About Us
Board of Directors
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President Dora Leong Gallo is the Chief Executive Officer of A Community of Friends (ACOF), a nonprofit affordable housing development corporation whose mission is to develop permanent supportive housing for people with special needs. Established in 1988, ACOF has completed 29 apartment buildings throughout Los Angeles and Orange County, with another nine projects in various stages of development. Prior to joining ACOF, Ms. Gallo served in various capacities on the staff of former Los Angeles City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas (now a State Senator), including Chief of Staff. She also spent several years working for the Culver City Redevelopment Agency and the City of Los Angeles in the Office of the Chief Legislative Analyst. Ms. Gallo received a Masters in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Science in Public Administration from the University of Southern California. She is a member of Enterprise Community Partner's National Network Advisory Board, and serves as a Board member for the Southern California Association of Non Profit Housing (SCANPH) and Housing California. Ms. Gallo is currently a Mayoral appointee on the City of Los Angeles' Neighborhood Council Review Commission. |
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Vice President |
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2nd Vice President Erin G. Rank is the President and CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles, which serves 112 cities and unincorporated areas in Los Angeles County, including 70 communities within the City of Los Angeles. Ms. Rank began her service with Habitat for Humanity of South Bay/Long Beach as an on site volunteer in 1995 and joined the Board of Directors as the Fundraising Chair in 1996. In 1998, Ms. Rank was selected as the Executive Director. As a board member and graduate of Leadership Long Beach, Ms. Rank promotes ethical leadership and diversity within her community. She holds a bachelor's degree in Psychology from University of Missouri-Columbia, and a Masters Degree in Counseling Psychology from Pepperdine University. She recently completed an executive leadership program for nonprofit managers at Harvard Business School. Under her leadership, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles rose to #1 in house production in the State of California and ranks in the top 4% of Habitat affiliates nationwide. Ms. Rank has been featured on CBS Evening News with Dan Rather; ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings; the NBC Today Show; and the Chronicle of Philanthropy as well as numerous appearances on local TV, radio and in print publications. Ms. Rank also serves on Habitat for Humanity International’s U.S. Council, which oversees policy making for all U.S. affiliates of Habitat for Humanity. |
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Secretary Valerie Feldman is a staff attorney with Legal Services of Northern California in the organization's Sacramento field office. Ms. Feldman works primarily on housing and land use policy and litigation. Since 2001, Ms. Feldman has represented individuals and tenant associations in actions to preserve federally subsidized housing, seek compensation for uninhabitable conditions, challenge wrongful housing subsidy terminations, defend the Sacramento County inclusionary policy, enforce local condominium conversion ordinances and ensure local jurisdictions compliance with state housing element requirements. When she is not focused on her client's issues, Valerie and her husband are entertained by their son's obsession with Pokemon and challenged by their two year old acting like a two year old. |
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Treasurer Ann Gressani manages NPH's public policy and communications agenda. She is actively involved with NPH's members, working groups, and coalition partners on state and federal legislative activities. She also oversees NPH's publications, including the newsletter and policy reports as well as its website. Ms. Gressani's career includes more than seventeen years experience in government relations, public policy analysis, and political strategic planning. She was Principal Consultant on the California State Senate committee on Energy and Public Utilities, where she managed staff responsible for policy development and analysis. She also managed government relations for MCI Telecommunications where she organized effective legislative, regulatory, and public issue campaigns in California and other western states. Ms. Gresasni is a graduate of the University of Santa Clara and lives in Oakland with her family. |
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Amy Anderson |
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Lisa Appleberry |
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Chris Block Chris Block has been involved in affordable housing for more than 20 years in California's Silicon Valley. He was the Executive Director of Charities Housing from its inception through 1999. During the two years he was away from Charities Housing, he served as Executive Director of Good Samaritan Family Resource Center in San Francisco for one year and was also the first Executive Director of the Housing Trust of Santa Clara County. Mr. Block holds a Master's in Counseling Psychology and a Bachelor's in Philosophy from the University of Notre Dame, and is a licensed real estate broker. |
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Joan Burke |
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Sam Cobbs Sam Cobbs is the Executive Director of First Place for Youth, a San Francisco Bay Area based nonprofit organization founded in 1998 to remedy the lack of services available to youth who are making the difficult transition from foster care to independent living. Mr. Cobbs has worked in the service of youth for more than 15 years, beginning in Oakland as the Physical Education and Health Director and later as a Branch Manager for the Boys & Girls Club of Oakland. He also spent eight years at Larkin Street Youth Services. In his final years at Larkin as the Director of Program Services, he opened the city's first emergency shelter for young adults ages 18–24 and assisted in the design and implementation of two of the nation’s most innovative housing programs for youth -- Ellis Street Apartments, San Francisco's first permanent supportive housing program for youth, and Larkin's Extended Aftercare for Supportive Emancipation program (LEASE). Mr. Cobbs has also served on numerous boards and commissions including the San Francisco Local Homeless Coordinating Board, Western States Youth Services Network Board, Honoring Emancipated Youth Board, and the Administration of Children Youth and Family peer review team for the western region. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and California State Assemblyman Leland Yee have both publicly recognized Sam for his tireless commitment to youth. Mr. Cobbs is a Graduate of Cal State Hayward with a BS in Psychology and a MS in Counseling. |
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Hannah Cohen Hannah Cohen has her own consultancy business specializing in homeless and affordable housing issues. She is currently the Housing and Homeless Policy Specialist for The Center for Aging Resources, Heritage Clinic headquartered in Pasadena, with offices in San Diego, Los Angeles, Inglewood, and Palmdale. She was the consultant to United Way SD contracted to oversee the development, writing and approval process for the Plan to End Chronic Homelessness in the San Diego. She has provided consultant services throughout San Diego County and has an established reputation for capacity building skills and an emphasis on obtainable outcomes and goals. Ms. Cohen provides leadership on a variety of committees to address homeless including the Regional Taskforce on Homelessness, the Mental Health Services Housing Council, SD Regional Continuum of Care and the SD Mental Health Coalition. She also participates on the SD Housing Federation Policy and Education Committees. She chairs Housing California's Homeless Policy Working Group and the Fundraising Committee. She established CA Keys, a state-wide collaborative of CA municipalities, that share information on chronic homeless plan development and advocates for funding for chronic plans implementation. Ms. Cohen has 25 years of experience in housing development issues. |
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Cesar Covarrubias |
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Mariano Diaz |
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Navneet Grewal |
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Jonathan Hunter Mr. Hunter joined the staff of Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) in November 2000. CSH helps communities create permanent housing with services to prevent and end homelessness. CSH provides direct assistance and predevelopment lending to project sponsors, conducts training to build the capacity of organizations to develop supportive housing and works to create integrated public systems to better finance and support the development of supportive housing. Prior to joining CSH, Mr. Hunter was employed by Episcopal Community Services (ECS) in San Diego for thirteen years. During ten years as Executive Vice President, he carried primary responsibility for strategic planning, program development and quality assurance. ECS employed more than 400 people delivering services in three southern California counties through programs including Housing (Transitional and Permanent), Alcohol and Drug Services, Mental Health Services, Women's Services, Emergency Services, Child Development, Primary Health Care, Employment and Welfare to Work, Youth Services and Chaplaincy. Mr. Hunter developed the agency's first housing projects that provided both transitional and permanent housing solutions for homeless people with a severe mental illness. Programs designed by Mr. Hunter were recognized at both the state and national level for innovation in responding to the needs of homeless adults and families. |
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Michael Lane Michael Lane serves as a management analyst for Self-Help Enterprises, the oldest and largest nonprofit developer of affordable self-help housing in the nation. He is also a member of the board of directors for the San Joaquin Valley Housing Trust. Mr. Lane worked on the 2002 Proposition 46 and 2006 Proposition 1C statewide housing bond campaigns in the San Joaquin Valley. Mr. Lane enjoys community service and is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Visalia Unified School District. He was first elected in 2001; re-elected in 2005; and served as VUSD Board President in 2004. Mike has also served on the Board of Directors for the Tulare Kings Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and as an advisor to the local Asian American Coalition. He is currently a member of the Visalia Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs Council. Mike fluently speaks, reads, and writes the Spanish language. He is a graduate of San Francisco State University. |
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Jose Nuno |
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Tim O'Connell Mr. O'Connell is Century Housing's primary liaison with elected representatives, legislative staff, and appointed administrative officials in the on-going effort to assure that affordable housing and related issues receive appropriate consideration. Prior to coming to Century Housing Corporation, Mr. O'Connell served as Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer, San Diego Housing Commission. In that position, he provided policy support to the CEO and Board of Commissioners, as well as serving as primary liaison between that agency and the Mayor and City Council, who served as the City's Housing Authority. Mr. O'Connell served Maureen O'Connor during her term as Mayor of the City of San Diego as Director of Program Development for Growth & Development. Mr. O'Connell received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Diego, School of Law. Mr. O'Connell is currently president of the California Association of Local Housing Finance Agencies (CAL-ALHFA). He is also a member of the American Planning Association (APA), the California State Bar, and the Urban & Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) and serves on the board of Housing California. |
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Kalima Rose Kalima Rose manages local and statewide housing initiatives and has expertise in helping communities pass policies that: finance affordable homes; change land use policy to better support mixed-income housing development; and advance fair housing practices. Ms. Rose also coordinates PolicyLink's Louisiana recovery work, collaborating with state officials, community organizations, and national institutions. Within weeks of hurricane Katrina's landfall, Ms. Rose was on the ground in New Orleans helping to rebuild a more equitable Gulf Coast through broad-based advocacy and community engagement. As a part-time resident of New Orleans, she works primarily out of the PolicyLink headquarters in Oakland, CA, leading local, state, regional, and national campaigns to expand affordable-home opportunities. She helped pass local housing initiatives in New York, Washington, D.C., and New Orleans, and statewide initiatives in California and Louisiana. Ms. Rose also led the creation of the Equitable Development Toolkit, an online resource that brings best social equity practices for housing land use, asset building, and financing of equitable development. Her previous experience includes many years of work with rural indigenous communities on economic development and cultural continuity, as well as over a decade of expertise in social change philanthropy, supporting economic justice, community organizing, and civil rights. Before joining PolicyLink, Ms. Rose crafted economic justice and development programs to advance living wages and equity in community development. She has fostered community-labor partnerships through philanthropy and has broad experience in organizational development and journalism. Rose is also a community leader in the California Bay Area on educational equity issues. |
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Rob Wiener Rob Wiener has 30 years' experience in rural housing and community development, 25 of them as the Executive Director of the California Coalition for Rural Housing (CCRH). He has successfully administered numerous federal grant programs of USDA, HUD, and other agencies, provided capacity-building assistance to community-based organizations, and made significant contributions to public policy formation. Mr. Wiener has a Doctorate in City and Regional Planning from UCLA; teaches housing policy at the University of California, Davis; and wrote a landmark book Housing in Rural America: Building Affordable and Inclusive Communities, published by Sage Publishers in 1999. |
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Anne Wilson Anne Wilson is responsible for acquisitions, new construction, rehabilitation, development and financing, as Director, Housing and Real Estate Development at Community HousingWorks (CHW), one of the leading affordable housing development companies in San Diego County. Ms. Wilson has more than 23 years of experience in affordable housing finance, development, community development, and urban redevelopment. Since 1985, Ms. Wilson has financed over $400 million of affordable housing projects including equity and debt. From 1991 to 1998, Ms. Wilson was the founding director of the San Diego Program of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) where she initiated redesign of LISC's renowned housing development training program. From 1985 through 1990, Ms. Wilson was a financial analyst at the Boston Redevelopment Authority and a senior program director at the City of Boston's Neighborhood Development Division. From 1982-85, she worked as a policy analyst for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and in the Lead Poisoning Prevention Program at Boston City Hospital. Ms. Wilson received her Masters in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where she was a Fellow at the Center for Real Estate Development. She has been an instructor of the graduate seminar on Housing Policy at San Diego State University. She has served on the boards of many nonprofit organizations including the San Diego Housing Federation, St. Andrews Family Shelter and Fenway Community Health Center. She was selected for a Eureka Fellowship and received the local American Institute of Architect’s Public Service Award in 2002. |
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Paul Zimmerman Paul is a native of Los Angeles. Motivated by a life-long interest in social change, economic equity and the built environment, he has worked in the non-profit sector throughout most of his professional career. From 1988 to 2006, Mr. Zimmerman was the executive director of the West Hollywood Community Housing Corporation, developing and managing senior, disabled and family subsidized apartments. In April 2006, he assumed the responsibilities of executive director of the Southern California Association of NonProfit Housing (SCANPH). Mr. Zimmerman has served as SCANPH's Board president and on numerous boards of directors and working groups concerned with affordable housing and urban planning issues. He is married to a psychotherapist and houses a 19 year-old son. |
