Our Board of Directors

Reymundo Ocañas, Chair (photo above, right)
Executive Vice President, Director of Community Development Banking, Corporate Responsibility Group, PNC Bank

Reymundo Ocañas is Executive Vice President, Director of Community Development Banking, Corporate Responsibility Group, at PNC Bank. Ocañas is responsible for the team dedicated to improving low- and moderate-income communities across the bank’s footprint using innovative financial transactions, the delivery of programs supporting families and neighborhoods, and through strategic grantmaking coast to coast. He leads the teams producing CRA-eligible community development lending and investment across PNC markets, with a primary focus on commercial and residential real estate, community development financial institutions and opportunity zone financing. Before joining the bank in 2009, Ocañas held positions with BBVA (merged with PNC), Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America, the Texas Association of Community Development Corporations and the Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. In June 2017, Ocañas was named by the Aspen Institute Business and Society Program as one of its 2017 First Mover Fellows, recognizing him as a leading “intrapreneur” working to solve pressing social and environmental challenges. He serves on the boards of numerous community development financial institutions.

Jessica Sager, Vice Chair
CEO, All Our Kin, Inc.

Jessica Sager is CEO of All Our Kin, Inc. Sager co-teaches a Yale University seminar on “Child Care, Society and Public Policy.” She has provided commentary on child care issues for Time, The Hill, New America and Education Week. Sager’s honors include the Seton Elm-Ivy Award, the U.S. Small Business Administration’s “Women in Business Champion” award, the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame, New Profit’s “Extraordinary Social Female Entrepreneur” designation, the Roslyn S. Jaffe Award Grand Prize and the Ashoka Changemakers/Robert Wood Johnson Champion of Children’s Well-Being award. She is an Ashoka Fellow, a Fellow of the 14th class of the Pahara-Aspen Education Fellowship and an Aspen Braddock Scholar. Most recently, she was named to the CARE 100 list of the Americans doing the most to re-imagine and re-humanize our care system.

Russell J. Bruemmer, Secretary
Retired Partner, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr

Russell Bruemmer is a retired partner of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr. He has served as a counselor and trusted adviser to senior executives and boards in the government, corporate, education and not-for-profit sectors. Bruemmer’s career began as a law clerk to then federal appellate Judge William H. Webster. He later served as Director Webster’s Special Assistant and then Chief Counsel – Congressional Affairs at the FBI, and as General Counsel at the CIA. In both positions, he provided legal and policy advice to the director and other senior executives, and managed the attorneys and support personnel in the respective offices. Bruemmer joined the Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering law firm in 1981 and became partner in 1985. His practice covered virtually all business and commercial subjects, including regulatory, with a particular emphasis on financial services institutions. His practice also developed to involve complex internal investigations, compliance reviews, corporate structuring and corporate governance counseling. For almost two decades, Bruemmer chaired Wilmer’s Financial Institutions Group, and for three years, its Corporate Group. Bruemmer retired from Wilmer Hale in 2015 and is currently engaged in counseling and venture investing.

Eileen Fitzgerald, Treasurer
Founder and Principal, ThruSight LLC

Eileen Fitzgerald is Founder and Principal of ThruSight LLC, a strategic consulting and advisory services firm. As a principal at ThruSight, she leverages the expertise and insight she gained as a leader in her more than 30-year career in the housing, community development and nonprofit industry. Prior to forming ThruSight, Fitzgerald served as head of housing affordability philanthropy with Wells Fargo, where she led the development and execution of a $1 billion Housing Affordability Philanthropy commitment. At Wells Fargo, she initiated an immediate response to the COVID-19 pandemic with the Keeping People Housed initiative, and also launched the $60 million WORTH program to support 40,000 new homeowners of color. She spearheaded the $40 million Growing Diverse Housing Developers initiative to increase affordable housing supply and support the increased financial strength and capacity of Black and Latino developers. Fitzgerald previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future (SAHF). She also worked at the Fannie Mae Foundation and as Chief Investment Officer for Single Family at the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust, served at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Housing Service as the associate and acting administrator, and held positions in Virginia and Maryland state governments.

Tawanna A. Black
CEO, Freedom Economy

Tawanna A. Black is Founder and CEO at Center for Economic Inclusion. For more than 20 years, Black has led multi-sector collaborations, triple bottom line diversity and inclusion strategy development, and economic revitalization organizations in Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota. In 2017, Black launched the Center for Economic Inclusion, the nation’s first organization dedicated exclusively to creating inclusive regional economies by equipping public and private sector employers to dismantle institutional racism and build shared accountability for inclusive economic growth. Prior to founding the Center, Black was Executive Director of the Northside Funders Group. Black’s awards and commendations include: City of Minneapolis History Maker (2021); Twin Cities Business Community Impact Award (2021); Washburn University Alumni Fellow (2018), Twin Cities Business 100 People to Know (2017); Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal’s Women in Business Award (2017); Minnesota Business Magazines’ Real Power 50 (2017); selected as one of the nation’s Top 25 Disruptive Leaders working to close racial gaps by Living Cities (2016); recipient of the prestigious Bush Fellowship by the Bush Foundation (2014); and Midlands Business Journal’s (Omaha) 40 Under 40 (2004).

David Fleming, M.D.
Distinguished Fellow, Trust for America’s Health

David Fleming is a Distinguished Fellow at the Trust for America’s Health, where he focuses his efforts on policy and advocacy for improving the effectiveness of public health programs and systems in the United States. He serves on several advisory committees for HHS and CDC. Most recently, he was Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for PATH, a global health organization working to improve health equity across the world. Before joining PATH in 2014, Fleming spent seven years as the Director and Health Officer for Public Health for Seattle and King County. Previously, he has also served as the Director of Global Health Strategies at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Deputy Director at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the state epidemiologist for the Oregon Health Division.

Calvin Gladney, LEED AP
President and CEO, Smart Growth America

Calvin Gladney is President and CEO of Smart Growth America. Previously, Gladney was Managing Partner of Mosaic Urban Partners, a real estate development and advisory services firm that advised nonprofits, cities and elected officials on how to sustainably and equitably regenerate their communities. In 2017, Gladney was also the Urban Land Institute’s Senior Visiting Fellow for Equity. Over the past 10 years, Gladney has worked on community rehabilitation projects in more than 25 cities and has served as a strategic advisor on projects with estimated development costs of over $1 billion and totaling more than 5 million square feet of planned development. He has worked on community development projects throughout the United States, including projects in: Baltimore; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Birmingham, Alabama; Boston; Denver; Detroit; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Houston; Jacksonville, Florida; Kansas City, Missouri; Louisville, Kentucky; Memphis, Tennessee; Oakland, California; Pittsburgh; Prince George’s County, Maryland; and Washington, D.C. Gladney, through Mosaic, was also part of the team that developed a new 31-unit apartment building and a separate two-story restaurant in Washington, D.C. Prior to founding Mosaic, Gladney served as Vice President of the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation (AWC), a Washington, D.C. quasi-public real estate corporation, where he assisted the Chief Executive Officer with the management of the corporation and was the project manager for a master-planned, mixed-use redevelopment of 67 acres of city land. Gladney also previously served as the General Counsel and Transactions Manager at BRIDGE Housing Corporation, a private developer in San Francisco.

William Kelly Jr.
Founder, Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future

William C. Kelly Jr. was the Founder of Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future (SAHF). Prior to SAHF’s launch, Kelly was a partner in the law firm of Latham and Watkins for 25 years in its Washington, D.C. office, chair of the firm’s D.C. Finance and Real Estate Department and longtime member of the firm’s Pro Bono Committee. His practice focused on multifamily housing, commercial real estate and infrastructure finance. Earlier in his career, he served as a law clerk to U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Frank Coffin and Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell, and then as executive assistant to the secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. Kelly was awarded a Purpose Prize Fellowship for innovating in the social sector; the Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year award from the Washington, D.C. Bar; the National Public Service Award from the American Bar Association’s Section on Business Law; and the Michael S. Sher Award from the Forum on Housing and Community Development Law.

Gloria Lee
Co-Founder and Head, Rise Community Capital LLC

Gloria Lee is Co-Founder and Head at Rise Community Capital LLC, a minority- and women-owned firm providing strategic and capital advisory services to improve opportunities for lower-income families and working-class neighborhoods. Lee brings over 25 years in commercial and nonprofit real estate, community development finance and social-impact analysis. She has secured, structured and deployed more than $2.7 billion of debt and equity capital during her career throughout the US and Puerto Rico. Lee has experience in working across a wide range of sectors and project types, from large, catalytic, mixed-use projects, health and education community facilities, small businesses and other activities such as business and food incubators, maker or lab spaces, and innovative workforce training centers. Throughout her career, Lee has been bringing financing, real estate and strategic resources to communities that are overlooked by the traditional providers. Her network includes relationships with public, private and nonprofit organizations, including a wide network of CDFI and socially motivated capital relationships. Prior to Rise, Lee held positions with financial services and real estate companies including Praedium, JPMorgan Chase, Citibank and Next Street.

Carol R. Naughton
CEO, Purpose Built Communities

Carol Naughton is CEO of Purpose Built Communities, where she is responsible for leading the consulting teams that support revitalizations in 12 cities, as well as the teams currently vetting opportunities in 35 additional cities, including several in Metro Atlanta. The work she has led has been recognized as uniquely successful by many, including Warren Buffett, Ben Bernanke, the White House Office of Neighborhood Revitalization, the Urban Land Institute, Mutual of America, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, the Education Trust, the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank and the Secretaries of the U.S. Departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Education. Previously, Naughton served as the Executive Director of the East Lake Foundation, the community quarterback organization that developed and continues to implement the model of community revitalization that Purpose Built Communities is charged with replicating around the country. In this role, she helped develop and nurture cross-sector relationships in wellness and education, including the first public charter school in Atlanta. Prior to joining the East Lake Foundation, Naughton was General Counsel and Deputy Executive Director for Legal and Nonprofit Affairs for the Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA), where she served as a key member of the leadership team.

Dionne Nelson
President and CEO, Laurel Street

Dionne Nelson is President and CEO of Laurel Street, a mixed-income developer working with communities throughout the Southeast. Nelson establishes and manages the overall strategic direction, operations and growth of the company and has more than 25 years of experience in real estate development, finance and operations. Prior to the founding of Laurel Street, Nelson served as Senior Vice President at Crosland, with responsibility for the company’s affordable housing development and operations. Previously, she managed investments at NewSchools Venture Fund and Earnest Partners and built her skills in strategy, organization and operations as a consultant with McKinsey & Company. Nelson began her career in financial services working as an Investment Banking Analyst at Salomon Brothers in New York. Nelson serves as a Director for the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond – Charlotte Branch. She is also a member of the Charlotte Executive Leadership Council (CELC). Nelson is a member of the National Advisory Board for the ULI Terwilliger Center for Housing, and ULI’s Affordable and Workforce Housing Council. She is also a member of Leadership Charlotte Class 29.

Daniel A. Nissenbaum (photo above, left)
Chief Executive Officer, Low Income Investment Fund

Daniel A. Nissenbaum is Chief Executive Officer at the Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF). Prior to LIIF, Nissenbaum was a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, where he oversaw Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) compliance for the firm’s Urban Investment Group and capital investment for the 10,000 Small Businesses program. Previously, he also held real estate and community development finance positions at Chemical Bank, Chase Manhattan Bank Community Development Corporation (CDC), JPMorgan CDC and HSBC Bank. In addition, Nissenbaum served as an investment officer with the Merrill Lynch Community Development Company, where he was actively involved in debt financings, including construction lending, revolving-credit facilities and other community development financings to for-profit and nonprofit intermediaries.

Erika Poethig 
Executive Vice President for Strategy and Planning, Civic Committee and Commercial Club of Chicago; Member of the Illinois Housing Development Authority

Erika Poethig is Executive Vice President for Strategy and Planning at Civic Committee and Commercial Club of Chicago. In consultation with Civic Committee and Commercial Club members and senior executive leadership, Poethig leads the development and execution of a comprehensive strategic framework and action plan. From 2021-2023, Poethig was the Special Assistant to the President for Housing and Urban Policy in the White House Domestic Policy Council. In this capacity, she led interagency policy development on the housing and community development components of the President’s Build Back agenda. Prior to joining the Biden-Harris administration, she served as Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer at the Urban Institute, where she created and led the Research to Action Lab, an innovation hub serving decision-makers and creative thinkers eager to effect social change. Before joining Urban, Poethig was Acting Assistant Secretary for Policy, Development and Research at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. During her tenure in the Obama administration, she was also Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and was a leading architect of the White House Council for Strong Cities and Strong Communities. As associate director for housing at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, she developed grantmaking strategies focused on rental-housing policy and research on how housing matters.

Yohana Quiróz, Ed.D. 
Chief Operations Officer, Felton Institute 

Yohana Quiróz is Chief Operations Officer at Felton Institute. She was born in Honduras and raised in the Mission District, a predominantly Latino neighborhood in San Francisco. She is an experienced senior executive with 25 years of working with diverse, low-income, at-promise individuals with multiple barriers and abilities. In her role, she is responsible for developing the vision and managing publicly funded early care and education (ECE), early intervention and inclusion, family support and community-based behavioral/mental health services via a two-generation, holistic and culturally responsive approach. Quiróz has been instrumental in leading strategic partnerships, agency-wide growth initiatives, program development, budgets and facilities, including new ECE co-development projects with affordable housing communities in three different San Francisco neighborhoods. She also helps set and continuously align the organization around key strategic priorities, driven by understanding the community’s needs, the ever-changing nonprofit landscape and the organization’s internal core capabilities.

Michael A. Solomon
Managing Director, Community Development, Charles Schwab Banking and Trust Services

Michael Solomon is Managing Director, Community Development at Charles Schwab Banking and Trust Services. He leads and provides strategic direction and oversight for the CRA programs of the Charles Schwab banks, managing the lending, investment, grant and community outreach programs. Prior to joining Charles Schwab in 2010, Solomon held various senior positions in community development finance at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Merrill Lynch and J.P. Morgan. Solomon began his career in community development in 1989 doing pro bono legal work for nonprofit developers in New York City. Before working in community development, for 12 years Solomon was counsel to Debevoise and Plimpton, a major New York City international law firm where he practiced real estate, corporate and community development law, and Luskin, Stern and Eisler LLP, a boutique law firm in New York City specializing in bankruptcy and finance. Solomon was law clerk to the Hon. Edward R. Korman, Chief Judge, United States District Court, Eastern District of New York.