Housing Trust is pleased to announce Mike Beasley of Beasley Consulting, Kevin Deeble of Cisco, Jonathan Fearn of Greystar, Papia Gambelin of Platinum Advisors and Meg McGraw-Scherer of California Housing Partnership have joined the Board of Directors at Housing Trust Silicon Valley.
Mike Beasley is the retired Chairman of the Board of Rocket Software. Before that he was CEO of Icing Software, an independent business unit of IBM Software. Michael joined IBM in 1971 and his career has centered on software and hardware engineering/business management. Michael was also the former Chairman of the Board of MESA (Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement). In 2000, he was named by Black Press Online as the most prominent African American in High Technology. He earned his Masters degree from the Sloan School of Management at MIT.
“One of the systemic problems we have in the Bay Area is an absence of an adequate supply of affordable housing. The Housing Trust model is showing a consistent, growing, positive impact on the problem.”
– Mike Beasley
Kevin Deeble is Senior Director, Corporate Development Finance at Cisco. Previously, Kevin was Director, Treasury with responsibility for Cisco’s capital structure, foreign currency hedging, capital raising, financial risk management, and shareholder value advocacy. Before joining Cisco’s Treasury organization, he was Global Portfolio Manager, Workplace Resources. Prior to Cisco, Kevin owned a San Francisco-based consulting and corporate training practice specializing in corporate real estate strategy, portfolio management and finance. Previously, Kevin was a Vice President at TriNet Corporate Realty Trust and worked for the Prudential Realty Group managing a $1 billion portfolio of investment property in the San Francisco Bay Area. Kevin received a BA from UC Berkeley, and an MBA from the Haas School of Business, also at UC Berkeley.
Papia Gambelin is the President of Platinum Silicon Valley. For more than 15 years she has worked with emerging and well established companies in a variety of industries including energy, education, transportation, development and the environment. With her strong technical knowledge, she has developed political strategies for Fortune 500 companies, brokered partnerships between private firms and non-profit associations, advised public agencies on communications plans, and represented developers and companies to gain approval of land use projects from local and state governments. She has been recognized as part of the 40 under 40 in Silicon Valley, YMCA of Silicon Valley Trailblazer, and as a Senior Fellow of the American Leadership Forum of Silicon Valley.
“It is crucial to ensure that affordable housing continues to grow and that we support the well-being of our communities.”
– Papia Gambelin
Jonathan Fearn is the Senior Director of Development at real estate development and management firm Greystar. He oversees development activities for all projects in Redwood City and Santa Clara as well as due diligence, forecasting and budgeting, initial land and site planning, architecture and design, government relations and community outreach. Prior to joining Greystar, Jonathan served as Vice President of Development at SummerHill Housing Group. Prior to SummerHill, he worked as Development Manager for Em Johnson Interest, a real estate development firm specializing primarily in affordable housing and economic development projects within low income communities. Jonathan is a member of the Oakland Planning Commission, a member of the RHNA Housing Methodology Committee, a former Technical Committee member of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s Committee to House the Bay Area (CASA), and a founding member of the Casita Coalition, an advocacy group created to advocate for small building forms throughout California.
“The housing crisis is multi-faceted and organizations dedicated to attacking it from all sides – from homeless prevention, to predevelopment funding assistance, to first-time homebuyer support – are critical to addressing the problem fully.”
– Meg McGraw Scherer
Meg McGraw-Scherer is the Senior Housing Finance Consultant/Peninsula Director at California Housing Partnership. She joined CHP in 2000 and has over 20 years of experience in affordable housing finance and development and provides financial consulting and technical assistance to nonprofit corporations and public agencies in Northern California. Prior to joining the California Housing Partnership, Meg worked for two years in the Los Angeles office of the National Equity Fund, a nonprofit tax-credit syndication organization that provides millions of dollars in tax-credit equity to projects throughout the country. There she worked as an underwriter on Low Income Housing Tax Credit projects sited in Seattle and the San Francisco Bay Area. Prior to the National Equity Fund, Meg spent over three years at the King County Housing Authority in Seattle as an intern, Housing Programs Coordinator, and Housing Developer in the Housing Authority’s Planning and Development Departments where she worked on the development of projects using Low Income Housing Tax Credits, tax-exempt bonds, and various federal and local financing programs.
“The housing crisis is the greatest and most pressing challenge facing the Bay Area, and one that will require a contribution from all segments of society. I’m excited and honored to be a part of the great work Housing Trust does to truly assure that all who want to live here can live here.”
– Jonathan Fearn
“Since our inception twenty years ago, the volunteer board of directors at Housing Trust have made it possible for us to scale up solutions for affordable housing and create the greatest impact,” said Kevin Zwick, CEO of Housing Trust Silicon Valley. “We could not ask for a more capable group of leaders who believe affordable housing opens the door to better living for everyone in the greater Bay Area.”
About Housing Trust Silicon Valley
Housing Trust Silicon Valley is a nonprofit community loan fund based in San Jose that works to improve the quality of life of low-income people in the greater Bay Area by increasing affordable housing opportunities. Since 2000, Housing Trust has invested over $317 million in programs that help everyone from those experiencing homelessness to renters to first-time homebuyers – creating over 19,900 affordable housing opportunities serving over 36,000 of our neighbors. It is the first nonprofit Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) to receive a Standard & Poor’s rating, AA- because of its strong capacity to meet financial commitments. For more information visit www.housingtrustsv.org