Understanding and Supporting Residents through an Extended Pandemic

When

2020-09-18
2020-09-18T13:00:00 - 2020-09-18T14:00:00
America/New_York

Choose Your Calendar

    Where

    Global ULI Online
    Panelists will discuss the impact of the ongoing pandemic on residents and opportunities to support them. The discussion will include a focus on equity considerations and tools to help communities identify and respond to populations at greatest risk.
    Registration is complimentary and open to ULI members only.

    Speakers

    Lisa Benjamin

    COO, Atlanta Habitat for Humanity

    Lisa Y. Gordon, CPA, is President and Chief Executive Officer of Atlanta Habitat for Humanity—one of the top 10 Habitat for Humanity International affiliates in the United States. She is a recognized leader in transformational redevelopment efforts for quality affordable housing, creating community spaces and neighborhood revitalization. Lisa set the nonprofit homebuilder on a new course to become a catalyst for holistic neighborhood revitalization when she joined in 2015. Because of her visionary leadership, Atlanta Habitat is focused on increasing homeownership, investing in targeted neighborhoods, and building the organization’s capacity to preserve quality affordable housing options in Atlanta. As a credit to the organization’s commitment to its mission and Habitat for Humanity International named Atlanta Habitat a 2017 Affiliate of Distinction and the Atlanta Business Chronicle designated it as of One of the Best Places to Work in 2016. Gordon has quadrupled the number of families served in four years and now serves over 200 families annually. Lisa was a leader in urban redevelopment and government service before joining Atlanta Habitat. She served as Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for the Atlanta BeltLine, Inc., one of the largest, most wide-ranging urban redevelopment programs in the United States. Under Lisa’s direction, they opened four parks, developed 11.9 miles of hiking and permanent trails, completed design of more than 50 percent of the trails and transit system, and created a multi-year strategic plan. She has also served as a cabinet member in former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin’s administration, City Manager of East Point, GA and Assistant City Manager of Austin, Texas. Prior to these roles, she worked in county government for 10 years. Lisa earned an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University and holds a Master of Public Administration degree from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University and a Master of Accounting degree from Nova Southeast University. She has been a licensed Certified Public Accountant in the state of Florida since 1999. She serves as the District Council Chair of Urban Land Institute Atlanta and is Chair of the U.S. Council Advocacy Committee for Habitat for Humanity International. Lisa is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and has published work with them. She is a member of The Maxwell School Advisory Board, International Women’s Forum, Women’s Affordable Housing Network, Leadership Atlanta and Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW). Lisa has been honored as the 2020 Orange Circle Award recipient, one of Atlanta Magazine’s Top 500 Leaders in 2019, Atlanta Business Chronicle 2018 Women Who Mean Business, the March of Dimes 2018 Women of Distinction, The YWCA of Greater Atlanta 2017 Academy of Women Achievers, Bisnow magazine’s Top 40 most influential women in commercial real estate in 2014, WTS International’s 2013 Woman of the Year in Transportation. She is also the recipient of CREW Network’s 2013 Economic Impact Award and was recognized by The Atlanta Tribune magazine’s as a 2012 Superwoman. She is married and enjoys spending time with her husband and her family.

    Panelist

    Janine Sisak

    Senior Vice President/General Counsel, The DMA Companies

    Janine Sisak, Senior Vice President/General Counsel of DMA Development Company, LLC, has fifteen years of experience in the development and ownership of affordable housing. Ms. Sisak manages projects funded through the Housing Tax Credit program, as well as a variety of HUD programs. As General Counsel for DMA, she handles all legal matters for the firm and manages partnership and loan closings and refinances. Additionally, she handles all asset management responsibilities for DMA Development, working very closely with DMA Properties. As Senior Vice President and DMA’s Principal in Charge of Development Originations, Janine specializes in mixed-income, mixed-use developments with multiple sources of financing and has completed some of DMA’s most difficult transactions. One of the developments she managed is Wildflower Terrace, a 201-unit senior affordable housing development in Austin, Texas, which has just been recognized by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Terwilliger Center for Housing as a finalist for the 2017 Jack Kemp Excellence in Affordable and Workforce Housing Award. Prior to joining DMA, Ms. Sisak was an Employment Law Associate for Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP, New York, September 1998 through October 2000. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, where she graduated cum laude in May 1993. In May 1998, she received her Juris Doctorate from Fordham University School of Law, New York, New York, where she was Notes and Articles Editor for the Fordham Law Review. Ms. Sisak is a member of the State Bar of Texas and a Member of the New York Bar Association. She was a visiting lecturer at the Law School, College of Management, Rishon Lezion, Israel in 2001. Janine was elected to the Board of the Texas Affiliation of Affordable Housing Providers (TAAHP) in 2014 and was elected Secretary in 2016. She has been lauded for her work as Chair of TAAHP’s Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP) Committee. She is on the Board of Rosewood Senior Housing I, Inc., an Austin based nonprofit which owns and operated Lyons Gardens, a HUD Section 202 providing affordable housing for seniors. A Pennsylvania native, she graduated cum laude from Tufts University (MA) with a BA in Economics and received her law degree from Fordham University School of Law (NY) where she was Notes and Articles Editor for the Fordham Law Review. Janine is a member of the Texas Bar Association.

    Panelist

    Solomon Greene

    Senior Fellow, Research to Action Lab and the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center, Urban Institute

    Solomon Greene is a senior fellow in the Research to Action Lab and the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center at the Urban Institute. His research focuses on how land-use and housing policy can improve access to opportunity and how data and technology can support inclusive urban development. Before Urban, Greene was a senior adviser at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), where he helped develop federal regulation to reduce residential segregation and promote regional housing opportunities. He was also HUD’s principal adviser on the United Nations process for setting global sustainable development goals. Before that, Greene was a senior program officer at the Open Society Foundations, where he managed grants and programs on affordable housing, community development, and fair access to credit. He launched and led the Neighborhood Stabilization Initiative, the first and largest philanthropic initiative to address how the foreclosure crisis affected low-income communities. Greene was a law fellow at NYU Furman Center, an adjunct professor at NYU Wagner, a law clerk for the Honorable Dorothy W. Nelson on the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and a litigation associate at Munger, Tolles & Olson. Greene serves on the board of directors for the National Housing Law Project and on the advisory board for the Up for Growth National Coalition. He also served on the board of the Neighborhood Funders Group. Greene received his BA from Stanford University, his MCP from the University of California, Berkeley, and his JD from Yale Law School.