Nina Janopaul has been President/CEO of the Arlington

Partnership for Affordable Housing (APAH) since 2007. APAH

is a non-profit, community-based, award winning, affordable

housing developer. Ms. Janopaul oversees all elements of APAH’s real estate

development, operations, advocacy, services, and governance.

During her tenure, APAH has grown its portfolio to fifteen

multifamily rental properties with 1360+ units, valued at almost

$250 million with another 800 units in development. APAH is

known for its nimble and effective real estate development, for

pioneering innovative supportive housing partnerships and its

community impact.

Under Ms. Janopaul’s leadership, APAH has received numerous

awards, including the Charles Edson award for best urban

development in the country; the Urban Land Institute—DC’s

best Housing project; Developer of the Year from the Housing

Association of Non-Profit Developers; Best Nonprofit by the

Arlington Chamber of Commerce and the Arlington Community

Foundation’s Prize for Impact and Innovation.

Before joining APAH, Ms. Janopaul was a principal at Capital

Strategies Consulting, Inc. and provided services to a variety

of organizations, including Enterprise Community Partners.

Prior to 2000, she was the National Director of Development

for Hostelling International – USA (formerly American Youth

Hostels). Ms. Janopaul received a Bachelors of Arts Magna Cum Laude

from Harvard University. She serves on the Virginia Housing

Development Authority’s Northern Virginia Advisory Committee.

She is a past President of HAND, a regional housing association

and received the Virginia Housing Coalition’s 2013 Innovations

in Leadership award.

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.

As Managing Partner, Brett Meringoff’s responsibilities include leading the company’s acquisitions and development activities, with a focus on large-scale redevelopment and mixed-income housing, as well as the strategic direction of the company.

Prior to joining Fairstead, Brett was Senior Vice President and development partner at WinnDevelopment, one of the oldest and largest affordable housing developers in the country. Under Brett’s leadership, projects entitled, in development and completed, totaled more than 4,900 units in 19 properties. At the time of his departure, there were 5 projects totaling nearly 1,000 units in the predevelopment pipeline.

In 2019, Brett was appointed by Governor Northam to the Board of the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development. He also currently serves on the Board of the Latin American Youth Center in Washington DC, which has been providing educational and recreational programs for youths in the DC metropolitan area for nearly 50 years. Brett previously served on the Green/Energy Committee of the National Leased Housing Association, the Young Leaders Education Committee of the Urban Land Institute (ULI), DC Real Estate Group, the Executive Committee of the University of Pennsylvania Mid-Atlantic Regional Advisory Board (MARAB), and as a ULI Mentor. Brett received a Bachelor Arts from the University of Pennsylvania.

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.

Joseph LeMense is the managing director of community development & nonprofit banking at United Bank, the largest headquartered community bank in Greater Washington. With over 40 years of experience, LeMense guides the Bank’s nonprofit business development and lending initiatives throughout the Bank’s markets in eight states and the District. He focuses on providing personalized financial solutions to mission-based organizations involved in community development, affordable housing, education, social services and trade associations. LeMense joined United Bank in 2004, most recently serving as a senior vice president of commercial banking. In this role, he developed and managed long-term lending relationships, primarily in the nonprofit, biotech and government contracting industries. LeMense’s areas of expertise include tax exempt bond finance, tax increment finance, Property Assessed Clean Energy (“PACE”) financing and Low Income Housing Tax Credit (“LIHTC”) and New Market Tax Credit (“NMTC”) financing. A fifth-generation Washingtonian and fourth-generation graduate of Georgetown University, LeMense is a board member of the Jubilee Housing Advisory Board and a former mayoral appointee to the D.C. Public Charter School Credit Enhancement Fund Committee. He is an active volunteer and advisor with the Georgetown University Alumni Club of Washington, D.C. as well as a guest lecturer at Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business. A 2015 graduate of Leadership Montgomery, Joe was also a charter member and past president of the Metro Bethesda Rotary Club.

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.

Bob Murphy is the Managing Principal for MRP Realty. He has over 34 years of experience in commercial real estate operations, ownership and investment. He joined Trammell Crow Company (TCC) in 1987, managing the firm’s regional operations for many years as Principal. Bob’s last role with TCC was area president of the development and investment group in the Mid-Atlantic where Bob and his team completed $1.8B of investments totaling over 10 million square feet. He co-founded MRP Realty (MRP) in 2005, capitalizing on his in-depth knowledge of Mid-Atlantic real estate markets, extensive network of capital relationships, and his reputation as a collaborative and creative partner to drive the firm. Under Bob’s leadership, MRP has deployed nearly $7.8B of office, residential/mixed-use and industrial developments and acquisition investments with an active pipeline totaling over 8 million square feet. He has actively participated in leadership roles at NAIOP and ULI and at various charitable activities during his career; currently serving on the board of Habitat for Humanity of Washington D.C. Bob received his B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Notre Dame; his M.B.A. in Finance at Columbia Business School; and was an officer in the United States Army.

Mr. Lee joined the District of Columbia Housing Finance Agency in April, 2016. He serves as the

Executive Director/CEO. 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,

D.C.

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 (DCBIA). He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the National Housing

Conference (NHC), the Board of Directors of the National Association of Local Housing Finance

Agencies (NALHFA) and is a member of the National Council of State Housing Agencies’

(NCSHA) 2017 Elections Committee. Previously, Mr. Lee was a member of the District of

Columbia Housing Preservation Strike Force (2015-2016) and served as the Chair of the Finance

sub-committee. Mr. Lee is a past board member of the East of the River Community

Development Corporation. He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from The

College of William and Mary.

Christopher E. Donald was appointed Interim Executive Director in January 2020. As Interim Executive

Director he is responsible for the overall supervision, coordination and strategic direction of the District of

Columbia Housing Finance Agency. Mr. Donald joined the Agency in October 2016 as the Senior Vice

President of Multifamily Lending and Neighborhood Investments. He served as part of DCHFA’s senior

management team. His primary responsibility was to manage the day-to-day operations of the

Multifamily Lending and Neighborhood Investments (formerly Public Finance) department and assist the

Executive Director & CEO with the development of multifamily programs, products, polices and strategic

planning.

Mr. Donald has over 15 years of experience in real estate finance, community building, development,

land entitlement and construction.  He’s entitled over 1MM square feet of mixed income, transit

oriented, amenity rich housing.   Mr. Donald specializes in acquisitions, entitlement, community

visioning and deal structuring.  He has completed over $1 billion in real estate financing over the course

of his career and renovated over 1,000 multifamily units and entitled and underwritten almost 3,500

multifamily units throughout Northern Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.   Mr. Donald has

also acquired and programmed commercial space for small local businesses and retailers.

As the Director of Development at the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing, Mr. Donald

underwrote and structured $60MM in low-income housing tax credit transactions. Over the last several

years he has provided underwriting services to the Office of State Superintendent for Education for the

District of Columbia and financed over $300 million in improvements for public charter schools using

New Markets Tax Credits, Tax Exempt Bonds and other tools. Mr. Donald began his career in finance at

Lehman Brothers in the Municipal Finance Group and underwrote $200MM in revenue bonds for the

District of Columbia.

Prior to his tenure at DCHFA, Mr. Donald served as the Principal and Co-Founder of The Leidesdorff

Group.   The Leidesdorff Group (TLG) is a diversified real estate advisory firm focused on the

regeneration of urban communities within the Mid-Atlantic region.  As a principal of TLG, Mr. Donald

focused on distressed and disinvested urban communities.   Mr. Donald is a member of the Urban Land

Institute and serves on the Board of Directors of the African American Real Estate Professionals of DC

(AAREP-DC) and the Housing Association of Nonprofit Developers (HAND). He is a graduate of Stanford

University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science.

A founding member and owner of SCG Development and its affiliated company Stratford Capital Group

(the “Company”), Steve is responsible for the management and oversight of the Company’s property

development activities. Committed to developing high quality affordable and workforce housing to

support healthy, diverse communities, the Company has participated in the capitalization and

development of over 290 properties comprising 35,000 apartment units across 45 states. SCG

Development has active development projects in 12 states and maintains offices in Tysons, Virginia and

Peabody, Massachusetts.

Steve is a frequent panelist at industry events and guest lecturer at various colleges and universities. He

is a graduate of the University of Richmond with a bachelor’s degree in finance and holds an MBA from

The George Washington University. Steve is a 35-year resident of northern Virginia and currently lives in

Vienna with his wife, 3 kids and a dog.

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.

Colette Dafoe is the office managing partner of the firm’s DC office, and focuses her practice on all aspects of commercial real estate transactions, representing owners, investors and developers in acquisitions, sales, leasing, financing and development of commercial real estate. Her practice involves drafting and negotiating purchase and sale agreements, leases and loan documents and performing due diligence and other site acquisition services.