Through the generous support of J. Ronald Terwilliger, the ULI Terwilliger Center for Housing is pleased to offer a new scholarship program to leaders working in the public and not-for-profit sectors and directly engaged in advancing housing. The Housing Leaders Scholarship Program will provide registration scholarships to selected class of leaders each year to support their participation at the annual Housing Opportunity conference through 2017.

Meet the scholarship winners in Denver this May 14-16 for the Housing Opportunity 2014: Healthy Housing, Healthy Places conference. Learn more about the conference.

The ULI Terwilliger Center for Housing congratulates the recipients of the 2014 Housing Leaders Scholarships:

Mairi Albertson
City of Memphis Division of Housing and Community Development
Memphis, Tennessee

Mairi Albertson is the Planning Administrator for the City of Memphis Division of Housing and Community Development. Mairi has over 15 years experience with the City, providing oversight of neighborhood and city wide planning efforts and coordinating research and grant writing related to housing and community development. This includes recommending programs and funding based on the needs identified for the community, with an emphasis on providing housing and services to the most vulnerable populations in Memphis.  A significant part of this work involves facilitating strategic partnerships that will leverage the resources necessary to meet the community’s needs.

Catherine Cox Blair
Natural Resources Defense Council
Denver, Colorado

Catherine is a Senior Advisor with the Urban Solutions program, working to provide communities, cities and regions technical assistance and expertise with a focus on partnerships and city innovation.

Catherine comes to NRDC from Reconnecting America where she worked with a diversity of partners in cities and regions to provide a range of tools to strengthen their role in planning and implementing sustainable communities around transit systems. She led a team of resource experts providing implementation expertise to 143 HUD sustainable communities grantees and EPA partner communities.  She managed place-based work in the Twin Cities, Denver, and Atlanta regions.

Before joining Reconnecting America, Catherine was a senior associate with Cherokee Investment Fund, a leading private equity firm investing capital and expertise in brownfield redevelopment.   Catherine launched the City of Denver’s transit-oriented development program under then Mayor Hickenlooper where she managed efforts to build the city’s capacity to leverage public investments in transit for creating sustainable communities.

Catherine’s background includes experience in urban planning, public policy development, environmental consulting, and philanthropy.  She has a Master’s degree in Urban and Environmental Planning from the University of Virginia and a Bachelor of Urban Affairs and Planning from Virginia Tech.  She is a commissioner of the Denver Urban Renewal Authority and a board member of Wonderboud, a contemporary dance company in Denver.

Shayne Brady
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Region VIII
Denver, Colorado

Ms. Shayne Brady works in the Office of Community Planning and Development at the US Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regional headquarters in Denver.  Shayne’s work entails the urban development piece of HUD, working with cities, regions & states (urban & rural like), in addressing their community development needs that support Low and or Moderate Income people and their neighborhoods.  Shayne oversees various federal programs that fund community development needs such as: housing rehabilitation and production, housing for homeless persons, neighborhood revitalization, economic development, small business development, public infrastructure such as neighborhood streets, sidewalks & utilities; and historic preservation.  Besides her core work, Shayne was selected to serve as a Sustainability Officer to support and advance HUD’s national efforts, within a six-state region, to create healthier, more equitable and more sustainable cities, in collaboration with other federal departments and agencies.

Preceding Shayne’s work in the federal public service, she worked in private sector, primarily as technical support for engineering firms. Shayne began her federal service working for the US Environmental Protection Agency, after graduating from University of Colorado, earning a Master Degree in Urban and Regional Planning.  The highlight of her work at EPA was leading a team involved with the design and construction of the headquarters building here in Denver, that achieved the second highest gold certification awarded by the US Green Building Council, in Washington DC..  Her team supplemented the environmental and energy technical research requirements by the firms designing and constructing the building.

Shayne is also very engaged with neighborhood preservation and land use development including housing & transportation in her neighborhood and surrounding communities, serving on a Board of local Neighborhoods Advocacy Organization, here in Denver.

Samaria Crews
FRESC: Good Jobs, Strong Communities
Denver, Colorado

Samaria Crews is the director of organizing at FRESC: Good Jobs, Strong Communities. She joined FRESC in 2012. She is a native of Colorado with a strong background in leading labor and community organizing campaigns.  She leads the Equitable Growth program at FRESC where the current campaigns are focused on ensuring our billion dollar transit investment benefits the most vulnerable populations in the region.  Her team engages local decision makers, analyzes policy options, and does grassroots community organizing.   She enjoys providing training to community organizers, developing leaders, and volunteering on workers’ rights and racial justice issues.  In her free time she likes spending time with her five kids and date nights with her husband.

Kim Duty
National Multifamily Housing Council
Denver, Colorado

Kimberly Duty is Senior Vice President of Public Affairs and Industry Initiatives, with lead responsibility for developing and implementing a comprehensive strategic communications program for the Council.  She oversees and directs three broad initiatives: NMHC’s member information/content strategy, including digital/web communications; public affairs and public relations; and special industry initiatives.

Prior to joining NMHC, Kim served as Assistant Director of the National Association of Home Builders’ Multifamily Council where she managed the Council’s legislative and regulatory issues and directed the group’s communications and public relations program. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree (Phi Beta Kappa) in International Relations from The College of William & Mary, and she spent 18 months working at the Berlin, Germany Public Affairs Office during the fall of the Berlin wall. Kim also holds a Masters in Public Policy from Georgetown University.

Maureen Friar
Community Access
New York, New York

Maureen Friar has worked in housing and community development for over twenty-five years directing affordable housing advocacy, fundraising and public policy campaigns.  Currently she is the Strategic Development Officer at Community Access, a New York nonprofit that has developed over 1,200 units of supportive housing, plus recovery and job training programs for low income and formerly homeless people living with psychiatric and other disabilites.  Community Access has recently launched new housing initiatives and alternatives to hospitalization as part of Medicaid redesign and health care reform.

Prior to Community Access, Maureen served as President and CEO of the National Housing Conference and was a strategic marketing consultant to the National Equity Fund.  For 14 years, Maureen led the Supportive Housing Network of New York as Executive Director, growing an ad hoc New York City organization into a robust statewide association representing 35,000 units of supportive housing.  Maureen holds a BA from Brown University and a Master of Public Policy from the University of California at Berkeley.

Hammad Graham
New York City Housing Development Corporation
New York, New York

Hammad Graham is a Senior Project Manager in the development department at the New York City Housing Development Corporation (HDC). In that role, Mr. Graham structures and closes the financing for affordable multi-family rental and mixed-used developments in New York City. To date, Mr. Graham has underwritten approximately $500 million worth of transactions which has assisted in the creation and preservation of over a 1000 affordable housing units. Prior to HDC, Mr. Graham worked at Centerline Capital Group, New York Junior Tennis League, Madison Park Development Corporation and the Springfield, Massachusetts Public School System. Mr. Graham holds a BA in History from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and MBA from Babson College’s Olin School of Business.

Roger Herzog
Community Economic Development Assistance Corp. (CEDAC)
Boston, Massachusetts

Roger Herzog brings over 25 years of experience in Massachusetts in the housing and community development field, including work in both the public and non-profit sectors.  Roger currently serves as the Executive Director for the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC), where he works with community development corporations (CDCs) and other non-profit organizations on new affordable and supportive housing development and assists tenants, owners, CDCs, and local communities on strategies for preserving existing affordable housing (expiring use and Section 8 projects).  With support from the MacArthur Foundation, CEDAC plays a key role in the state’s housing preservation efforts.  Roger also serves as Executive Director of CEDAC’s affiliate, the Children’s Investment Fund, which provides financing and technical assistance to non-profit early education and out of school time providers.  In addition, Roger currently serves as the chair of the Interagency Supportive Housing Working Group, a Massachusetts initiative to create 1,000 units of permanent supportive housing and improve interagency collaboration.

From 1993 until 1999, Roger worked on affordable housing programs for the City of Cambridge Community Development Department, including serving as the City’s Housing Director from 1996 until 1999.  While in Cambridge, Roger led the City’s efforts to respond to major changes in the local housing market following the end of the City’s 25-year old rent control system in 1995.  Prior to joining the City, Roger served from 1987 – 1992 as the Community Development Director of Inquilinos Boricuas en Accion, Inc. (IBA), a large Boston-based CDC.  While at IBA, Roger oversaw housing development efforts on rental, homeownership, expiring use, and special needs housing projects.  In the early 1980s, Roger worked for the Cambridge Housing Authority, administering the Section 8 and related leased housing programs.

Roger earned his B.A. from Brandeis University in 1980 and Master of City Planning degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1987.  His Master’s thesis addressed strategies for rehousing homeless families.

Amanda Nogic
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Washington, D.C.

Amanda Nogic is a Program Analyst at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. She has served at HUD for over four years, starting with the Department as a Presidential Management Fellow in 2009. She has worked in several areas of the agency, and is extremely passionate about the preservation and development of affordable housing for low income families. She received her B.A. in English and Sociology at Bucknell University and her M.S. in Social Research from Hunter College (CUNY).

Tony Pickett
Urban Land Conservancy
Denver, Colorado

Tony Pickett is a LEED accredited professional with over 25 years of real estate experience in planning, design, financing and implementation of large scale mixed use urban redevelopment initiatives. He is currently V.P. of Master Site Development at the Urban Land Conservancy, leading efforts to create long term community benefits with authentic local resident engagement. He is now guiding development efforts for ULC’s largest TOD vacant land acquisition; the 9.4 acre Park Hill Village West site, located along Denver’s East Commuter Rail line now in construction. Tony is a graduate of the Cornell University School of Architecture, Art and Planning.

Michelle Pyne
Global Green USA
New Orleans, Louisiana

Michelle manages Global Green USA’s Holy Cross Project, a sustainable building project in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans where she coordinates operations of the Holy Cross Visitor Center, a LEED Platinum model home. She oversees construction of Phase II, the Community Development and Climate Action Center, and serves as the LEED consultant on the project. Michelle also works to bring sustainable building practices to affordable housing in Louisiana and K-12 schools around the country.

Prior to her work with Global Green USA, Michelle served two terms of service with AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps in the Southern Region where she restored oyster reefs in Georgia, built with Habitat for Humanity of the Mississippi Gulf Coast and Greater Birmingham, and provided disaster relief services in Mississippi after the 2011 tornadoes. Michelle earned a Bachelor of Science from Virginia Tech in Interior Design and Environmental Policy and Planning and is a LEED Accredited Professional in Building Design and Construction.

Lew S. Schulman
Builders of Hope
Raleigh, North Carolina

Lew Schulman, President of the award winning, national affordable housing non-profit, Builders of Hope, is a dynamic experienced entrepreneur with expertise in social capital placement in the affordable housing sector. Lew’s business acumen and track record for successful Public Private Partnerships is noteworthy. His innovative strategies and project development leverage private capital with government funding and has proven to be a technique that delivers high quality sustainable housing in a high capacity, replicable program. Lew drives operational performance through development of vertically integrated processes that deliver streamlined efficiencies and optimal results. Under his management, Builders of Hope has catapulted into REO to Rental through the responsible rehabilitation of vacant and often blighted housing, integrating sustainability practices and instilling affordability restrictions.

Lew is a US Navy veteran. He has served on the NC Governor’s Street Safe Task Force, working to lower recidivism rates across the state. He is a member of Urban Land Institute, United States Green Building Council and a member of the HUD Sustainability Regional Planning Grant Housing Committee for the CONNECT Consortium. He has led Builders of Hope to the winning circle for the following awards: Pioneering Housing Strategies of the Year, Edison Award for Innovation, Top 50 to Watch and the country’s first US Process patent for building green communities.

Doug Snyder
Volunteers of America
Denver, Colorado

Doug Snyder is Director of Development for Volunteers of America National Services. He is responsible for development and preservation of affordable housing in Colorado, Washington, and Alaska.  Volunteers of America is one of the largest nonprofit developers and human service organizations in the U.S. serving low income families, seniors, homeless veterans, and other vulnerable populations through housing and services. In Colorado, the Volunteers of America portfolio consists of over 1,200 units across 15 properties from the Front Range to the western slope.

Doug is an experienced real estate executive with 20+ years of successful underwriting, financing, and developing commercial/multi-family real estate on behalf of a variety of ownership groups.  His affordable housing experience includes work with Low Income Housing Tax Credits, Tax Exempt Bonds, HUD programs, FHLB, foundation grants, and other funding sources. Doug serves on the Housing Colorado Board, the CHFA TOD Advisory Committee, and the City of Denver Housing Finance Committee.  Doug holds Bachelors in Science in Business from the University of Pittsburgh and a Master of Science in Real Estate and Construction Management from the University of Denver.

Kory Whitaker
Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver
Denver, Colorado.

Kory Whitaker is currently working at Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver as a Project Developer.  He has been an integral part of many projects at Habitat, the most notable was the Jimmy & Rosalyn Carter Work Project in the fall of 2013.  Previous to Habitat, Kory served a full year AmeriCorps term as an Outreach Coordinator for Rebuilding Together Metro Denver.  Kory is a graduate of Savannah College of Art and Design, has a Bachelor in Fine Arts, a Masters in Architecture and is currently in the enjoyable process of taking his Architecture Registration Exams.  Kory was born and raised in Northern California but is now a four and a half year veteran of Denver.  He is passionate about spending his free time outdoors and enjoys the amazing environment Colorado has to offer as an avid hiker, a decent bicyclist and a beginner fly fisherman.