Adria Moss is a mission-driven professional dedicated to creating economic justice in underserved communities. She is a Senior Manager with Charles Schwab Bank’s Community Development Group where she provides capital to Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) focused on affordable housing and small business lending. With expertise in financial analysis and a passion for fostering a collaborative community development ecosystem, Adria has underwritten more than $500 million in loans to her CDFI partners. Before joining Charles Schwab Bank, Adria served as the Director of Lending at Pacific Community Ventures, where she provided loans to small businesses owned by women and people of color. She has spoken on numerous panels, focusing on financial inclusion. She is a graduate from LeaderSpring Center’s Women of Color Fellowship and UC Berkeley.   

Amy Davidson has dedicated her career to public service, advancing equitable communities through housing, homeless services, and health programs. Currently in transition and seeking her next opportunity to make an impact in community development, Amy most recently served as Deputy Director of Berkeley’s Department of Health, Housing, and Community Services. Before that, she managed Berkeley’s affordable housing programs and worked with various nonprofits as a housing planner and project manager. Amy resides in San Francisco with her family and enjoys spending time by the ocean and exploring art.

Atisha Varshney is the founding principal of Forward City Labs, a design, planning, and development consulting firm. Atisha Varshney is a land use expert with 14 years of experience in architecture, urban planning, and real estate development. Her work focuses on multi-family housing development, including affordable housing, mixed-use master plan communities, long-range planning, education institutions, and faith communities. Atisha has successfully delivered project designs, entitlements, and RFPs,  negotiated land transactions, including surplus land, executed pre-development loans and grants, and managed a large team of consultants.   Atisha is an active member of the ULI, APA and SV@Home. She holds a bachelor’s in architecture, a master’s in landscape architecture, and a certificate in real estate development.

Avni Desai, Christian Church Homes, Director of Policy & Engagement, has played a key role in the non-profit public policy field since 2010. Her experience centers on removing systemic barriers to health, housing, and economic justice through power-shifting, policy advocacy and community organizing. Prior to joining CCH, Avni was instrumental in addressing residential displacement with the City of San Jose and subsequently was hired as the Public Policy Manager at Community Housing Partnership in San Francisco. She has successfully lobbied for laws to increase individuals’ access to higher education; to decrease financial barriers for those living and working in San Francisco; and to increase access and availability of affordable housing for the underserved in San Francisco. Additionally, Avni has been a key player on statewide legislation related to housing and helping to reduce the impact of municipal debt. A graduate of UCLA, Avni holds a Bachelor’s in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics and a Master’s in Public Health from Loma Linda University. She has a 5-year old child and enjoys spending her free time with family, watching Bay Area sports teams, and reading.

Bianca Neumann has served as the Director of New Business with EAH since 2021. She has 20 years of experience in affordable housing, including asset and property management, lending, and government. She started her career with the Mayor’s Office of Housing in San Francisco and worked 10 years in Housing for New York City. Bianca is responsible for growing the new construction pipeline for EAH throughout Northern California. She is a native and resident of San Francisco and is currently a San Francisco Department of Building Inspection Commissioner, representing the Non-Profit Seat.

Candace Latigue is a Senior Housing Development Coordinator with the City of Oakland HCD Preservation Unit. She has over 10 years of professional experience in Asset Management, majority in permanent supportive and affordable housing. Candace has a finance, mortgage underwriting and construction background. She is certified by the Consortium for  Housing & Asset Management in the Asset Management program and a graduate of the REAP Atlanta Commercial Real Estate Program. Candace is a native Oaklander and she’s committed to housing preservation, anti-displacement and collaborating with other affordable housing organizations and advocates.

Chasidy Miles is an affordable housing professional with a background in community development real estate, policy analysis, and public affairs. Chasidy is the Program Manager of Housing Consulting Services for the Housing Endowment and Regional Trust (HEART) of San Mateo County, where she helps regional jurisdictions realize their housing goals.  Prior to her role at HEART, Chasidy originated LIHTC and private bond placements for multi-family projects along the West Coast at Chase. Chasidy earned dual master’s degrees in real estate and city and regional planning from Cornell University, and a bachelor’s in social welfare from the University of California, Berkeley.

Cindy La has nearly 10 years of experience in the affordable housing field. She currently works at Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco (FHLBSF) on the Affordable Housing Program (AHP). Prior to FHLBSF, she worked at a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) based in San Francisco and another CDFI based in West Sacramento. She is a proud graduate of the California Coalition for Rural Housing Internship Program where she worked on the Lending and Housing Department at Rural Community Assistance Corporation. She received a B.S. in Community and Regional Development from University of California, Davis.

David Ho is currently Vice President within the Specialty Finance division at U.S. Bank. He works closely with nonprofits, loan funds, and community development financial institutions (CDFIs) to provide innovative financing solutions for community development projects.  These projects include tax credit investments in affordable housing and small businesses lending.  Prior to working in the community development industry, he worked in commercial real estate lending.  David is a Bay Area native and completed his B.A. from UC Berkeley.

Delvin Hall is a commercial real estate professional with over 10 years of experience in acquisitions, development, and asset management. As the founder of Onyx Equity Partners, a commercial real estate consulting firm, Delvin focuses on helping developers, investors, and public agencies achieve their goals.

With a career spanning roles at industry leaders such as BRIDGE Housing, Skanska, and CBRE, Delvin has demonstrated a profound commitment to the built environment. He leverages his extensive experience to continue making a significant impact in the field.

Deeply committed to addressing the housing crisis, Delvin is passionate about driving initiatives that support affordable housing and community development. Through this cohort, he aims to further hone his leadership skills and continue making a positive impact.

As the City of Antioch’s unhoused resident coordinator, Jazmin Ridley works closely with the City’s chronically unsheltered population and leads the City’s interim housing, shower, and laundry programs. Jazmin understands the importance of having affordable housing for the unsheltered community cannot be understated, especially in the Bay Area which is home to some of the country’s highest costs of living. However, Jazmin has dedicated her career to meeting the challenge of housing and homelessness, committing herself to learning more about the field of homeless services, housing development, CDBG, and advocacy on behalf of the City. Jazmin sits on the Contra Costa County Council on Homelessness as well as the Contra Costa County Healthcare for the Homeless Co-Applicant Board. Jazmin holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Spanish and a Masters of Public Administration.

Primarily serving the developers of Affordable Housing in California, Jed D’Abravanel guides clients in finance, real estate, and nonprofit law issues. Additionally, Jed represents developers in transactions utilizing various HUD programs and Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC), as well as California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), and local funding sources. He helps clients structure and close on new construction and redevelopments of existing income-restricted housing.    Focused on making organizations more effective in developing their projects, Jed characterizes his role as “a project manager’s project manager.” He ensures that he knows the details of everything that’s going on at all levels, in order to anticipate and prevents problems, and act as a “fixer” if something gets off track. With strong communication skills and an ability to gauge his audience, he translates legalese and breaks down complex concepts to make them clear to non-lawyers. Jed also brings a broad and deep knowledge base to his practice, encompassing topics well beyond the law and housing issues, as well as a good sense of humor and a healthy dose of empathy strengthened during his time in the Peace Corps in Morocco.

Jessica Hitchcock the founder of Urban Math, directs consulting projects focused on affordable housing policy and development. With over 20 years of experience in housing policy, small business development, and workforce training, she has worked at community non-profits, in local government, and in the private sector and brings this unique perspective to her consulting engagements. Recent projects include ways to integrate social housing into the City of Berkeley and updating the City of West Hollywood’s local inclusionary ordinance to align with the state density bonus. Additionally, Jessica serves as a trustee on the local school board. 

Juan Diego Castro is a nonprofit professional who has been working in the affordable housing realm for the past 15 years. His immigrant background and passion to expand efforts promoting community prosperity drive his work of building organizational capacity across the country.

Judy Shepard-Hall has affordable housing industry experience that include working with State, Local and Federal agencies, developers, construction representatives, software developers, resident service providers, and asset managers.  She has worked on affordable housing projects and overseen varied housing and related programs, including HUD Section 8, HUD 202 PRAC, Community Development Block Grant, Home Investment Partnerships, LOSP, RAD, SOS, Housing Authority – Housing Choice Vouchers, and Tax Credit for over 20 years.    She currently holds the role of Senior Operating Subsidy Program Manager and Senior Project Manager for the City of San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development. 

Justine Marcus is the Director of Policy for Enterprise Community Partners Northern California. Justine leads the overall development and execution of the organization’s policy agenda at the local, regional and state level. Prior to joining Enterprise, Justine worked at the Urban Displacement Project where she led anti-displacement and equitable development research and technical assistance projects. In her other previous roles, she led community-based research and policy advocacy on public health and community development in the Bay Area and California’s Central Valley. Justine holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison in sociology and economics and a masters in city planning and masters in public health from the University of California – Berkeley.

Li Lovett has worked on behalf of marginalized communities for over 20 years. As housing policy advisor to SF Supervisor Dean Preston, she helped establish San Francisco as the first major city supporting the Justice for Renters Act 2024, and documented $203 million in housing allocations from his signature Prop I (2020) ballot measure. At the Council of Community Housing Organizations, Li worked with the executive leadership of several nonprofit housing developers to champion greater investment in affordable housing to achieve San Francisco’s RHNA goals. In her previous City Hall legislative role, she staffed on housing, education, infrastructure improvement, and workforce development. As an educator and American Federation of Teachers 2121 leader, she worked on the front lines to save City College of San Francisco from being shuttered. Li is a published author who has covered the environment, social issues and scientific advances for KQED, SF Chronicle, and Public Radio International.

Lisette Cruisewas born and raised in San Francisco and has been a passionate advocate for affordable housing and juvenile justice for over two decades. Currently serving as the Interim Director of Property Management for Chinatown Community Development Center, Lisette has devoted her career to ensuring that underserved communities have access to safe, affordable housing. She holds a degree in Criminal Justice Studies from San Francisco State University, a degree in Social and Behavioral Science from City College of San Francisco and has also served as a Juvenile Justice Commissioner for the Superior Court of California. These experiences have provided Lisette with a profound understanding of the critical role stable housing plays in transforming lives and has been the driving force behind her unwavering commitment to housing advocacy and social justice.

Leigh Ann Macalino is a project manager at Mercy Housing. As a San Francisco native, she takes pride in being able to develop in the city she grew up in. She has worked on various developments serving families and formerly homeless individuals. One of her current projects is working on Mercy’s very first  stand-alone community center. Prior to joining Mercy, Leigh was a Bay Area Housing Internship Program (BAHIP) intern at Mission Housing Development Corporation. In her free time, she is an avid baker and enjoys traveling and spending time with her family.

Lorenzo Rosas is a legislative aide working in Supervisor Stefani’s office and focused on housing, land use, transportation, and small business policy issues. Prior to joining Supervisor Stefani’s office, Lorenzo worked in several electoral campaigns as well as in Senator Scott Wiener’s district office, assisting the State Senator with constituent and community work. Lorenzo lives in San Francisco and spends his time hiking with his dog, playing rugby throughout northern California, watching sports, avidly attending baseball games at Oracle Park, and frequenting the many great parks across the city.

Mathew Reed is the Director of Policy at Silicon Valley at Home where he leads a team working across Santa Clara County for housing justice and stable and affordable housing for all. He has worked in affordable housing policy analysis and implementation for over 30 years with experience in the private and public sectors, as well as extensive experience with policy and advocacy non profits. Mathew’s work includes advocacy and technical assistance in major plan development, land use policy, affordable housing development, and anti-displacement policy. His work leverages technical expertise with public education, community engagement, and coalition building.   

Mathew began his housing work as a tenant organizer in New Jersey in the 1990s. He is committed to bringing community interests to housing policy discussions and to ensure that affordable housing is a part of our understanding of inequality and our movements for racial and economic justice. Mathew has a BA in Political Science from Wesleyan University, and a PhD in Urban Sociology from Northwestern University.

Matt Lewis is a Principal Property Development Officer at BART, where he is responsible for coordinating mixed-income developments on several BART-owned properties adjacent to its stations. He has been active in affordable housing development for over 10 years, most of which was as a project manager at MidPen Housing, where he was involved in the entitlement, financing and construction of over 1,000 affordable homes. He holds a Master’s in City Planning from UC Berkeley and a BA from Dartmouth College.

Owen Serra has over 10 years of experience in real estate and community development finance. He is a Senior Loan Officer at Community Vision Capital and Consulting where he underwrites loans addressing economic equity. His underwriting includes acquisition, development, and New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) financing to affordable housing and community facility borrowers. Prior to Community Vision, he provided economic and financial consulting services to local nonprofits and municipalities, and spent time working and researching in Ecuador, Cuba, and South Africa. He earned his B.A. in Political Science from Davidson College and Master of Planning in Economic Development and Master of Public Administration from the University of Southern California. Owen is fluent in Spanish and served on the board of the Richmond Art Center.

Stephan Jackson is a San Jose native with a public service career that is rooted in affordable housing and  community development. Stephan is the Housing Development Program Manager for the Santa Clara County Office of Supportive Housing, where he leads a small but mighty team to fund new multifamily housing developments, monitor projects through construction, and collaborate on community engagement, sustainability and equity efforts. His previous roles include: Senior Development Officer for the City of San Jose Housing Department, Housing Development Project Manager at Abode Services and Charities Housing and Peace Corps Volunteer for the Republic of  Azerbaijan.

Vanessa Smith serves as a Public Information Officer for the Association of Bay Area Governments-Metropolitan Transportation Commission (ABAG-MTC). With the Legislation & Public Affairs team, Vanessa has conducted public engagement across the Bay Area for Plan Bay Area 2050+, ABAG-MTC’s long-range vision for housing, transportation, climate and economy in the region. She began her career at the Boston Housing Authority. Vanessa received her bachelor’s degree in journalism from Northeastern University and master’s degree in health communication from Boston University.