprises (SHE) in 1973. Stan worked with the self-help, multifamily and public utility
programs at SHE. He helped establish the community development program which then
formed Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC) in 1978. Stan served as RCAC’s
division director for community development programs from its inception until 1982. He
returned to SHE in 1982 as a program director where he managed self-help housing and
community development programs. He became executive director of Rural California Housing
Corporation (RCHC) in 1986, initiated the RCHC merger with Mercy Housing in 2000 and
remained with Mercy Housing as vice president and senior vice president until 2006. His
responsibilities included managing the consulting division and eventually all operations in
Atlanta, Chicago and Denver regional offices. Stan worked as a private consultant for a short
while prior to taking the helm of RCAC.
Michael S. Levine
Michael S. Levine is Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of
LISC. Mr. Levine oversees the legal affairs of LISC, including all loans to LISC, government
contracts, loans made by LISC, and all other legal work performed by in-house and outside
counsel. He also is responsible for the coordination of the agenda and materials for all LISC
Board and Committee meetings. Mr. Levine oversees the Legal and Administrative Services
departments. He is also a founding member of LISC’s Rural Advisory Committee, and
continues to serve on that Committee. Mr. Levine is the President of The Retail Initiative,
Inc. (“TRI”), a LISC subsidiary that is the general partner of an investment fund that invested
in a number of supermarket-anchored commercial shopping centers in inner-cities throughout
the country. Mr. Levine is a member of the New Markets Advisory Committee for Coastal
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Enterprises, Inc. Prior to joining LISC, after law school Mr. Levine clerked for Judge Pierre
Leval of the Southern District of New York, and then was an associate at the New York City
law firms of Simpson, Thacher and Bartlett, and Shereff, Friedman, Hoffman and Goodman.
Mr. Levine graduated magna cum laude from Williams College and Cornell Law School.
Marty Miller
Marty is the Executive Director of the Office of Rural and Farmworker Housing (ORFH).
ORFH is a private nonprofit organization that provides comprehensive development services
to construct or rehabilitate rural and farmworker housing throughout Washington State.
ORFH is also a certified Community Development Financial Institution. Marty has been a
valuable member of ORFH since 1993. With the partnership of their local sponsors, ORFH has
developed over 1,400 units in rural Washington State serving over 7,500 farmworkers and
other low-income rural residents. Marty is advocate at the federal, state and local level and
works to bring positive change to policy issues affecting farmworkers and their families. He
is the current President of the National Farmworker Housing Directors’ Association. He is a
member of the National Rural Housing Coalition's Board of Director. Marty also participates
on the Policy Advisory Team for the Housing Division of Washington State’s Department of
Commerce.
Kathleen Moxon
Kathleen has been involved in economic and community development in rural northwestern
California for the past 30 years. She currently runs Redwood Coast Rural Action (RCRA), a
four/five county community leadership network focused on work best addressed by the
collective region (www.redwoodcoastruralaction.org ). Current projects include deploying
broadband across all communities in the region, building regional alliances for industry
cluster development, gathering the regional priorities for state policy development and
facilitating a working group focused on determining the feasibility of a regional investment
fund. RCRA is part of a larger network of organizations focused on rural policy development
called the National Rural Assembly (RA) where she serves on the steering committee and is
the co-chair of the Transportation Policy Working Group. Community leaders from RCRA also
serve on the Healthcare and Broadband Policy Working Groups. She has been a speaker or
panelist presenting on rural economic and community development for many groups across
the nation including Economic Development Administration, Rural Development Initiatives,
Northwest Area Foundation, California Association for MicroEnterprise Opportunity (CAMEO),
W.K. Kellogg’s Rural People Rural Policy initiative and the National Rural Funders’
Collaborative. She began her career with 15 years as a commercial credit officer for Bank of
Loleta, a community bank on California’s north coast. She then moved to the Executive
Director of Arcata Economic Development Corporation (AEDC) where she built and managed
their high risk credit pool and developed a microloan program as well as managed
Foodworks, a 20,000 sq. ft. food processing incubator. In 1996, she left AEDC to join
Humboldt Area Foundation, the regional community foundation, with the job description ‘do
something to fix the economy’. The region has since become known statewide and nationally
for its collaborative economic development efforts entitled Prosperity: the North Coast
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Strategy which has, for the last 10 years, focused on growing rural industry clusters
(www.northcoastprosperity.com).
Bruce A. Newman
Mr. Newman has more than 20 years of experience in community development, nonprofit
management, construction and renovation, loan funds and programs, and training. He has
developed in-fill housing, new subdivisions, supervised rehabilitation and new construction
projects, and managed a loan fund for first-time homebuyer mortgages. He currently serves
as a Regional Manager in RCAC’s Housing Division supervising staff and activities in AK, ID,
NV, OR, and WA.
John Niederman
John J. Niederman has been the President of Pathfinder Services, Inc. in Huntington, Indiana
since March 1985. As president, John is responsible for the overall operation of a
$16,000,000 not-for-profit private corporation serving over 2000 adults and children, aimed
at improving the opportunities for individuals to become more accepted and achieve greater
control in their lives. Pathfinder Services provides Comprehensive Human and Community
Development services to a wide range of people with and without disabilities. Prior to
Pathfinder Services, John was the Director of Special Services/Vocational Evaluation at
Anthony Wayne Rehabilitation Center in Fort Wayne for seven years and an Arthritis Social
Worker at the St. Louis University Hospitals, St. Louis, Missouri for two years. He graduated
from the University of Notre Dame and holds two Master degrees in Social Work and
Business. John is a Board Member and the current President of the Indiana Association for
Community Economic Development (IACED), and the Northeast Indiana Regional Workforce
Investment Board. John currently serves on the Indiana Association of Rehabilitation
Facilities (INARF) Board of Directors. John is the past chair of the Affordable Advisory
Council for the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis, as well as both the Huntington
County Chamber of Commerce and the Huntington Rotary Club.
Lina Page
Lina Page is the Executive Vice President, Strategic Communications for Opportunity Finance
Network. Lina joined OFN in 2004. Prior to OFN, she was the Director of Global Marketing
for biometric security company Iridian Technologies. Lina also worked as Vice President for
Corporate Communications at Paytrust, an Internet-based financial services organization and
Director of Marketing Communications for several global software companies, including Logic
Works, Inc., Revelation Technologies, and Information Builders, Inc. She also conducted
marketing for the publisher Random House, Inc.
Mary Patoka
Mary Patoka is President and CEO of CAP Services in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, a community
action agency serving five counties in East Central Wisconsin. CAP's workforce of 230 staff
provide a variety of services in the areas of housing and economic development, early
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childhood education and care and a variety of human development programs. Patoka holds
a BS from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and is certified by the National
Development Council as an Economic Develop Specialist. She currently serves as VicePresident of WISCAP and is a member of the Boards of Impact 7 and WHEDA's Greater
Wisconsin Opportunity Fund. She also is a member of the Great Lakes Capital Fund Advisory
Board and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago's Community Investment Advisory
Council.
Eileen Piekarz
Eileen Piekarz is a Rural Development Specialist with RCAC and has worked in affordable
housing for 18 years, providing technical assistance and training to nonprofit and for-profit
developers resulting in the completion of more than 1,700 units of affordable housing. She
has expertise in financial feasibility analysis, project financing and development. Ms. Piekarz
provides training and technical assistance to Community Housing Development Organizations
(CHDOs), Mutual Self-Help Housing grantees, resident-owned cooperatives and other
community organizations throughout rural Nevada and the western United States. Ms.
Piekarz staffed RCAC’s program to promote resident ownership of manufactured home
communities from 2007 to 2011.
Doug Pingel
Mr. Pingel has over 40 years experience in housing and community development work,
focusing on providing affordable housing opportunities for lower income families of the
California San Joaquin Valley. For the past 20 years he has served as the SHE Multi-Family
Program Director, managing the development of new rental projects and overseeing asset
management of over 1,200 units. Pingel has utilized a wide range of funding sources in
development of affordable rental housing, including Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, HOME,
HCD, HUD, Rural Development, Federal Home Loan Bank, Redevelopment Agencies, city and
county programs and conventional financing. Prior to working for SHE, Pingel worked 17
years for the USDA Rural Development in a wide range of housing and community
development activities through California.
Robert A. Rapoza
President and principal, has more than three decades’ experience as a professional lobbyist
and is an expert on the federal budget and appropriations process, with special expertise in
federal housing and community development policy. He has been responsible for numerous
legislative accomplishments including saving federal rural housing and community
development programs from budget cuts, establishing the Intermediary Re-lending Program
at the Agriculture Department, sustaining and increasing funding for community development
programs at the Department of Health and Human Services, promoting the creation of a
YouthBuild program at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and, most
recently, successfully steering the New Markets Tax Credit program to enactment. He first
became involved with community development issues while serving with the Massachusetts
Department of Community Affairs. After moving to Washington, D.C., he held executive
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positions with the Rural Housing Alliance, the National Rural Housing Coalition (which he
continues to serve as executive secretary and legislative director), and the Rural Coalition
before establishing Rapoza Associates in 1984. A graduate of Boston College and the
University of Massachusetts at Amherst, he has served on the boards of several housing and
community development organizations and has been profiled in the Washington Post and in
the authoritative Beacham’s Guide to Key Lobbyists.
Douglas Rauthe
Doug is the Executive Director of Northwest Montana Human Resources, dba Community
Action Partnership of Northwest Montana, in Kalispell, Montana since 1994. He served as
mayor of his hometown of Kalispell from 1990-1998. Doug currently serves as the president
of the Region VIII (Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, North & South Dakota) Community
Action Partnership Association. In addition, he serves on the national Board of Directors of
the Community Action Program Legal Services (CAPLAW) organization. Doug continues to
lead his agency into affordable housing development and preservation. Doug's agency has
been active as a Rural LISC affiliate for the past nine years and his agency hosted the Rural
LISC National Seminars in 2009. He was also involved with the original National Rural
Assembly efforts and other nationwide advocacy initiatives.
Christine Rector
Christine has worked with Northern Initiatives and its predecessor, the Northern Economic
Initiatives Center, for twenty years. In addition to providing senior level consulting to
regional firms and national organizations, she is directly responsible for leading the
organization’s tourism and local food systems initiatives including the award winning program
The Great Waters, a regional branding initiative which builds on the rich nature and cultural
attractions and the many recreational opportunities in the Eastern Upper Peninsula.
Christine holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Northern Michigan University in business
administration with an emphasis in marketing. Christine is a certified Executive Coach and
Professional Business Advisor.
Sheila Rice
Sheila Rice has been the Executive Director of NeighborWorks Great Falls and NeighborWorks
Montana since 2003. In 2007, she completed the NeighborWorks America Achieving
Excellence Program at Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Sheila has
served on several national committees, including the Board of Directors of the National
NeighborWorks Association and the Fannie Mae National Advisory Committee. She is
currently a member of the Montana Board of Housing. Prior to joining NWGF and MHN, she
was a senior officer of ENERGY WEST, a natural gas utility and energy marketing firm
located in Great Falls. Sheila is a graduate of Great Falls Central High School, holds a BS in
Chemistry from the University of Montana and an MBA from the University of Montana. She
served in the Montana House of Representatives in 1991 and 1993 legislative sessions and
was a member of the Montana Redistricting Commission in 2000.
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Gisela Salgado
Ms. Salgado graduated from CCRH’s Internship Program for Diversity in Nonprofit Housing and
Community Development in 2003 and has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from
the University of San Diego. Her responsibilities include program publicity and outreach, intern
and host agency recruitment and placement, development of intern and host agency Learning
Plans, development of intern and host agency trainings and technical assistance, partnership
agreements with outside trainers, site visits, monitoring, evaluation of program performance
and fund development. To date she has graduated 38 students from the program, built
partnerships with NeighborWorks America, the Washington State Farmworker Housing Trust
and the California State VISTA Americorps Program. She has successfully overseen program
expansion to Washington state and Oregon. Before joining CCRH in 2005, she worked as a
project developer for three years with Community Housing Works in San Diego County. There
she successfully packaged and developed three properties with 168 units total. She is fluent in
Spanish and, coming from an immigrant and underprivileged background, has a strong cultural
and social affinity for serving disadvantaged communities.
Beatrice Shelby
Beatrice Shelby has served as the Executive Director of Boys, Girls, Adults Community
Development Center since, January of l985. She started in January of l982 as its program
coordinator. Based in Marvell, Phillips County, Arkansas, Boys Girls Adults Community
Development Center (BGACDC) is a thirty-two year old community-based organization that
has worked diligently and creatively to serve communities of Marvell, Elaine and eight other
unincorporated communities in the Marvell School District zone. Through its child and youth
development, adult education, housing, health, and economic development programs and
services, the organizations’ work has impacted people from cradle to grave. BGACDC’s
emphasis has been to promote development and growth at the individual and organization
levels and, as such, has supported and sponsored staff and community volunteers in their
participation in such programs as the Arkansas Regional Leader’s Program, work with the
Local Support Initiative Corporation (LISC) to further community and economic development
initiatives, and Training Community Organizations for Change (TCOC) to build and strengthen
organization infrastructure and capacity. The organization’s drive and instilling of values for
success in its program participants have produced a greater than average number of high
professional achievers and, in the last fifteen years, it has become the leading producer of
new and remodeled standard housing in the county. The organization’s successes have
earned it many honors including the Robert Wood Johnson Leadership Award, the Ford
Foundation Leadership for a Changing World Award, and an invitation to be members or
partners with the W. K. Kellogg Foundation Rural People, Rural Policy Initiative, (RPRP), the
Marvell Nutrition, Intervention Research Initiative (NIRI), and the UAMS College of Public
Health. In January of 2000, BGACDC and Beatrice Shelby, started to plan for the
implementation of the l8-39 Parental Empowerment Project.
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Betty Tamm
Ms. Tamm has been the Executive Director of Umpqua Community Development Corporation
in rural Southwest Oregon since 1997. Betty and Umpqua CDC are known throughout
Oregon and the nation for taking on some of the most challenging and unusual housing and
community development projects. Under her direction Umpqua CDC has gone from two to 40
employees and expanded from developing multi-family housing to offering micro-enterprise
development, special needs and single family housing; self help housing; second mortgages;
housing rehab; community infrastructure; commercial and facilities development, historic
rehab, downtown revitalization, and economic development. Umpqua CDC’s more unusual
ventures include Heartwood ReSources, a used building material retail outlet and
deconstruction enterprise, a solar subdivision, and a commercial facility leased to the Oregon
State University Extension Services. Betty is the former chair of the Oregon CDC association
and has represented rural Oregon on the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle’s affordable
housing advisory board. She was appointed by former Governor Kitzhaber to represent
Oregon CDC’s for the Community Incentive Fund and by current Governor Kulongoski to the
economic development panel called Brand Oregon and is now on the Rural LISC Rural
Advisory Board and the Umpqua Community College Board of Trustees. Betty earned a
Bachelors degree in Biology and a Masters degree in Botany. In 2006 Betty was selected as
one of fifty non-profit leaders from around the Country to participate in “Achieving Excellence
in Community Leadership” at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Michael Tang
Michael Tang is the Vice President for Communications at LISC, overseeing national
communications efforts. This includes national publications, press and media, the national
LISC website and other online presence. Mr. Tang has served in several positions at LISC.
Before communications, he was the Director of Development for national LISC and oversaw
national fundraising. Prior to that, he managed LISC’s Living Cities program, which provided
millions in grants and loan funds to 15 LISC local offices to implement broad community
development activities. Mr. Tang has also worked for the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development and developed affordable housing with a city-wide nonprofit housing
organization in New York City. Mr. Tang has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University
and a Master of Public Policy degree from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of
Government.
Rosa Rios Valdez
Ms. Rios Valdez has served as Executive Director for Business Community Lenders of Texas
since 1997, growing the company’s net worth 15 fold from $600,000 to over $9,200,000.
Rosa manages a statewide $25,000,000 commercial real estate loan portfolio and is Asset
Manager for a $2.5 million real estate portfolio. Rosa has 28 years experience in business and
community development and lending. Rosa maintains a network of local, regional, statewide
and national lenders. Rosa worked for the Texas Governor’s Office of Economic
Development as manager of business finance which focused on businesses and
manufacturing expansions throughout Texas. She worked regionally in central and southeast
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Texas as the Director of Economic Development for the Lower Colorado River Authority.
Rosa served as President of the National Association of Economic Developers (NREDA), and
Treasurer for the National Rural Alliance. She served 10 years as board chair for the Travis
County Housing Authority. She currently serves on the NeighborWorks America Community
and Economic Development Committee and the board of director for NeighborWorks Capital.
Rosa teaches business development, corporate financial management and economic
development at NeighborWorks America Training Institutes. She received a BA from the
University of Texas at Austin and is certified as an Economic Development Finance
Professional (EDFP) by the National Development Council of New York.
Sara Varela
Sara Varela has been working in Community Economic Development for over twelve years.
Currently she is Communications Specialist for the National Community Building and
Organizing and the Rural Programs at NeighborWorks America. She is responsible for
facilitating communication among NeighborWorks Network Organizations, and the overall
economic development field. She manages the online communications, writes a blog, and
uses social media to facilitate peer to peer sharing and learning. Sara served as the South
Central Regional Manager for MicroCredit-NH, at the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund
( NHCLF) for over six years. Worked in Manchester as the Community Building Director at
United Way, and most recently was Communications and Development Director for Consumer
Credit Counseling Services of New Hampshire and Vermont. Sara has experience in
communications, fundraising, and service delivery. She holds a Bachelor’s of Arts in
Communications and a Master’s of Science in Community Economic Development both from
Southern New Hampshire University. Sara speaks Spanish as her native tongue and enjoys
reaching out the Latino community. She is currently on the board of the New Hampshire
Community Loan Fund, one of the nation’s top community development financial institutions.
Vicki Vasile
Vicki Vasile is Case manager/Property manager of the Northern Cambria Community
Development Corporation and has 8 years of experience working to provide continued
services for families/individuals with affordable housing. Vicki works in Elderly housing, 811
PRAC housing, Multifamily 236 with section 8 HAP contract housing, Supportive Permanent
housing, and Transitional housing for victims of domestic violence. She holds certifications in
HUD Subsidized Multifamily Housing, Stepping Stones to Recovery, Assisted Housing
Manager, Fair Housing Partnership, Site Management Issues Relating to The Low Income
Housing Tax Credit Program, Enterprise Income Verification, Homeowners’ Emergency
Mortgage Assistance Program and Pennsylvania Homeless Management Information System.
Robert S. Warwick
Robert S. Warwick is the chair and a founding member of the Stand Up for Rural America
Steering Committee. He is also a member of the Rural LISC Advisory Committee. He retired
in 2002 as Group Vice President and Director of Community Investment Services at the
Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta, where he was responsible for the Bank’s community
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investment and affordable housing programs. He began his housing and finance career at
the Center on Law and Poverty at Duke University. Mr. Warwick received his undergraduate
degree from Princeton University and his law degree from Duke University. He is a member
(inactive) of the North Carolina State Bar and the District of Columbia Bar.
Charles Wehrwein
As Chief Operating Officer of NeighborWorks America, Chuck Wehrwein oversees the
organization’s divisions of field operations, national initiatives and applied research, training,
organizational assessment and information management. Mr. Wehrwein, who became Chief
Operating Officer in May 2012, has an extensive background serving in leadership positions
in affordable housing development, management and financing, and homeownership
education and counseling. Prior to joining NeighborWorks America, Mr. Wehrwein served as
President of the Housing Partnership Exchange at the Housing Partnership Network (HPN)
which encompasses the HPN’s cooperative businesses including its health insurance
company, property and casualty insurance company; group buying organization; and Housing
Partners in Health (a health benefits insurance company). In this role he also was responsible
for overall strategic planning and outcomes, operations, budgeting, and resource
development with other members of HPN’s executive leadership team. From 2000 to 2007,
Mr. Wehrwein served as Senior Vice President for Strategic Development Initiatives at Mercy
Housing, where he led the planning and implementation of Mercy's portfolio acquisition
initiative. Before joining Mercy Housing, Mr. Wehrwein was Chief Operating Officer of the
National Equity Fund, where he was responsible for all program operations, including
acquisitions, asset management, portfolio management and information systems, with annual
equity placements of $300 to $400 million. A Certified Public Accountant, Mr. Wehrwein
earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago and an MBA from
DePaul University.
Robert Wiener
Since 1981, Robert Wiener has been the Executive Director of the California Coalition for
Rural Housing (CCRH), one of the oldest state low-income housing coalitions in the country,
for 27 years Under his leadership, CCRH has played a major role in federal and state
housing policy and program efforts in rural housing, farm labor housing, housing
preservation, and other areas of housing provision. In 1999, he co-edited and -wrote a
landmark book on Housing in Rural America and is currently working on another book on
affordable housing practice in California. In 2006, he was honored as the “Inspirational
Nonprofit Housing Leader of the Year” by the Nonprofit Housing Association of Northern
California and as a “Housing Hero” by the Cabrillo Economic Development Association. Since
1993, he has been a lecturer in the Department of Human and Community Development
(HCD), where he teaches in the area of housing and social policy and conducts a summer
abroad course on Housing and Community Development in Barcelona, Spain. In 2004, Dr.
Wiener was recognized as a “Distinguished Educator” by the UCD student government and
2011 he was honored as “Lecturer of the Year” by HCD. He has a doctorate in urban and
regional planning from UCLA.
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John Wiltse
John currently serves as Senior Operations Director for PathStone Corporation in Rochester,
NY. In this capacity, John coordinates a team that provides homeownership, housing
development and community organizing programs across several states. John is also
responsible for overall budget management, grant writing, public relations and other odd
jobs for the PathStone Community & Economic Development Division. John has worked on
affordable housing issues and projects at PathStone for 21 years. He is the past president
and current treasurer of the National Farmworker Housing Directors Association, serves as
vice chair of the NeighborWorks® Rural Initiative Steering Committee and is on the internal
policy committee of the National NeighborWorks® Association. John is also on the board of
ROC USA™, a nonprofit social enterprise working to make quality, resident-ownership of
manufactured home communities viable nationwide. John cut his teeth on rural development
work as a college intern working at the Cranks Creek Survival Center in Harlan County, KY.
John graduated from Kalamazoo College in Michigan with a BA in English.
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