Lori Glass is the Assistant Commissioner for Baltimore City’s Department of Housing & Community Development division. Prior to this role Lori was the Chief Lending Officer of the Neighborhood Impact Investment Fund, where she led lending activities for affordable housing, community facility and New Markets Tax Credits projects located in Baltimore, Maryland.  Lori has over 20 years of experience in impact investing and program development.  Prior to joining NIIF, she was selected to build a new program at the Primary Care Development Corporation, a CDFI specializing in healthcare lending.  There she launched a program funded by New York State created to increase access to primary and behavioral health care in underserved markets.  From 2013-2016, she served as CEO for Appalachia Community Capital, a start-up loan fund established to leveraging grant capital, foundation PRIs and bank lending in order to support under-invested communities. From 2003-2011 she worked at the Reinvestment Fund, where she was a member of the management team, led key efforts to launch the healthy foods financing program, and worked as a local market director.   Lori serves as board member of the National Housing Trust Community Development Fund where she serves on the Loan Committee.

Margaret McFarland has been involved in the real estate development arena from multiple perspectives for over three decades. Ms. McFarland began her career in real estate development as an urban planner for the Toledo-Lucas County (Ohio) Planning Commissions. On completing her law degree Ms. McFarland joined O’Melveny & Myers in private practice in Washington, DC assisting clients in financing hotel, office and retail facilities, including commercial properties seeking historic preservation designation.  Moving on to the public sector,  Ms. McFarland was appointed counsel to Maryland’s housing finance agency (CDA) and mortgage insurance fund (MHF) issuing revenue bonds for affordable housing and infrastructure projects and then expanded her responsibilities as general counsel to the underwater archaeology, community development and historic preservation programs of the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development. 

At the close of her tenure with the Maryland Attorney General’s Office, Ms. McFarland returned to the private sector providing consulting services to clients, both public and private, looking to use tax credits and other financing mechanisms to build or redevelop new communities including affordable housing. Subsequently, she served as the Executive Director of the Housing Credit Group for the National Association of Home Builders where she worked with private sector bankers, builders, developers, investors, syndicators and property managers for projects financed with the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit.

Ms. McFarland moved back to the public sector as General Counsel to the District of Columbia Housing Authority as it expanded its mixed income housing and community redevelopment activities in Washington, DC.   In 2006, moved to join the faculty at the University of Maryland, starting a master’s program in real estate development, and the establishment of the Colvin Institute of Real Estate Development which took a lead in national and international rethinking of real estate education.    In 2018 retired from the Directorship but continued as Professor Emeritus to provide advice and counsel as well as some teaching and work on special projects.  

Ms. McFarland is a member of the District of Columbia and Maryland bars. She is an outside advisor to BioBulb, a Bay Area green tech start-up, on the Design and Construction Committee for LaSierra University’s proposed Archaeology Museum/Welcome Center,  and  an outside director of the Neighborhood Development Collaborative, Inc., a non-profit real estate company with properties under development or management in Georgia, Texas, California and Nevada. 

Chairman Roy O. Priest has more than 56 years of experience in the fields of housing finance and redevelopment and community economic development. Roy previously served as the Executive Director and CEO of the Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority (ARHA) in Alexandria, Virginia. Under his leadership, ARHA completed the redevelopment of 621 units of mixed income housing that have generated $25 million of residential and commercial tax revenue, created a pipeline of 530 units planned for redevelopment, planned and implemented more than 20 community-based programs for residents, and improved the overall quality and condition of ARHA properties.

Prior to joining ARHA, Roy Priest served as the President and CEO of the National Congress for Community Economic Development (NCCED). As Chief Executive Officer of a national trade association representing more than 4,300 Community Development Corporations, he established innovative, effective strategies designed to foster growth and prosperity in America’s economically distressed communities.

Roy Priest also spent 17 years with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). As the Director of Economic Development, he administered and managed HUD’s economic development programs including the Urban Development Action Grant, Empowerment Zones, Enterprise Communities, Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), and Economic Development Initiative (EDI) Program.

Roy Priest began his career in Washington in 1967 at the District of Columbia Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA) as the Project Director for a large urban renewal project responsible for the development of new and rehabilitated housing, retail space, and community service space. Over the following seven years, he held a myriad of senior management positions that involved the management of major program and policy responsibilities of the RLA.

A native Washingtonian and long-time Montgomery County resident, Mr. Priest received his Master of Public Administration from American University and his Master of City and Regional Planning from Catholic University of America.

William Ferrell serves as Senior Vice President and Senior Relationship Manager for Bank of  America’s Tax Credit Syndication and Investment team, where he is responsible for the origination of Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) equity through syndication partners, the direct delivery of Historic Tax Credits (HTC), and the secondary execution of New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC), that spur the development and preservation of affordable housing, historic properties, and various commercial and community facilities nationwide.  Will also serves as a Community Volunteer Champion and as a member of the Commercial Real Estate Banking (CREB) division’s Diversity & Inclusion Council.  

Prior to his current role, Mr. Ferrell served as Senior Relationship Manager for the Bank’s Mid-Atlantic Community Development Banking team, where he delivered construction and permanent debt, tax credit equity, and other financing solutions for affordable multi-family housing, mixed-use/mixed-income developments, and charter school facilities across the country.  Throughout his 20+ year career, Will has held numerous other roles with real estate finance and banking institutions, including PNC Real Estate, Fannie Mae, and Comerica Bank.

Will’s community and industry engagement includes serving as Board Member of Housing Up, member of the Jackie Robinson Foundation’s Scholar Advisory Committee, HAND’s Braintrust Committee, and AHIC’s Underwriting Committee.  

Will earned his BBA in Finance at Texas Tech University, MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business, and Master of Real Estate from Georgetown University.     

Robert Margolis has 39 years of real estate development and property management experience. He holds an MBA in finance from American University and a BSBA in Real Estate and Construction Management from the University of Denver.  

Bob is the owner and CEO of TM ASSOCIATES, which has developed over 100 HUD, USDA, and conventional tax credit properties. Bob and TM currently own and operate over 14,000 apartments in 330 affordable rental communities located in 14 states plus the District of Columbia. Bob is the largest owner of the USDA Section 515 program.

Maia Shanklin Roberts is POAH’s Vice President of Real Estate Development for the mid-Atlantic region, based in POAH’s Washington, DC office.

In this role Maia manages POAH’s portfolio in the Mid-Atlantic Region including the redevelopment of Barry Farm, part of the District’s New Communities Initiative to transform key neighborhoods by redeveloping public housing and the surrounding area into vibrant mixed-use, mixed-income communities. This includes involvement in Barry Farm’s design and construction, working with POAH staff and external resources, partners, and stakeholders to advance the project in a timely and cost-effective manner that is responsive to former Barry Farm residents’ needs. In addition, Maia represents POAH before municipal and other regulatory boards, along with assessing the feasibility of other potential development opportunities in the region.

Prior to joining POAH, she was a senior associate at Ballard Spahr LLP and an associate at Bocarsly Emden Cowan Esmail & Arndt LLP where she facilitated, structured, and documented numerous affordable housing, adaptive reuse and mixed-use transactions financed with state, historic and energy tax credits, tax-exempt private activity bonds and other public financing vehicles.

Maia also worked as a law clerk at Klein Hornig LLP in Washington, DC where she supported in the representation of nonprofit and for-profit developers in connection with the structuring, management and closing of new construction and preservation transactions for affordable housing and other community development projects.

She was a Housing Policy Fellow at Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development and Supervisory Program Manager at the Coordinating Council on Youth Violence Prevention/ Peaceoholics.

Maia holds a J.D. from American University, Washington College of Law, a Master’s in Community Planning from University of Maryland, College Park, and Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies from Stanford University. 

John Spencer is Executive Director of Saint Mary’s Housing Corporation (SMHC), a Northern Virginia non-profit organization which owns and operates five apartment communities with 769 units for low- and moderate-senior citizens.  In his role, Spencer leads the organization’s development of new affordable housing projects and asset management of existing communities.

Prior to joining SMHC in December 2021, Spencer served 28 years as Senior Vice President and CFO of Victory Housing, Inc.,  the non-profit affordable housing arm of the Archdiocese of Washington. During his tenure at Victory Housing, he facilitated the growth of the organization from three properties with 50 units to 32 properties with 2,352 units, and from $3 million to over $225 million in total assets.   Earlier in his career, Spencer worked for AHC, Inc. and Harkins Builders.  

Spencer founded the Housing Association of Nonprofit Developers (“HAND”) in 1991, serving as President through 2005 and as board member until 2021. He was also a board member (1999 – 2009) and President (2008 – 2009) of the Maryland Affordable Housing Coalition. Awards include a Finalist in the Washington Business Journal Awards for Financial Excellence (2008), Lifetime Achievement from HAND (2006), and recognitions from the Maryland House of Delegates (2005) and the Virginia Housing Coalition (2002).

Spencer earned an MBA from the University of Maryland and a BS in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is also a CPA and Notary Public in Maryland.