Speakers

Cheryl Cohen
Montana Department of Commerce Housing Division Administrator and Executive Director | Montana Board of Housing

Cheryl Cohen serves as the Montana Department of Commerce Housing Division Administrator and Executive Director for the administratively attached Montana Board of Housing, Montana’s Housing Finance Agency. Cohen joined Commerce and the Board in October 2018 as Operations Manager and was promoted to Division Administrator / Executive Director in May 2020. Cohen previously served over 8 years as a Community Development Specialist and Senior Community Development Specialist with the City of Seattle Office of Housing, as a member of its Asset Management team. She has over 20 years of affordable housing compliance, property/asset management, operations, and direct social service experience in both the public and non-profit sectors. She holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Washington.

Maura Collins
Executive Director | Vermont Housing Finance Agency

Maura Collins became Executive Director of the Vermont Housing Finance Agency in January 2019. She joined VHFA in 2002, and through progressively increased responsibilities she worked in all but one department prior to becoming the Agency’s director. Collins has her Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Vermont and Bachelors from the University at Buffalo. She served on UVM’s faculty for a decade, teaching graduate-level housing policy courses. In her personal capacity, Collins serves on the Boards of VELCO, Pathways Vermont, and the Vermont Community Development Program Advisory Board.

Collins is the Board Secretary/Treasurer for the National Council of State Housing Agencies. She also sits on the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, the Vermont Council on Homelessness, the Vermont Housing Council, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston Advisory Council, and the Vermont Treasurer’s Local Investment Advisory Committee.

Tanya Dempsey
Co-Chief Executive Officer | CSG Advisors Incorporated

Tanya Dempsey, a Co-CEO of CSG Advisors, brings over 18+ years of public-sector experience. Since joining CSG in 2015, Dempsey has focused her practice on advising housing authorities on strategic and long-term planning, real estate transactions, financial impact of operations and management, development advising, and transaction services. Specifically, she has advised on RAD process, operational improvements, portfolio analysis, and structuring affordable housing transactions including 4% Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, tax-exempt bonds and conventional financing, and other federal mortgage options. Dempsey is deeply committed to providing affordable housing and ensuring HAs have the necessary tools to exist for many years into the future.

Jennifer Ho
Commissioner | Minnesota Housing

Jennifer Leimaile Ho is the 7th Commissioner of Minnesota Housing, appointed by Governor Tim Walz in December 2018. She has been working to end homelessness since 1999, first as executive director of Hearth Connection and later as deputy director at the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. Her roles have focused on the intersection of health and housing, particularly healthcare financing and improving outcomes associated with supportive housing.

Jennifer served as the senior advisor for housing and services at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama Administration and worked with First Lady Michelle Obama to launch the Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness.

She currently serves as the Board Chair for the National Council of State Housing Agencies. She has served on the boards of the Corporation for Supportive Housing, the Melville Charitable Trust, and West Side Community Health Services in St. Paul.

Tammy Neale
CEO | Virginia Housing

Tammy Neale has served as Virginia Housing’s CEO since being appointed by the Board of Commissioners in March 2024. She is responsible for Virginia Housing’s daily operations as well as the implementation of our Strategic Plan.

A longtime executive at Virginia Housing, she has played a key role in shaping Virginia Housing’s strategic direction and executing its vision and priorities for the development of affordable housing across the Commonwealth of Virginia. Before becoming CEO, she was Chief of Programs, overseeing homeownership, rental, community outreach, and federal programs. Tammy brings a wealth of institutional knowledge and experiences to the role of CEO which have influenced her views on the importance of equitable, sustainable housing, and diversity and inclusivity in the workplace.

Today, she serves on several boards focused on increasing economic and housing opportunities, including the Board of Directors for the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and its Blueprint Housing Executive Committee, the National Council of State Housing Agencies Board, the Board of the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, and the HousingForwardVirginia Board.

Discussion Leader: Jennifer Schwartz
Director of Tax and Housing Advocacy | National Council of State Housing Agencies

Jennifer Schwartz serves as the director of tax and housing advocacy at the National Council of State Housing Agencies. She rejoined NCSHA in 2014 after previously holding the role of senior legislative and policy associate at the organization from 2001 – 2005. Jennifer leads NCSHA’s multifamily and tax policy team and oversees the organization’s federal legislative advocacy efforts, with particular focus on the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and tax-exempt private activity Housing Bonds.

Before returning to NCSHA, Jennifer was the director of policy and programs for the Southern Governors’ Association, where she focused on facilitating bipartisan collaboration between governors in various policy areas. Earlier in her career, she worked as a counselor and case manager at Women’s Protective Services, a domestic violence shelter and rape crisis counseling center in Massachusetts, and as a project consultant for the Massachusetts Advocacy Center (now Massachusetts Advocates for Children).