About Us

Bob is a nationally recognized expert in affordable, green and healthy housing with more than 25 years of experience working at the highest levels of housing finance and public policy.

Most recently Bob served as Vice President and Head of the Multifamily Green and Affordable Housing Business at Fannie Mae where he led the creation of Fannie Mae’s green and healthy housing initiatives and helped develop innovative new approaches to financing that enabled Fannie Mae to become the leading provider of affordable multifamily debt in the country and the largest issuer of green bonds in the world.

Over his 20 year career at Fannie Mae, Bob held a wide range of senior leadership positions across the multifamily business in the Conventional, Structured Finance, Small Loans, and Seniors housing business lines and served as a member of the company’s Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) steering committee.

Prior to joining Fannie Mae, Bob worked for six and a half years as a Special Assistant and Senior Legislative Aide to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle.

Bob is a frequent speaker at housing industry conferences and is regularly quoted in national media and trade magazines. He is the author and co-author of several op-eds and publications focusing on the business and social impact of affordable housing in the commercial residential real estate industry.

Bob serves on the Board of Directors for the Center for Active Design and Up for Growth Action. In addition, he currently serves as the National Co-Chair of the Urban Land Institute’s Affordable Workforce Housing Council and is a member of the Stewards of Affordable Housing’s CORES Advisory Committee and the National Conference of State Housing Agencies Advisory Group for Health and Housing.

Nick Barron is a 16-year communications veteran. He was an early adopter in social media marketing and communications, and his career spans public relations, digital communications, internal communications, and more.

Nick’s experience includes stints in higher education, technology, a finance. He ran Fannie Mae’s social media department before launching a digital communications consultancy in 2020.

Emily Park is a second-year graduate student pursuing her MPA at Columbia University.

Prior to graduate school, she worked in the private sector for seven years, most recently with BlackRock where she worked in financial planning and analysis for global institutional clients. She most recently also completed her summer associate internship with Deloitte Consulting where she joined the ESG Strategy and Transformation team and helped clients with executing their decarbonization strategies.

Aminata Sam is currently a student in the MBA program at the University of Miami.

She also serves as a program manager for Project Destined, a national non-profit organization that works with estate firms and universities around the country to provide diverse students with internship opportunities to explore ownership through
live real estate deals.

Sharon Dworkin Bell is a co-founder of Dworbell, Inc., a company that manages the National Housing & Rehabilitation Associaton and National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association and publishes Tax Credit Advisor magazine.

She is the executive director of the Council of Large Affordable Housing Owners. In addition, Sharon serves on the Affordable Housing Advisory Council of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta, the Advisory Board for Greenline Ventures, and is a member of the Trust for Community Housing board of directors based in Telluride, CO.

Sharon is president of the David Reznick Foundation, established to honor the memory of a much beloved and respected leader of the affordable housing industry. She was previously senior vice president of multifamily and 55+ housing at the National Association of Home Builders.

Michelle Boyd is the chief strategy officer for Terner Labs. She leads strategic planning, new program development, and fundraising across Terner Labs’ programs in this role. She started with Terner in 2018, leading the design and launch of the Housing Lab program while pursuing her Master of Business Administration at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. Under her leadership, the Housing Lab supported two cohorts of early-stage ventures that have gone on to raise over $340 million in additional funding, secure significant government partnerships, and provide housing or increased financial security to over 27,000 people.

Michelle brings a decade of experience in community and startup finance, organizational strategy and design, and urban policy research. Before joining Terner, Michelle worked as a strategy consultant for the Bridgespan Group, collaborating with nonprofits, social entrepreneurs, and foundation leaders across community development, housing, and education issues. She also worked with a housing social impact startup, Landed, developing the organization’s impact metrics and fundraising strategy. Michelle holds an MBA from the Haas School of Business, an Interdisciplinary Graduate Certificate in Real Estate from UC Berkeley, and a BA in Public Policy from the University of Chicago.

Michelle also serves as an advisor to various coalitions dedicated to housing innovation and impact investing. These include the Community Investment Guarantee Pool (CIGP), the Multifamily Impact Council, and the Advanced Building Construction Collaborative.

Emily Cadik is the chief executive officer of the Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition (AHTCC). She leads advocacy to support affordable rental housing financed using the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC). Before joining AHTCC, she was a senior director of public policy at Enterprise Community Partners. Emily led policy and advocacy related to LIHTC and other affordable housing and community development issues. While at Enterprise, she served on AHTCC’s board, chairing the legislative committee, co-chairing the marketing committee, and serving on the executive committee. Emily also helped lead the A Call To Invest in Our Neighborhoods Campaign, a nationwide coalition of more than 2,000 organizations and businesses advocating on behalf of LIHTC. She remains active in this national advocacy effort.

In 2017, Emily received the NHP Foundation’s inaugural Advocacy Award, and in 2016 she was named one of Affordable Housing Finance’s Young Leaders.

Before joining Enterprise, Emily served as a Presidential management fellow at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. While there, she served as a program coordinator for Moving to Work and in the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. She earned a master’s degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

Kenny Emson is the chief operating officer of the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC). Kenny is responsible for NMHC’s internal operations and finance functions, including accounting, NMHC meetings, membership, human resources, information systems, and office management.

Before joining NMHC, Kenny served as chief development officer, senior vice president, and chief financial officer for The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region. During his time there, Kenny helped the foundation grow from $50 million in assets to $350 million and saw the staff grow from ten to 26. Kenny is a certified public accountant and holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from The George Washington University.

Lissa Glasgo serves as a director on the Global Impact Investing Network’s (GIIN) IRIS/Impact Measurement & Management team, leading the development and evolution of IRIS+ standards and guiding the GIIN’s impact performance analytics development for investors. Before joining the GIIN, Lissa’s work included roles in education and girls’ empowerment through the U.S. Peace Corps in Benin, evaluation of family planning and mobile health projects at the Institute for Reproductive Health at Georgetown University, and measurement strategy with solar- and tech-focused social enterprises in the Philippines and South Africa.

Lissa holds a master’s in global affairs with a focus on social enterprise, research methods, and gender from the Jackson Institute at Yale University and a bachelor of arts from Rice University.

Ryan Johnson is vice president of real estate and capital markets at the Greenville Housing Fund. Previously, Ryan sourced, structured, and closed $2.5 billion of commercial real estate acquisitions across the United States, primarily office, multifamily, hotels, industrial, and mixed-use assets. He focused on development, distressed, and value-add acquisitions across major and secondary metropolitan statistical areas in the United States. In addition, he successfully co-started LISC Strategic Investments, an impact-focused, SEC-registered real estate investment advisor that helps create equity and debt partnerships and products.

Ryan’s prior positions include vice president of acquisitions at Whitehall Capital Management, acquisitions director for Pacific Investment Management Company, and senior director of fund management & acquisitions for LISC Fund Management. He has a Master’s in Public Administration from Suffolk University & a Master’s in Business Administration in real estate finance and accounting from Georgetown University.

Sharif Mitchell is an investor and the former COO of Dantes Community Partners the Dumas Collective’s acquisition division. After graduating with honors from Morehouse College, Sharif started his career at Trammell Crow Company, which subsequently became CB Richard Ellis (CBRE). At CBRE, he worked as a property tax consultant, valuing over 500 properties across all asset classes throughout the U.S. to identify property tax savings for owners, operators, and real estate investors.

Sharif launched his property tax firm by founding MDI Companies. MDI was acquired and absorbed by Paradigm Tax Group, a national property tax consulting firm. Sharif launched the New York profit center on behalf of Paradigm, where he led and managed the Mid-Atlantic practice. Sharif worked on behalf of his clients, including Blackstone Group, Highbrook Investors, Capital One Bank, Garrison Investment Group, Clarion Partners, Rockwood Capital, and Starwood Capital.

In 2015, Sharif joined the Commercial Term Lending Group at JP Morgan Chase. In this position, he was responsible for sourcing, underwriting, and originating fixed-rate commercial loans on behalf of the bank’s balance sheet. Sharif has underwritten over $500 million in real estate deals.

Sharif is a member of the Real Estate Executive Council, the Urban Land Institute, sits on the NYC Housing Council, and volunteers his time with Project REAP, which assists minority professionals in transitioning into careers in commercial real estate.

Andrea Ponsor is the president and CEO of Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future (SAHF). In this role, Andrea works to identify, develop and advocate for key strategic issues of concern to SAHF and its members, create a level playing field for effective, mission-oriented nonprofit businesses and amplify SAHF’s impact to create more sustainable properties and communities, and improve the lives of residents. Andrea joined SAHF in 2016 as Executive Vice President of Policy, with 15 years of experience in housing and community development.

Before joining SAHF, Andrea served as the federal policy director for Local Initiatives Support Corporation, where she led housing policy efforts. Previously she was a principal at Hessel, Aluise and O’Leary, P.C., a boutique law firm with a national affordable housing practice. Andrea represented lenders, developers and management agents in affordable housing transactions and policy matters.

Andrea began her career as an attorney with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in Atlanta, Ga., where she focused on multifamily mortgage closings, property disposition, program enforcement, and fair housing. Andrea holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Florida College of Law and a bachelor’s in economics from Tulane University.

Katelynn Harris Walker is the associate director for affordable housing initiatives at the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). Katelynn manages MBA’s Affordable Rental Housing Advisory Council and leads MBA’s affordable rental housing strategy for policies, programs, and practices. Before joining MBA, Katelynn was the policy director for the National Association of County Community and Economic Development (NACCED) and the National Association for Local Housing Finance Agencies (NALHFA), where she managed the lobbying and advocacy efforts for both organizations.

Before NALHFA and NACCED, Katelynn was the legislative and policy coordinator for the National Council of State Housing Agencies (NCHSA), where she focused on multifamily tax issues. Before NCSHA, Katelynn interned with the policy and research department at the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.

Katelynn holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master of arts degree in American government from Appalachian State University. She’s also earned professional certificates in nonprofit management and systems thinking.

Stockton Williams is the executive director of the National Council of State Housing Agencies (NCSHA). He’s been in this role since 2018. Stockton previously served as executive director of the Terwilliger Center for Housing at the Urban Land Institute and managing principal of HR&A Advisors’ Washington, D.C., office.

Stockton previously served as a senior advisor in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of Energy. He has also held senior leadership positions at Enterprise Community Partners, Living Cities, and with an affordable housing developer.