Sixth Annual DC Region Affordable Housing

​David represents Telesis and its affiliates in their operations and housing, real estate, and tax credit transactions. His work at Telesis includes structuring and negotiating complex real estate and tax credit financings, raising investment capital, managing litigation, overseeing compliance activities, and providing legal support for all of Telesis’s ongoing business. Prior to joining Telesis in 2006, David advised state and local governments, multilateral development banks, investment banks, and public and private companies on tax-exempt finance and project finance transactions, governance issues, securities regulation, and enforcement matters, and he served in the general counsel’s office at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, where he worked on housing finance and civil rights. He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Law and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Bo Menkiti is the Founder and CEO of the Menkiti Group, a real estate company dedicated to transforming lives and communities through real estate. The Menkiti Group is focused on strengthening neighborhoods through the strategic development, management, and disposition of real estate in urban markets. Mr. Menkiti also serves as CEO and is the Founding Partner of Keller Williams Capital Properties, a residential real estate brokerage managed by the Menkiti Group. Mr. Menkiti’s work has been featured in David Bornstein’s book on social entrepreneurs “How to Change the World,” and in Stephen Goldsmith’s “The Power of Social Innovation.” Mr. Menkiti has been recognized nationally by Ebony and Inc. Magazine as one of the coolest young entrepreneurs in America, and was awarded The National Association of Realtors Prestigious “30 under 30” award in 2006. Mr. Menkiti was also honored as a Minority Business Leader by the Washington Business Journal and named to the paper’s 2014 Power 100, a list of the most influential business leaders in the Washington metropolitan area. He was also recently honored by the National Association of Realtors as the District of Columbia Realtor of the Year in 2014 and as Keller Williams Realty International’s 2015 Entrepreneur of the Year. Under Mr. Menkiti’s leadership, the Menkiti Group and Keller Williams Capital Properties have been recognized by Inc. Magazine as being among the fastest growing private companies in the nation and by the Initiative for Competitive Inner City (ICIC) and Fortune Magazine as two of the fastest growing inner city businesses in America. Prior to forming the Menkiti Group and Keller Williams Capital Properties, Mr. Menkiti served as Chief Operating Officer of College Summit, a national non-profit organization dedicated to increasing the college enrollment rate of low-income students. In this capacity, Mr. Menkiti oversaw the organization’s successful growth into a multi-site national organization. Mr. Menkiti served as the 2013 President of the District of Columbia Association of Realtors and is a board member of City First Bank of DC and Dance Place. Mr. Menkiti also serves as a member of the Steering Committee of the Small Business Policy Project and on the board of DC Water, the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority. In 2015, Mr. Menkiti was inducted on the board of the Myer Foundation, the Federal City Council, and was elected as the Executive Board Member of Prolanthropy. Earlier this year, Mr. Menkiti launched the Capital Properties Menkiti Group Foundation, an organization that focuses its resources on serving the diverse social needs existing in the National Capital Area. Mr. Menkiti is a graduate of Harvard University. He lives in the District with his wife and three young sons.

Kristofor (KC) Peterson is a Vice President in the Affordable Housing Debt unit of Hunt Mortgage Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Hunt Companies. Mr. Peterson has more than five years of commercial real estate experience, with a concentration in the senior housing, healthcare, and multifamily sectors. He maintains both LEAN 232 Healthcare and Multifamily Accelerated Processing (MAP) underwriter certifications. Over his career he has closed more than $250 million in transactions including market rate multifamily, affordable multifamily, assisted living facilities, and skilled nursing facilities. Prior to joining Hunt Mortgage Group, Mr. Peterson served as an originator and underwriter for Pillar Capital Finance, LLC in Bethesda, MD. Before that he worked for a boutique Federal Housing Authority (FHA) lender in New York. Earlier in his career he worked on the analytics team at ITG (NYSE: ITG). In addition, he was a liaison trader and client relationship associate at Tradeweb. Mr. Peterson’s first job was as a private wealth advisor for a privately held wealth management firm. Mr. Peterson holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Haverford College. He is also a graduate from Deerfield Academy. He is a member of the National Investment Center for Senior Housing & Care (NIC), The Eastern Lenders Association (ELA), the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and the Affordable Housing of Finance (AHF).

John is a Vice President and Senior Relationship Manager within KeyBank Real Estate Capital’s Community Development Lending and Investment Group. He is a member of the Group’s management team tasked with expanding the Bank’s affordable housing platform from 12 to 50 states. Based in Manhattan, John focuses on establishing and expanding relationships with real estate investors and owners of affordable housing based in the eastern US. Throughout his tenure at the Bank John has served in many functions including working in the Bank’s Income Property Group, Asset Recovery Group, and Private Equity Group. Over his career, he has closed over $1.5 billion in multifamily housing loans throughout the nation. John has expertise in a wide variety of asset types, including Affordable Housing, Market Rate Apartments, Manufactured Housing, Student Housing, and Seniors Housing. Additionally, he is highly experienced in complex deal structures including acquisition/rehabs, tax exempt bonds, low income housing tax credits, new construction, and permanent financing options through Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and HUD. John is a 2006 graduate of Morehouse College by way of Houston, Texas. While at Morehouse he graduate Cum Laude with a Bachelors Degree in Finance and a minor in Economics. John currently serves as a Board Member of Bridge Street Development Corporation and serves on the Steering committee of the New York Chapter of the Real Estate Associates Program.

Richard Price focuses on real estate finance and regulation, affordable and rural housing and community development, government contracts, administrative law and legislation. He assists for-profit and nonprofit businesses and government agencies. Richard is the editor-in-chief of Nixon Peabody’s Affordable Housing and Community Development blog.

Mr. Lee joined the District of Columbia Housing Finance Agency in April, 2016. He serves as the Executive Director. Mr. Lee is responsible for the overall supervision, coordination and management of the Agency. He is an experienced leader in the field of multifamily and commercial real estate finance with a diverse background in multiple areas of investment and lending across multiple property types throughout the United States. Prior to joining the Agency, Mr. Lee served as Vice President at Fannie Mae in the Multifamily Division where he was responsible for leading the Structured Transactions and Seniors Housing businesses with combined annual production of over $3 billion. He also carried his own portfolio of large institutional multifamily borrowers which includes public and private real estate investment trust as well as institutional investment funds. Prior to this role, Mr. Lee served as Vice President for Multifamily Equity in the Community Investments unit of the Multifamily Division at Fannie Mae. In this position, he managed a team responsible for deploying capital into multifamily equity investments through partnerships with institutional fund advisors and through direct asset acquisitions, in joint ventures with developers and operating partners. At its peak, the investment portfolio was comprised of 44,000 apartment units with a gross asset value of $4.5 billion. He also served on the Multifamily Risk Management Committee. Mr. Lee joined Fannie Mae in April 2001 as the Northeast Regional Director for the American Communities Fund (ACF), where he oversaw a team responsible for the origination, structuring and underwriting of senior debt, mezzanine debt, direct equity, and lines of credit for affordable and market rate residential development covering a territory spanning from Maine to Washington, DC. Before joining Fannie Mae in 2001, Mr. Lee was Vice President/Structuring Specialist for Bank of America's Real Estate Structured Debt Group; Vice President for Chevy Chase Bank's Real Estate Banking Group (now Capital One Bank); and Assistant Vice President for NationsBank's Community Development Lending Group (now Bank of America). He began his career in 1991 at Riggs National Bank in Washington, D.C. (now PNC) as a Commercial Banking Associate where he completed the Bank’s formal credit training program. During his career Mr. Lee has delivered billions in debt and equity capital for the acquisition, development and re- development of multifamily and commercial real estate. Mr. Lee is a member of the Urban Land Institute and District of Columbia Building Industry Association. He currently serves on the District of Columbia Housing Preservation Strike Force as the Chair of the Finance sub-committee. Mr. Lee is a past board member of East of the River Community Development Corporation. He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from The College of William and Mary.

Winell Belfonte is a partner in CohnReznick’s Affordable Housing and Not-for-Profit and Education Industry practices. She serves as the partner in charge of the Firm's New York office affordable housing practice. In this capacity, she is the lead service provider and business advisor to her clients and accountable for the dissemination and implementation of technical issues for affordable housing and not-for-profit clients. Winell has 30 years of experience providing services to a broad range of clients. Her extensive experience comes in the areas of audit, accounting, and tax for not-for-profit and for-profit clients including real estate developers, investors, syndicators, contractors, and property managers, as well as charities and foundations. Her business advisory expertise includes strategic planning, the design and implementation of internal control structures, financial analysis, budgets, regulatory compliance, and investor requirements. As a frequent speaker, Winell has become well known for her technical expertise. She has spoken to many not-for-profit and affordable housing audiences and graduated from a nine-month community leadership program with Leadership of Greater Washington in 2010.

As CEO of the Dumas Collective, Mr. Binitie directs vision and oversight of the acquisition, development, property management, and financial activities of the conglomerate—from Washington, DC to New York. Mr. Binitie has an extensive tax credit financing experience (LIHTC, NMTC and HTC) and has closed on financing from nearly every public capital source available. To date Dumas Collective closed over $1.9B in financing resulting in over 5,800 workforce and affordable units. Mr. Binitie maintains a narrow focus on the creation and preservation of affordable housing for people of modest means. • Buwa has over fifteen years of experience in financing complex real estate transactions. By narrowly focusing on efficiently financing community development transactions, Buwa has been successful in adding value beyond the numbers. • Buwa speaks regularly at industry focused events. Recent engagements include sessions with The Minority Resource, African‐American Real Estate Professionals, Bisnow, DC Building Industry Association, Georgetown University and University of Maryland—Colvin Institute of Real Estate Development and REEX. • Buwa serves as a teaching mentor for the Equitable Development Program and Housing Equity Accelerator Fellowship in partnership with Capital Impact Partners and Amazon, Baker Tilly’s Equitable Development Initiative Network, Real Estate Executive Council (REEC), LISC and Howard University.

Polly Donaldson has served as the Director of the DC Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) since January 2, 2015. As Director, she oversees 180+ employees, 14 program areas and manages an operating budget of over $250 million to preserve and produce rental and homeownership opportunities for District residents while leading the charge of revitalizing underserved neighborhoods. The Director is well-known in DC affordable housing circles and has had great influence throughout the city. Her nonprofit career spans over 27 years, with senior management experience in homelessness, affordable housing and international community development. Prior to joining DHCD, Donaldson served as the Executive Director of the Transitional Housing Corporation (THC) for over 10 years and THC Affordable Housing, Inc., since its founding in June 2005. Under Donaldson’s leadership, THC was on the front lines addressing the city’s housing crunch, working with churches, charities and other nonprofit groups to produce and support affordable units for the formerly homeless. Donaldson served on the DC Interagency Council on Homelessness in 2009 and was re-appointed in 2013. She is the former board president of the Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development, an umbrella group of affordable housing developers. In 2012, she also served on the Comprehensive Housing Strategy Task Force assembled by former Mayor Gray. In 2014, Mayor-elect Muriel Bowser named Donaldson as the co-chair of the Transition Team’s Affordable Housing Committee. Donaldson served as the chair of Mayor Bowser’s Affordable Housing Preservation Strike Force. Donaldson has lived in the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood in Ward 1 for over 24 years. In the late 1990s, she was elected and served as the chair of the Mt. Pleasant Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 1-E. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in social and behavioral science from The Johns Hopkins University.

Robert A. Goldman has been President of Montgomery Housing Partnership (MHP) since 2001. He also has worked in housing policy at the federal and local levels. He is a recognized expert in affordable housing and in 2017 was selected as Practitioner of the Year by the National NeighborWorks® Association. Goldman is a past president and current member of the Housing Association of Nonprofit Developers (HAND), as well as a member of the Community Development Network of Maryland. He has served on the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Washington Housing Initiative Council, the Maryland Sustainable Growth Commission, the Wheaton Redevelopment Steering Committee, and the Long Branch Task Force. Prior to joining MHP, Goldman worked as a Senior Development Officer at the Enterprise Social Investment Corporation (ESIC) where he was involved in syndicating low-income housing tax credit projects. He received his Juris Doctorate from UCLA Law School, his master’s degree in Real Estate from Johns Hopkins University, and his bachelor’s degree in Public Policy from Duke University. A native Washingtonian, Goldman lives in Montgomery County, Md., with his wife and daughter.

Meghan Altidor represents nonprofit and for-profit developers in acquiring, constructing, rehabilitating and operating affordable housing developments around the country.

Richard K. Devaney has over 31 years of institutional experience in the investment, development and operations of multifamily housing and commercial real estate. In 2015, Mr. Devaney, along with two other seasoned multifamily rental lending professionals, launched EagleBank’s FHA Multifamily Lending Division. This business compliments EagleBank’s highly successful commercial real estate lending line of business and has become a major contributor to the bank’s profitability, CRA and affordable housing activities and objectives. From 2006 through 2015, Mr. Devaney co-founded Crossbeam Capital, an institutional real estate investment advisory firm, and launched its first private equity real estate fund in 2007. As Chairman and CEO, Mr. Devaney had comprehensive company responsibilities for investment strategy, capital markets, portfolio and asset management, and investor relations with over $1 billion in assets under management.   Prior to forming Crossbeam Capital, Mr. Devaney served as National Vice President for Equity and Mezzanine Debt Investments with the American Communities Fund at Fannie Mae (“ACF”), and authored ACF’s five-year strategic plan. From 2001 to 2006, Mr. Devaney managed a team that was primarily responsible for all of ACF’s equity investments, generating $971 million in investments over 188 transactions, spanning 40,504 units, with a total market capitalization in excess of $5 billion.   Prior to joining Fannie Mae, Mr. Devaney was Senior Vice President of the Community Development Lending Division at the Bank of America.   Mr. Devaney holds a B.A. from Belmont Abbey College, with majors in Economics and Business Administration.

Washington, DC, Office Managing Partner Jeff Lesk is as a nationally recognized finance attorney. He works with investors, lenders, sponsors, developers and other private and public industry stakeholders to finance high-impact, socially oriented community developments.

Ross Draber is the chief operating officer of United Bank, a subsidiary of United Bankshares, Inc., a $19.3 billion bank holding company. He is responsible for the performance and profitability of the Bank, directing commercial and consumer banking sales and service operations throughout the Washington, D.C. metro area. Draber oversees the region’s market presidents and works alongside them to drive growth and develop business strategy and execution plans. Draber has played an integral role in United Bank’s expansion since assuming the role in 2015. During that time, United Bank has grown to over 70 branches in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. It has the number one deposit market share among community banks in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Statistical Area. Draber is highly involved with the merger and acquisition team and was instrumental in the Bank’s successful acquisitions of Cardinal Financial Corporation and its subsidiaries George Mason Mortgage, LLC and Cardinal Wealth Services, Inc. (2017); Bank of Georgetown (2016); and Virginia Commerce Bank (2014). Draber previously served as a senior vice president of treasury and corporate finance. In this role, he managed the capital adequacy and regulatory risk of United Bankshares, Inc., serving on the Asset Liability Committee (ALCO) and stress test development team. He oversaw the mergers and acquisitions analysis and supervised commercial loan pricing and term sheet structuring within United Bank. Prior to that, Draber held several positions in treasury and credit administration. Draber is a CFA® charterholder and a 2017 Washington Business Journal 40 Under 40 honoree. He graduated from Washington and Lee University with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Business Administration.

Ava LaTanya Hilton joined the CulturalDC Board of Directors in 2015. She currently serves as the Interim Executive Director. Mrs. Hilton is sought by senior executives in both private and public sector organizations to provide counsel and insight from her more than 25 years of experience in technology and organization development. Although Tanya started her career with IBM and translated her technology experience using an IBM sponsored MBA program at Harvard University and studies at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology in England for an Masters, into large scale organization transformations, leading consulting practices in the non-profit, private and public sectors for PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Booz Allen Hamilton, her roots in the arts run deep. She was a performing artist in the US and Europe, her dad was a Mowtown Legend, and her sister is currently an award winning actor, playwright and director. Before joining the world of consulting Ava had the honor of leading the Educational Foundation for the American Association of University Women (AAUW). She spearheaded the groundbreaking work “How schools shortchange girls”, and led the rapid growth of the foundation’s overall assets. Her innovative work with non-profit organizations continues through her consulting group Hilton Advisors LLC, and her service as a member of the Goodman Theater Womens Board, the University of Chicago’s Womens Board, CulturalDC’s Board of Directors, and as a founding member of the Washington Area Women’s Foundation “100 Group.