Ohio Housing Conference Featured Speakers

Keynote Speaker: Leon Logothetis, Tuesday, December 1, 12:00pm – 1:00pm

Rapid Fire: State & Federal Housing After the Election, Tuesday, December 1, 1:00pm – 2:00pm

Enlighten Us, but Make It Quick, Tuesday, December 1, 4:00pm – 5:00pm

What a Year! The Effect of 2020's Challenges on Affordable Housing, Wednesday, December 2, 1:00pm – 2:00pm

Navigating COVID's Economic Storm of 2020 & Setting Course for 2021's Opportunities, Wednesday, December 2, 4:00pm – 5:00pm

2020 Ohio Housing Conference Keynote Speaker

Leon Logothetis
Global adventurer, motivational speaker, & author/creator of the book and Netflix show, The Kindness Diaries

Leon Logothetis is a global adventurer, motivational speaker & philanthropist. It wasn’t always that way. He used to be a broker in the city of London where he felt uninspired and chronically depressed. He gave it all up for a life on the road. This radical life change was inspired by the inspirational movie The Motorcycle Diaries.

The days of living and working behind his ‘slab of wood’ (or desk to the layman) are well and truly over. His new passion: Finding ways for your inner rebel (that voice that tells you, you are worth so much more than you think) to come out and play.

The inner rebel tells you that your life is yours. And anything you dream of is possible. Anything. And that the fuel for all this delicious potential is simple: Kindness and harnessing the power of human connection. And. Doing it all with a smile on your face and a spring in your step!

As host of the Netflix series, The Kindness Diaries, Leon circumnavigated the globe on his vintage yellow motorbike ‘Kindness One’, giving life-changing gifts along the way to unsuspecting good Samaritans. All of this whilst relying on the kindness of strangers. He recently returned from filming the second season of The Kindness Diaries in which he traveled from Alaska to Argentina in his vintage yellow VW Beetle Kindness Two, changing lives one mile at a time.

Leon is no stranger to adventure. He has visited more than 100 countries and traveled to every continent. He teamed up with First Book® & drove a car from London to Mongolia raising money to buy 10,000 books for underprivileged children in America. He also drove a vintage London taxi across the States, giving free cab rides to the needy and working with Classwish to bring hope back to the schools of America. Leon has documented his travels for numerous media outlets including Good Morning America, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Outside, Good, Psychology Today, and The New York Times.

His show The Kindness Diaries is streaming on Netflix! His books, Amazing Adventures of a Nobody, The Kindness Diaries and Live, Love, Explore: Discover the Way of the Traveler a Roadmap to the Life You Were Meant to Live, published by Readers Digest, are in stores now. 

Rapid Fire: State and Federal Housing After the Election

Michael Novogradac
Managing Partner, Novogradac & Company LLP

Michael Novogradac, CPA is the managing partner of Novogradac & Company, LLP, which recently celebrated its 30th year in business. He specializes in affordable housing, community development, historic preservation and renewable energy. Michael’s focus is in real estate taxation and accounting. He is a frequent speaker at tax incentive conferences and forums throughout the country, and is active in advocating for the inclusion of affordable housing, historic preservation, community development and renewable energy incentives in federal and state tax policy and broadcasts a weekly podcast, “Tax Credit Tuesday”. In addition, he serves as advisor on industry and governmental affairs for the NMTC Working Group, LIHTC Working Group and the Opportunity Zones Working Group and also serves on the executive committee of the Housing Advisory Group and the boards of directors of the Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition, the National Housing Conference, the NMTC Coalition and Historic Tax Credit Coalition.

William (Bill) Faith
Executive Director, Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio

Since 1980, Bill Faith has worked in the affordable housing field with a special focus on homelessness and very low-income people. Since 1994, he has been the executive director of Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio, one of the state’s lead organizations on advocacy, policy change, public education, training and technical assistance as they relate to homelessness and affordable housing issues. COHHIO has successfully advocated for dedicated funding for the Ohio Housing Trust Fund at $53 million per year, and repeatedly advocated to preserve and expand funding for the trust fund. They have won passage of the Homebuyers Protection Act (predatory lending reform) 2006 SB 185; pushed for various legislation and initiatives to address Ohio’s foreclosure crisis, protect fair housing laws, and expand consumer protection laws and regulation; won passage of HB 545 (and passage of related ballot issue) to reform payday lending in Ohio; and won approval of various funding and resources to combat homelessness in the midst of COVID-19. Bill has been a member of various boards and committees including: National Low Income Housing Coalition; board chairman; Columbus and Franklin County Affordable Housing Trust – board member; Ohio Housing Council – board member; National Coalition for the Homeless; Ohio Housing Trust Fund Advisory Board and was appointed by Governors Voinovich, Taft, Strickland, Kasich and DeWine. Throughout his career, Bill has received various awards and honors, including: Medical Mutual 2017 Pillar Award: Nonprofit Executive Director of the Year Award 2017; Cleveland Plain Dealer, Ohioan of the Year, January 2004; Columbus Monthly, Person of the Year, 2006 Contender; Fannie Mae Foundation, James Johnson Community Fellowship Award; National Council for Affordable and Rural Housing Harry L. Tomlinson Award; and Cleveland Housing Network, Louis Stokes Urban Neighborhood Hero Award.

Emily Cadik
Executive Director, Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition (AHTCC)

Emily Cadik is the executive director of the Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition, where she leads advocacy to support affordable rental housing financed using the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit. Prior to joining the AHTCC, she was a senior director of public policy at Enterprise Community Partners, where she led policy and advocacy related to the housing credit and other affordable housing and community development issues, and helped to lead the nationwide A Call To Invest in Our Neighborhoods Campaign. In 2017, she received the NHP Foundation’s inaugural Advocacy Award, and in 2016, was named one of Affordable Housing Finance’s Young Leaders. She was previously a Presidential Management Fellow at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. She earned a master’s degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas at Austin.

Enlighten Us, but Make It Quick

Denise Froemming
CEO and Executive Vice President, Institute of Real Estate Management

Denise Froemming is Institute of Real Estate Management’s CEO and executive vice president. She leads a team of dynamic association professionals dedicated to serving almost 20,000 individual IREM members and more than 550 member firms across the U.S. and around the world. Denise has over 20 years of experience growing, leading and advising organizations through restructurings, market expansions and organizational transformations. Before joining IREM, she served as COO and CFO/EVP at the American Health Information Management Association, but built her foundation in transformational change and association management at the College of American Pathologists, where she served as director of executive operations and senior financial manager. The focus of Denise’s career has centered on applying her change management skills to lead organizations into a newly defined future. She successfully integrates strategy with execution, collaborating with partners and key stakeholders to achieve a shared vision. Denise holds the Certified Association Executive designation from the American Society of Association Executives. She’s also a Certified Public Accountant, and holds a Bachelor of Science. degree in business from Marquette University, as well an MBA. from Northern Illinois University. Denise lives in downtown Chicago. Her interests outside of work include biking, hiking, traveling, volunteering, reading, and spending time with family and friends.

Sam DeShazior
Deputy Mayor, Economic Development, City of Akron

Sam DeShazior was first appointed to the mayor’s cabinet in the City of Akron in 2006 and again in 2016 under Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan, serving as deputy planning director, deputy mayor for economic development and director of business retention and expansion, respectively. He was senior director of business development at the Greater Akron Chamber for almost 20 years. He has dedicated his career to new and expanding business investment and entrepreneurship. DeShazior holds a bachelor's degree in public relations/marketing from Clark Atlanta University and a masters in urban planning from the University of Akron. He also is a graduate of the Economic Development Institution at the University of Oklahoma. Sam and his wife, Sandra, live in Akron and have two adult children, a daughter-in-law and four grandchildren.

Debbie Phillips
President, The Quadrillion

Debbie Phillips is president of The Quadrillion, an internationally recognized real estate consulting firm. With a career spanning more than 30 years, with experience in diverse property types, Debbie serves as an adjunct professor, keynote speaker, career coach and nationally acclaimed author. Debbie earned a Master of Science degree from The University of Georgia where her research focused on seniors housing and she received her Ph.D. from Georgia Institute of Technology as her doctoral thesis produced an employee engagement model for the multifamily housing industry. Debbie’s current research emphasizes workforce initiatives, talent sourcing and leadership development.

Barb Smoot
President and CEO, Women for Economic and Leadership Development

Barb Smoot is president and CEO of Women for Economic and Leadership Development, which develops and advances women’s leadership to strengthen the economic prosperity of the communities it serves. Barb serves on the board of National Church Residences, the largest nonprofit provider of affordable housing in the U.S., chairing the Audit, Finance and Risk Committee. She serves on the Columbus Women’s Commission, chairing the Gender Equity in the Workplace Committee, and serves on the Westerville City Board of Zoning Appeals. A past Fellow in the Society of Actuaries, Barb has more than 20 years of financial services experience at Nationwide where she held executive roles including product manager of the individual life insurance profit center that generated over $80 million in pre-tax operating earnings. A 2020 YWCA Columbus Woman of Achievement and Columbus CEO 2017 CEO of the Year for Small Nonprofits, Barb has a B.A. in physics from Amherst College.

Sarah Storer
Improv Performer and Educator, The Hashtag Comedy Club

Sarah J. Storer is an improv performer and educator with over 15 years of experience in the art form. She earned her master’s degree in marketing and communication in 2008 and quickly became obsessed with combining the art of improv with the principles of business. Since then, she’s had the opportunity to design and facilitate improv workshop experiences for companies like Cardinal Health, Honda, Edward Jones, Owens Corning, Nationwide, Spectrum and Geben Communication to help them build better teams, participate in authentic communication and grow thriving, productive businesses. To learn more visit www.hashtagcomedy.com/corporate.

What a Year! The Effect of 2020’s Challenges on Affordable Housing

Diane Yentel
President & CEO, National Low Income Housing Coalition

Diane Yentel is the President and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a membership organization dedicated solely to achieving socially just public policy that ensures people with the lowest incomes in the United States have affordable and decent homes. Diane is a veteran affordable housing policy expert and advocate with nearly two decades of work on affordable housing and community development issues. Before rejoining NLIHC (where she previously worked as a policy analyst), Diane was Vice President of Public Policy and Government Affairs at Enterprise Community Partners, where she led federal, state and local policy, research and advocacy programs. Prior to Enterprise, Diane was the director of the Public Housing Management and Occupancy Division at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), where she managed a team overseeing the development and implementation of nationwide public housing policies, procedures and guidelines. She also worked to advance affordable housing policies with Oxfam America and the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, and served for 3 years as a community development Peace Corps volunteer in Zambia. Diane is frequently cited in media outlets, including the Washington Post, The New York Times, Politico, Mother Jones, NPR and The Guardian. She serves on the Board of Directors of the National Housing Conference, the Coalition on Human Needs, and Homes for America, and has a Masters in Social work from the University of Texas at Austin.

Bo Chilton
Chief Executive Officer of IMPACT Community Action

Robert "Bo" Chilton subscribes to a guiding principle of “to those whom much is given, much is required.” His passion for empowering people and building a sense of community is reflected in his work as CEO of IMPACT Community Action; chair of the Human Service Chamber; program coordinator for the African American Leadership Academy; and board member for Learn4Life, Central Ohio Workforce Investment Corporation (COWIC), the Ohio Association of Community Action Agencies, and Urban Resurrection Development Corporation.

Originally from Springfield, OH, Bo graduated from Wright State University where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and a Master of Education degree in secondary teaching. He also earned a second master’s degree in higher education from The Ohio State University. Bo is a member of Mt. Olivet Baptist Church.

Lisa Alberghini
Executive Vice President, Housing Partnership Network

Lisa B. Alberghini, executive vice president of the Housing Partnership Network, has over 35 years of experience developing affordable and mixed-income housing, overseeing the development efforts on more than 3,000 units of housing. Prior to joining HPN, Lisa was the president of the Planning Office for Urban Affairs, Inc., a Boston-based non-profit developer, where she led the organization’s housing and commercial development work, advocacy efforts and social justice initiatives, and played a significant role in influencing Federal, State and local affordable housing policy. Prior to joining POUA, Lisa worked at The Community Builders for 18 years, serving as director of the Boston office during the latter part of her tenure there. As director of the office, Lisa oversaw the work of the Development, Property Management, Human Services and Legal departments in conjunction with department directors. She has also served on HPN’s Board of Directors, among many notable affordable housing and social advocacy board positions over her career. She has extensive experience combining multiple financing resources to ensure project feasibility and accomplish mission objectives, and is committed to increasing the influence of the non-profit development sector in the United States. She has developed rental, homeownership and mixed-tenure properties for family, elderly and special needs populations. Lisa has been a teaching assistant in Housing Policy at Tufts University; and a guest lecturer at Harvard University, Boston College, Boston University, M.I.T., the Urban Land Institute, and at numerous national conferences and events. She currently serves on the MassHousing Multi-Family Advisory Committee as an appointee of the Governor of Massachusetts; on the City of Boston Housing Task Force as a Mayoral appointee; and on the Boston-based non-profit New Lease for Homeless Families. In her role at HPN, Lisa leads and oversees membership, policy, communications, governance, and the International Housing Partnership, serves as a member of HPN’s Executive Leadership Team and plays a key role in managing collaboration among HPN’s Members.

Navigating COVID’s Economic Storm of 2020 and Setting Course for 2021’s Opportunities

Dr. Edward "Ned" Hill
Professor of Economic Development at the John Glenn College of Public Affairs, The Ohio State University

Edward (Ned) Hill is professor of economic development in The Ohio State University’s John Glenn College of Public Affairs and the section of City and Regional Planning where he teaches economic development, public finance, and state and local public policy. Ned is also affiliated with the College of Engineering’s Ohio Manufacturing Institute. In 2005 and 2015, the Ohio Manufacturers Association’s board of directors presented Hill with its Legacy Award for “advancing manufacturing competitiveness in Ohio.” Hill served as dean of the Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University for eight years and was professor and distinguished scholar of Economic Development. His most recent book, Coping with Adversity: Regional Economic Resilience and Public Policy, was published by Cornell University Press in 2017.

Robert Vogt
Principal, Vogt Strategic Insights

Robert Vogt is the principal of the real estate market research firm Vogt Strategic Insights. The firm, based in Columbus, Ohio, is comprised of more than 30 professionals and specializes in providing real estate market feasibility studies and project consulting across the United States. Vogt has conducted market feasibility studies for the past 35 years. In this time, he has conducted, written and reviewed more than 11,000 market studies for market-rate and affordable tax credit apartments, as well as studies for single-family subdivisions, condominiums, mixed-use developments, office, retail space and elderly housing throughout the U.S. Vogt is a founding member of the National Council of Housing Market Analysts, an association formed to bring standards and professional practices to real estate market feasibility. He is a past chairman of this association. Vogt is a member of the Columbus Board of Commission Appeals and a member of the Urban Land Institute. He has a degree in finance, real estate and urban land economics from The Ohio State University.

Danushka Nanayakkara-Skillington
Assistant Vice President for Forecasting and Analysis, National Association of Home Builders

Danushka Nanayakkara-Skillington is National Association of Home Builders assistant vice president for forecasting and analysis. She oversees the activities of the forecasting and analysis section of the economics group which includes housing market analysis, industry surveys, developing and maintaining national, regional, long-term, and remodeling expenditures forecasts. Before being promoted to assistant vice president, she worked at NAHB as a senior economist, responsible for state and local analysis. Prior to joining NAHB, Danushka worked at J.D. Power as a senior economic analyst in the automotive industry. She holds a B.A.degree in economics and business administration from Otterbein University and M.A.degree in applied economics from Johns Hopkins University.