2026 Spring Meeting Speakers
Jeff Adler
Jeff Adler is Vice President, Yardi® Matrix, which offers the industry’s most comprehensive market intelligence service for US Multifamily (Conventional & Affordable), SFR BTR, Student, Self-Storage, Office, Industrial, Retail, and Vacant Land asset types. Prior to joining Yardi in 2014 , Mr. Adler held positions at AIMCO, Progressive Insurance, Oppenheimer & Co. and Strategic Planning Associates Inc., among others. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Yale University and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Adler is a Board Member of the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC), Former Chairman of the Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) Multifamily Silver Council, and lecturer at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design Real Estate Executive Education program.
Ruby Dhillon-Williams
Ruby Dhillon-Williams, J.D. began serving as Director of the Arizona Department of Housing (ADOH) in March 2025. She previously served as Deputy Director and, from 2020-2022, Assistant Deputy Director of Housing & Community Development for ADOH, overseeing Rental Development, Community Development & Revitalization, Special Needs Housing and Asset Management. Prior to that, she served as a rental programs administrator from 2010 to 2012.
Through her process improvement expertise, she has played a key role in streamlining the federal LIHTC award process and eliminating duplicative processes and excessive regulation. Ruby has more than 20 years of experience in public and private-sector housing development and an extensive background in using the LIHTC program. In addition to her previous service at ADOH, Ruby served as Vice President of Operations at Global Premier Development, Vice President of Acquisition at Alliant Capital, and Vice President of Development at Integrity Housing. She was also a co-founding partner of Newport Southwest, LLC, a development entity focused on constructing LIHTC properties.
Ruby holds a Juris Doctorate from the American College of Law and a Bachelor of Science in Political Science from the University of Southern California.
Kathryn Grosscup
Kathryn Grosscup is the Manager of the Housing Tax Credit program for the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority and the State of Colorado. She supports the allocation of Housing Tax Credits and the Housing Tax Credit team. Prior to joining CHFA as a Tax Credit Officer, Kathryn garnered a 20-year background in affordable housing, including work with the U.S. Department of Housing, the Department of Local Affairs-Division of Housing, and the Garfield County Housing Authority.
Ismael Guerrero is the President & CEO of Mercy Housing, one of the nation’s largest non-profit affordable housing organizations. He has 30 years of groundbreaking achievements in community development. Guerrero has pioneered the coupling of healthcare and housing as well as success with innovative mixed-income, transit-oriented communities.
Before joining Mercy Housing, Guerrero led the Denver Housing Authority for 13 years, overseeing a 5,300-unit portfolio that included public housing and workforce rental units and administering 6,900 Housing Vouchers. DHA completed innovative developments, including the HOPE VI Mariposa District TOD Redevelopment and the Sun Valley Eco-District Choice Neighborhood redevelopment. DHA received national recognition and awards with these transit-oriented, mixed-income, LEED-certified developments.
Before DHA, Guerrero was the Vice President and Business Development Officer for U.S. Bank Community Development Corporation, structuring LIHTC investment partnerships. Guerrero is a board member for the Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future, Housing Partnership Network, Enterprise Community Partners, and The Colorado Health Foundation. He is a native of Chicago and holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from the University of Illinois and a Master of Business Administration in Finance and Accounting from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Mike Hemmens
Mike Hemmens is Managing Director at Citi Community Capital. He has been involved in many aspects of the structuring of affordable housing real estate financings, including providing construction & permanent loans, securing credit enhancement, conducting due diligence, performing financial analyses and collaborating with the sales and trading professionals to market securities. Mr. Hemmens has been with Citi Community Capital since 2007 and has closed in excess of $15 billion in loans during his tenure. Mr. Hemmens received a B.A. from the University of California, San Diego.
Robin Hughes
Robin Hughes is President & CEO, Housing Partnership Network, a national collaborative of the nation’s top mission-driven, nonprofit housing developers, community lenders, and advocates. She helps fuel the work of more than 100 urban and rural housing and community development organizations, nine HPN-supported social enterprises, practitioner-led learning and data-sharing strategies, and critical advocacy on state and federal policy priorities to drive systems change.
Prior to taking the helm at HPN, Robin spent 26 years as president and CEO of Abode Communities, growing the organization into one of the top nonprofit developers in the country and premier provider of environmentally sustainable affordable housing in California. Earlier, she worked in the housing finance sector at The Richman Group and Citi, deploying capital to high-value housing development efforts and in local government for the County of Los Angeles Community Development Commission and the City of Los Angeles Mayor Office of Economic Development.
Over the years, Robin has shared her expertise on a variety of boards, task forces and advisory bodies, including six years as HPN board chair before taking over as CEO. She currently serves on the boards of the Justice Climate Fund, Community Development Trust (CDT), and the California Community Reinvestment Corporation – all significant investors in affordable housing and other community-focused assets and programs – and on the advisory bodies of Morgan Stanley, the National Housing Conference, and the UCLA Ziman Center.
Robin was recently appointed to the Altadena Builds Back Foundation, a newly formed support organization for the Pasadena Community Foundation, which focuses on the long-term recovery and rebuilding of Altadena in the aftermath of the devastating Eaton Fire. She will lend her personal perspective and lived experience as a fire survivor, along with her extensive professional expertise as a houser and community builder to support the restoration and rebuilding of her hometown.
Robin earned her master’s and bachelor’s degrees in public administration from the University of Southern California and certification from the executive program in Achieving Excellence in Community Development at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Peter Lawrence
Peter Lawrence is Chief Public Policy Officer of Novogradac & Company LLP, primarily responsible for leading the firm’s Public Policy department. Mr. Lawrence collaborates on the development and execution of Novogradac’s public policy strategy, engaging with a wide range of stakeholders to respond to legislative and regulatory developments and provide insights and guidance to leadership on policy matters in the firm’s practice areas of affordable housing, community development, historic preservation and renewable energy.
Prior to joining Novogradac Consulting LLP, Mr. Lawrence was the senior director of public policy and government affairs for Enterprise Community Partners, where he led the execution of Enterprise’s policy and advocacy agenda. While at Enterprise, he helped found the Affordable Rental Housing A.C.T.I.O.N. (A Call to Invest in Our Neighborhoods) Campaign, the big-tent industry coalition of coalitions bringing investors, syndicators, for-profit and nonprofit developers, and other LIHTC professionals in all 50 states together to advocate for the credit.
He has served on the boards of directors of the Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition and the New Markets Tax Credit Coalition. Mr. Lawrence was also previously a legislative and policy associate at the National Council of State Housing Agencies (NCSHA), a housing policy analyst for the Center on Budget Policies and Priorities, a congressional fellow for Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island in his capacity as the Ranking Member of the Senate Housing and Transportation Subcommittee and a presidential management fellow for the Office of Policy Development & Research at the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development.
Jeffrey Little
Jeffrey Little is Deputy Director of the National Leased Housing Association (NLHA). NLHA represents members involved in the development, management and administration of federally assisted rental housing for persons of low and moderate incomes.
Prior to joining NLHA, Jeffrey Little served for sixteen years in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, most recently leading the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) during the 2025 Presidential transition. He served as General Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Housing, overseeing programs providing mortgage insurance for single-family housing, Multifamily affordable and market-rate rental housing, and healthcare facilities. He also led HUD’s project-based rental assistance, housing counseling, and manufactured housing programs. He was HUD’s strategic objective lead for increasing housing supply.
From 2019 to 2022, Jeffrey served as Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multifamily Housing, where he led FHA Multifamily mortgage insurance programs, Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance, Section 202 Housing for the Elderly, Section 811 Housing for Persons with Disabilities, and the Rental Assistance Demonstration.
In prior roles, Jeffrey served as Director of Multifamily’s Program Systems Management Office, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Housing Operations, and Deputy Director of the Office of Recapitalization. He also directed the Performance Management Division in HUD’s Office of Strategic Planning and Management, leading the agency’s strategic planning and data-driven management efforts.
Gina Metrakas-Suber
Gina Metrakas-Suber is Head of Federal Advocacy in Capital One’s Global Policy Affairs Group, where she directs the company’s federal policy strategy and government relations across all of Capital One’s lines of business. She is a public policy and operations leader with more than 20 years of experience driving strategy, execution, and cross-sector impact across federal, private, and nonprofit sectors.
Gina has held senior leadership roles at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), including Chief of Staff to the Secretary and Chief Operations Officer, overseeing agency operations, policy development, crisis response, and mission-critical initiatives. She also served on the White House Detroit Team, coordinating federal support for Detroit during its historic bankruptcy and economic restructuring.
A member of the Massachusetts Bar, Gina began her federal career as a Presidential Management Fellow at HUD and holds degrees from Villanova University and the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law.
Claudia O’Grady
Claudia O’Grady currently serves as Vice President, Multifamily Finance & Development at Utah Housing Corporation, where she has overseen bond issuances, tax credit allocations, lending, and housing development since 2009. Prior to joining UHC, she was the Executive Director of a nonprofit affordable housing development organization and later joined a tax-credit syndicator that connects developers with investors.
Ayrianne Parks
Ayrianne Parks, Senior Director for Public Policy, Enterprise Community Partners Ayrianne Parks is the senior director of policy advocacy at Enterprise, where she leads the organization’s tax policy team, covering the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, New Markets Tax Credit, Neighborhood Homes Investment Act and Opportunity Zones. Ayrianne is also co-chair for the ACTION Campaign, a grassroots coalition of 2,400 organizations advocating to expand and strengthen the Housing Credit, led in coordination with the National Council of State Housing Agencies.
Prior to joining Enterprise, Ayrianne served as the director of policy and public affairs at Rapoza Associates, a public interest lobbying firm specializing in community and economic development. A skilled legislative and communications expert, she previously advocated for labor rights and workforce development for migrant and seasonal farmworkers at the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs, served as a public affairs manager at the Curley Company, and coordinated women’s specialty media during the 2008 Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, in addition to internships on Capitol Hill and with the Sierra Club’s legislative office. Ayrianne holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and Spanish from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota.
David Pearson
David Pearson is the Executive Vice President of Related Affordable. He is responsible for the affordable multifamily acquisitions and development team nationwide. Mr. Pearson joined Related in 2008 and now oversees an industry leading team focused on improving and preserving the nation’s affordable housing stock. David holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Michigan and a Master of Taxation from Villanova University. In addition to his role at Related Companies, he serves on the Board of Directors of the Related Affordable Foundation, Randall’s Island Park Alliance and the University of Michigan Athletic Academic Career Center.
Bob Simpson
Bob Simpson 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. He is the Founder and CEO of the Multifamily Impact Council, a national non-profit organization responsible for establishing the first common framework of impact principles and reporting metrics for the multifamily industry.
Previously, Bob served as Vice President and Head of the Multifamily Green and Affordable Housing Business at Fannie Mae, where he 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 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 the former national chairperson of the Urban Land Institute’s Affordable Workforce Housing Council. Currently, he serves as a coach for the Housing Innovation Lab at the University of California, Berkeley, and is a senior advisor to a select group of early-stage housing technology firms, including Esusu, Pronto Housing, Viva, and Infilla.
James Tassos
James Tassos is the Deputy Director of Tax Policy and Strategic Initiatives at the National Council of State Housing Agencies (NCSHA), where he represents the interests of state housing finance agencies with the U.S. Congress, the Department of the Treasury, and the affordable housing industry. His primary focus is on developing best practices, regulatory policy, and legislative initiatives to strengthen the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program. Earlier in his career, he worked for an urban planning and development firm in North Carolina and as an affordable housing consultant focusing on green building and sustainable development. James holds a Master of City and Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Bachelor of Science in Architecture and Building Science from Clemson University.
Deborah VanAmerongen
Deborah VanAmerongen is a strategic policy advisor and deputy practice group leader of Nixon Peabody’s Affordable Housing and Real Estate group, heading the firm’s Affordable Housing team. She works with attorneys in our firm and a range of clients, including developers, owners, managers, and funders, to craft creative solutions to affordable housing development and preservation issues.
At Nixon Peabody, she focuses her practice on complex affordable housing transactions, including those involving interactions with several government agencies and numerous funding sources. She also introduces clients to new opportunities and markets and builds partnerships between clients and community groups where that partnership will facilitate the success of a transaction.
Through her roles on the Executive Committee of the New York State Association for Affordable Housing (NYSAFAH) and on the Board of the Housing Advisory Group (HAG), she is at the forefront of policy discussions with various government agencies.
John Varones
John Varones is the Founder and CEO, Systima Capital Management. He started his finance and investment career as Executive Director of the Illinois Housing Development Authority, at the time, a $1.8 billion, 165-employee single-family and multifamily mortgage market institution. At the time of his appointment, John was the youngest CEO of a state housing finance agency in the nation.
In 1999, John started and ran the Chicago office of Apollo Housing Capital, a tax credit real estate investment firm that was later purchased by the Royal Bank of Canada. In 2005, John joined Goldman Sachs in New York as a Vice President, where he helped launch two new trading and principal investing efforts. John worked on the Municipal Structured Products (MSP) desk, helping grow a real estate structured lending business focused on affordable housing and municipal real estate investments. Later, he moved to the Special Situations Group (SSG), where he helped start a principal investing effort for Low Income Housing Tax Credits. In 2011, John founded Systima Capital Management, an alternative investment manager focused on specialty housing, mortgage and real estate sectors.
John has a B.A. degree from the University of Illinois and M.A. and M.B.A. degrees from the University of Chicago. As a Fannie Mae Foundation Fellow, John studied and researched U.S. housing finance policy and programs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University.
Steve Wylder
Steve Wylder serves as Safehold’s Executive Vice President, Head of Investments. Mr. Wylder oversees Safehold’s Affordable Housing platform and is responsible for sourcing, structuring, and closing new investments on behalf of Safehold throughout the U.S. Since joining the firm in 2007, Mr. Wylder has held multiple roles, including the origination of new structured finance and ground lease investments and the management of a portfolio of real estate loans, owned assets, and development projects throughout the Western U.S. His investment experience spans a range of transaction types with an aggregate exposure in excess of $5 billion, including ground lease, first mortgage, mezzanine, preferred equity, and joint venture equity across various asset classes. Prior to joining iStar, Mr. Wylder was with Fremont Investment & Loan, where he was part of the originations team focused on bridge and construction lending. Mr. Wylder holds a B.B.A. degree from the University of San Diego.