Board of Directors
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President |
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Vice President Erin Rank 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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2nd Vice President Sharon Rapport
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Treasurer Elissa Dennis Elissa Dennis has assisted clients in a range of affordable housing developments since joining Community Economics, Inc. (CEI) in 1990. She has worked extensively with urban and rural clients on a wide array of new construction and rehabilitation projects. She has worked with nonprofit housing developers, service providers, and public agencies on projects using the tax credit programs and the HUD programs for the elderly and disabled. Ms. Dennis has been active in local and statewide housing policy issues. She served on the board of East Bay Housing Organizations for six years including four years as president from 1994 through 1998. She is currently on the board of Housing California and People's Community Partnership Federal Credit Union. After receiving her Master's Degree in Urban Planning from the University of California at Los Angeles, Ms. Dennis worked for nonprofit housing organizations in the Bay Area and Los Angeles before joining CEI. She previously worked as a community organizer and a newspaper reporter. |
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Secretary Michael Lane Michael Lane has an extensive background in public policy, legislation, politics, and campaigns. Prior to joining the Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California (NPH), he worked at Self-Help Enterprises, the oldest and largest nonprofit developer of affordable self-help housing in the nation. In this capacity, he worked on government and media relations and local, state, and federal housing policy, legislation, regulations, and funding. Mr. Lane has significant experience working with financial institutions, foundations, and other funders. He served as a regional whip on the successful 2002 Proposition 46 and 2006 Proposition 1C statewide housing bond campaigns. He has worked in local government and held elected office as a school board member and city council member. Mr. Lane is a graduate of San Francisco State University and he speaks, reads, and writes the Spanish language fluently. |
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Amy Anderson |
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Holly Benson |
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Chris Block Chris Block is the Chief Executive Officer of American Leadership Forum (ALF) -- Silicon Valley. Mr. Block is also an ALF Senior Fellow and has served on the Housing California Board of Directors since 2007. Prior to joining ALF, Mr. Block had been involved in affordable housing for more than 20 years in Silicon Valley. He was the Executive Director of Charities Housing from its inception in 1989 until joining ALF in 2009. Chris is also a fellow in the Kellogg National Leadership Program. He holds a Master's in Counseling Psychology and a Bachelor's in Philosophy from the University of Notre Dame. |
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Cesar Covarrubias
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Mariano Diaz Mariano Diaz is the Western Regional Vice President for Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), responsible for LISC operations in Los Angeles, the San Francisco/Bay Area, San Diego, Washington State, Phoenix, and Houston. Prior to joining LISC, Mr. Diaz worked for the San Diego Foundation where he was responsible for the strategic planning, implementation of community improvement programs, and supporting grants in the areas of human services; science and technology; environment; arts and culter; and civil society. Prior to that, Mr. Diaz was global director for the Nike Foundation and community affairs operations. Mr. Diaz was owner/principal of Esme & Associates. Mr. Diaz earned a Masters from Harvard University and a Bachelor's from teh University of California, Santa Barbara.
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Valerie Feldman 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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Navneet Grewal
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Stanley Keasling
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Joan Ling Joan Ling is a real-estate advisor and policy analyst in urban planning. She brings 30 years of experience in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors: she has worked as an affordable-housing developer, property manager, real-estate financial analyst, government loan underwriter, and community planner. Ms. Ling has taken about 60 development projects (1,400 units) from acquisition through entitlement, financing, construction, marketing, and building operations. Her projects include the first multifamily structure in the country awarded the gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) as well as two buildings that received the National American Institute of Architect's Design Honor Awards. Ms. Ling has used her hands-on experience to improve public policy, legislation, and government regulations. Among the many issues she has affected, the high-impact ones include reforming the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to streamline affordable- and urban infill housing production, negotiating the California Mello Act implementation in Los Angeles, running a successful voter initiative to authorize affordable-housing development under Article 34 of the California Constitution, passing local ordinances giving land-use incentives and protections for affordable-housing development projects, and advocating for more and better-targeted financial resources in California's tax-credit and bond-funded housing programs. She is currently working on promoting a range of housing choices at the nexus between employment centers and transit stations in Los Angeles, land-use incentives for affordable housing, and a dedicated funding source in California. Ms Ling served as the Executive Director of Community Corporation of Santa Monica for 20 years. Her previous employers include the Los Angeles County Community Development Commission; Kotin, Regan, and Mouchly, Inc.; and The Planning Group. She currently serves as the treasurer of the Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles City and a director on the Housing California board. Ms. Ling is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Chatham College in Pennsylvania and received her M.A. degree from the UCLA Urban Planning Department. She also holds a certificate from Harvard Kennedy School of Government after completing an 18-month program in Achieving Excellence in Community Development. Fannie Mae Foundation honored her as a National James A. Johnson Fellow. She teaches real estate, housing, and planning courses at the university level. |
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José Nuño José Nuño is the Director of the Homeownership and Rental Center at Visionary Home Builders of California Inc., (VHB) a non-profit affordable housing developer and HUD-approved housing counseling agency in Stockton, California. He has worked for VHB for over 7 years and has worked directly and overseen numerous development projects in all phases of acquisition, rehabilitation, and disposition. Currently he focuses on helping families obtain and keep the dream of owning a home. Mr. Nuño is actively involved in many organizations and has served on numerous boards and committees, including Leadership Stockton Alumni Association, League of United Latin American Citizens, City of Stockton Mayor's Task Force on Persons with Disabilities, The Great Valley Center's Institute for the Development of Emerging Area Leaders, California Coalition for Rural Housing Internship Program, CSU Stanislaus -- Stockton Center, Housing California, and City of Manteca Planning Commission. Mr. Nuño was born in Guadalajara, Mexico. At a young age his family moved to the United States. After sometime of living in the greater Los Angeles area they moved to the Central Valley. Mr. Nuño is a first-generation Latino to graduate from college. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from California State University, Stanislaus and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from his alma mater. Mr. Nuño also served 8 years in the U.S. Army Reserve. |
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Deanne Pearn |
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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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| Susan Riggs Tinsky Executive Director San Diego Housing Federation |
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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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