The new year brought several changes to the HousingForward Virginia Board of Directors. Vaughn Poller, James City County’s Neighborhood Development Administrator, assumed the position of Chair as Laura Lafayette stepped into the role of Immediate Past Chair. Michelle Krocker, Executive Director of the Northern Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance (NVAHA), moved into the Vice Chair position. Andrew Ryan and Nathalia Artus stayed on as Treasurer and Secretary, respectively.
Four new members also joined the Board.
Tiffany Hollin-Wright, Community Development Regional Manager with the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Tiffany has a banking background and her current role at the Fed covers all of Virginia and West Virginia. HousingForward will work with Tiffany to explore ways that we can collaborate with the Fed through research and education to advance housing opportunity.
Sherry Norquist, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility with Sentara Healthcare. Sherry’s work centers on building partnerships that contribute to healthier communities. We hope to expand our ongoing efforts to explore the connections between housing and health with Sherry’s knowledge and experience. Last year, Sentara launched a $100 million partnership with LISC in Hampton Roads to build stronger and healthier neighborhoods.
Earl Reynolds, Deputy City Manager, City of Danville. Earl has been engaged in affordable housing and public administration in Virginia for over 40 years. He brings years of experience in western Virginia and an acute understanding of the unique housing challenges faced by those communities. Under his leadership, Danville has launched an aggressive program to address vacant and underutilized property. We plan to work with Earl to strengthen our connections to local government.
Lisa Sturtevant, PhD, Chief Economist, Virginia REALTORS®. Lisa has been involved in research on economic, demographic, and housing market issues and local housing solutions for more than 20 years. Her experience spans local, statewide, and national housing trends and conditions. HousingForward has partnered with Dr. Sturtevant in the past around the linkage between job growth and housing demand. We look forward to learning from Lisa’s extensive experience and expanding our collaboration with Virginia REALTORS®.
We were sad to say goodbye to Ryan Ammann with Truist in Winston-Salem and Kit Hale with MKB Realtors in Roanoke. Both had served on the HousingForward Board for more than a decade. We are grateful for their long term service to our organization.