Members are the driving force of SDHF, but it is the Board of Directors and staff that are at the core of its effectiveness and leadership. Directors may serve two consecutive three-year terms. They are elected by the membership at the SDHF’s annual meeting.
Directors
Rebecca Louie
Wakeland Housing and Development Corporation
Chair
Rebecca Louie is a longtime leader in the affordable housing sector, with more than two decades of experience planning, building, and operating affordable and supportive housing communities throughout Southern California. Since starting at Wakeland Housing and Development Corporation in 2005, she has overseen the development and operation of 47 affordable housing communities, creating over 2,500 homes for families, seniors, veterans, transition-age youth, and people experiencing homelessness. A Native Alaskan and a member of the Tlingit-Haida tribe, Ms. Louie is widely known as a strong advocate for affordable housing, social and environmental justice, and homelessness. She has a broad network of strong relationships with stakeholders working to build a more just and equitable world through housing, including government agencies, labor organizations, advocacy groups, and decision-makers at the state, county, and city levels.
Jimmy Silverwood
Affirmed Housing
Vice Chair
Jimmy Silverwood oversees Affirmed Housing’s development and acquisition departments, focusing heavily on business development and managing overall operations for the Company. He specializes in identifying new acquisition sites and funding opportunities in jurisdictions throughout California. His expertise spans all phases of the development process, including site selection, underwriting, due diligence, planning and entitlements, community outreach, social services planning, relocation, consultant and general contractor selection, architectural design, budgets, contracts and closings.
Charles “Chuck” Sinkey
US Bank
Treasurer
Chuck has been in the affordable housing and small business banking industry for a number of years. He works closely with CDFIs and tax credit syndicators, along with local community-driven groups, to support affordable housing developments in San Diego and across the United States.
BREE WONG
PCL Construction Services, Inc.
Secretary
A San Diego native, Ms. Wong is an exceptionally well-networked and respected executive boasting an impressive track record of successfully restructuring and growing businesses and non-profits throughout Southern California. Bree is incredibly passionate about sustainability, philanthropy, mentorship, community health, DEI, and affordable housing, and actively integrates these notions into her work. As Manager of Business Development for PCL Construction’s San Diego office, she spearheads the firm’s efforts for market growth and diversification, community involvement, and philanthropic endeavors, applying decades of non-profit leadership experience to develop strategic initiatives to elevate the success of causes she and others at PCL are most passionate about.
Bree brings a unique fusion of passion, experience, business acumen, and inclusive leadership to inspire teams and advance the cause of the organizations she serves. The successes of her efforts are a testament to her dedication, innovation, and ability to create tangible, positive results. She has served on many non-profit boards raising tens of thousands of dollars for charitable causes, is past President of Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) and Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS), and has been supporting the mission of the San Diego Housing Federation as a committee volunteer and board member for more than a decade.
jonathan castillo
PATH
Member
Jonathan Castillo serves as PATH’s Chief Regional Officer (CRO). As the CRO he is responsible for the operations of PATH in San Diego, Santa Barbara, San Jose, and Sacramento. His key responsibilities include administration, program development, fundraising, marketing, community outreach, and strategic planning. His tenure in homeless and human services give him invaluable and diverse expertise from his time working in homeless services, healthcare services, and child welfare. Jonathan’s drive and passion are fueled by a need to serve those who are marginalized and unable to advocate for themselves. He strives to identify and fill gaps within communities by expanding programs that respond to the needs that exist.
charles e. davis
Urban West Development
Member
Charles E. Davis is the principal of Urban West Development, which was founded in 1996 specializing in supporting owners, investors and non-profits with the development of real estate. Charles Davis has been in involved in over 800 million dollars in development and construction. Charles experiences include the management of housing, retail, industrial, environmental and commercial projects from acquisition, planning, development, construction and operations.
Diep Do
California Housing Partnership
Member
Diep is the Director-San Diego Region for California Housing Partnership Corporation. She provides financial consulting, technical assistance and training to nonprofit and government clients throughout Southern California. Diep has 20 years of experience in affordable housing finance and development. Diep was previously the Director of Housing Development for Satellite Housing and Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation. At TNDC, Diep oversaw the development of more than 1,600 affordable homes for San Francisco’s lowest income residents, totaling more than $600 million in financing.
Aruna doddapaneni
Eden Housing
Member
Aruna joined Eden Housing in July 2023 as Senior Vice President of Development. Prior to Eden, she worked at BRIDGE Housing, where she oversaw development activities throughout Oregon and Southern California as the senior vice president of development. Aruna joined BRIDGE Housing in 2010 and was instrumental in growing both regions for BRIDGE during her tenure.
Her work with Celadon at 9th & Broadway, a 250-unit, 17-story apartment community located in downtown San Diego, led to multiple awards and accolades. Doddapaneni led efforts to pilot a new financing structure by combining 9% and 4% low-income housing tax credits in a single high-rise building. Celadon was the first development in California to use this groundbreaking financing structure, which has since been replicated throughout the country. Both the innovative financing and building design have won multiple awards including the prestigious Urban Land Institute Global Award of Excellence in 2016.
Aruna was honored by Biznow as one of Southern California’s Women Leading Real Estate in 2022.
Laura Ann Fernea
Legal Aid Society of San Diego
Member
Laura Ann Fernea has two master’s degrees (Applied International Development Studies from Texas Tech University and Public Health from UCLA) and a range of management, organizing and leadership experiences. Ms. Fernea has worked for the last 30 years for non-profits and has experience in many different sectors, from universities and public schools to community clinics and international organizations. Last year she was honored to receive the Rich Juarez Integrity Award from the San Diego Housing Federation. She is passionately committed to decreased evictions in San Diego and keeping more families housed every day.
Mary Jane Jadgozinski
Bridge Housing
Member
Mary Jane Jagodzinski joined BRIDGE Housing in July 2023 as Senior Vice President of Development responsible for leading development in Southern California and Washington. Prior to joining BRIDGE, she held leadership roles in affordable housing development with Community HousingWorks (CHW), whereas Senior Vice President of Housing and Real Estate Development, she headed the acquisition and development team, expanded CHW’s footprint across California and into Texas, and led the development of 3,400 affordable apartments. She is a member of: Urban Land Institute and holds a seat on the national Urban Revitalization product council; and, Lambda International- San Diego.
Arnulfo Manriquez
MAAC Project
Member
Arnulfo is a 20-year veteran of the non-profit sector and began his career with MAAC in 2003. He left briefly to lead the Chicano Federation and returned to MAAC in February 2012 to serve as President & CEO.
Arnulfo has dedicated his career to working directly with underserved individuals, households, and communities of San Diego County by promoting self-sufficiency through housing, economic, educational, and employment programs. He is a community-focused individual with over two decades of experience working in diverse and multicultural settings as a leader, participant, panelist, speaker, and trainer.
Ted Miyahara
San Diego Community Housing Corporation
Member
Ted Miyahara oversees all operations of San Diego Community Housing Corporation (SDCHC) including housing production, management and organizational activities. Prior to joining SDCHC, Ted was Vice President of Multifamily Housing Finance at the San Diego Housing Commission where he oversaw multifamily housing development lending activities, the issuance of multifamily housing revenue bonds, and asset management of the multifamily loan and bond portfolio. Ted also served as a project manager for two nonprofit affordable housing developers in the San Francisco Bay Area and Orange County.
Kwofi Reed
San Diego Habitat for Humanity
Member
Kwofi Reed is the President and Chief Executive Officer of San Diego Habitat for Humanity where he oversees all operations, including new home construction, home repair, retail, and neighborhood revitalization programs that support Habitat’s mission of providing safe, healthy affordable homeownership solutions to San Diego families. Kwofi has demonstrated a true commitment to the pursuit of making affordable housing accessible for everyone. Prior to joining Habitat in December 2021, he served as the Manager of Programs and Operations for LISC National Housing, leading creation of homeownership strategy for its 37 local field offices as part of the $1B Project 10X Initiative. He has extensive housing finance expertise honed at positions at LISC San Diego, The San Diego Housing Commission, and the Department of Housing and Community Development in Washington, D.C.
michelle sites
ConAm Management Corporation
Member
Michelle Sites is currently oversees the operations of multiple apartment communities within San Diego County. She began working in the affordable housing industry in 1997 and remains committed to providing quality affordable housing within the region. Michelle has worked at ConAm Management for over 13 years and been instrumental in implementing policies and procedures, managing a team and focusing on achieving goals.
Stephen Swiecicki
Community HousingWorks
Bio to come.
Jeannette Temple
Atlantis Group
Member
Jeannette Temple has over twenty-five years in land use and development as a consultant and within the public sector at the City and County of San Diego.
The majority of Ms. Temple’s land use work was gained as a Supervising Development Project Manager at the City of San Diego’s Development Services Department, responsible for shepherding development projects through the hearing process at all levels of decision makers. Some of her more notable projects have included Civita (Quarry Falls) mixed use community, Sycamore Landfill Expansion, and the Castlerock residential project.
Jamil Wade
Chelsea Investment Corporation
Member
Jamil has been involved in real estate development since 2015 and is especially passionate about developing affordable housing for families. He currently serves as an Acquisitions & Development Associate with Chelsea Investment Corporation, which he has been a member of since 2018. He works closely with both the Finance and Development teams to identify new opportunities and help shape projects as they progress through design and entitlement. Jamil's other areas of expertise include site feasibility analysis and pipeline management. Jamil graduated with a Bachelor's of Business Administration from the University of San Diego. He is also a licensed CA real estate salesperson. Jamil enjoys an active lifestyle and spending time with his family.
STEPHEN RUSSELl
President & CEO
SARAH BUCHANAN
Executive Vice President
Shelby thomas
Senior Director of Programs and Community Engagement
Dante Golden
Senior Director of Policy
Michelle Pranger
Director of Development
Jaylene Sanchez
Advocacy Program Manager
Lacey Gribble
Office Administrator and Workforce Development Program Manager
Isabella Anderson
Communications and Events Coordinator
Lola
Morale Officer
The San Diego Housing Federation annually, during the first quarter of the year, conducts an election for open seats on its Board of Directors. Pursuant to the Bylaws, the Governance and Nominations Committee select a slate of candidates to present to the Membership during its annual election. The slate is selected from all eligible candidates, subject to the limitations set forth in the Federation Bylaws and as consistent with the goals established by Governance and Nominations Committee annually. All Federation members in good standing are invited to submit their qualifications as a candidate for Board membership.
The Federation Board of Directors consists of eleven members. The Federation Bylaws require that no fewer than six Board members represent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations that develop and/or operate affordable housing or provide support for affordable housing developers. Of those, no less than four seats must be occupied by nonprofit organizations that develop affordable housing. The remaining positions may be filled with any member in good standing.
In addition to the requirements established by the Bylaws, the Federation Governance and Nominations Committee has established criteria to assist in the selection of the slate of candidates to be presented to the Membership. It is the goal of the Governance and Nominations Committee to nominate a slate of potential directors that will promote diversity (including, but not limited to ethnic, geographic, and professional diversity) on the Board of Directors. In addition, the Committee strongly weighs candidates’ demonstrated commitment to the Federation (i.e., committee participation, financial support, or other commitment).
Those elected shall take office on April 1 of the applicable year.