Sheryl Palmer is Chairman and CEO of Taylor Morrison, a leading national homebuilder and developer based in Scottsdale, Arizona since 2007. With more than 25 years of hands-on building experience, including leadership in land acquisition, sales and marketing, development and operations management, Ms. Palmer has led Taylor Morrison into the top ranks of America’s largest public homebuilders, following the company’s IPO in 2013.  In recent years, Ms. Palmer successfully oversaw the company’s entrance into several new major metropolitan markets.  Ms. Palmer has spent most of her career in the Arizona, California and Nevada real estate markets. Prior to Taylor Morrison, Ms. Palmer was a division president at Blackhawk Corporation, a builder of active adult communities based in northern California. In addition, she served with Pulte Homes for more than five years, beginning in the Phoenix market and ultimately serving as Nevada area president, supervising all aspects of operations for its Del Webb and Pulte communities.

Adrian Foley is President and COO of Brookfield Residential.  Prior to that he ran the company's Western operations as the Western Region President of Brookfield Homes Los Angeles. Adrian Foley is responsible for strategic planning oversight and management direction for the compnay, one of the most creative and dynamic homebuilding teams in North America. 

Prior to joining Brookfield Homes Los Angeles in 1996 Foley held the position of Senior Development Manager for Taylor Woodrow Homes, where he played a major role in the development of numerous award-winning neighborhoods in Orange, San Diego and Los Angeles Counties. Born and raised in England, Adrian holds a BS degree in Building. He has been married to his wife, Lisa, since 1990 and they have one son, Austin.

Bert Selva is president and CEO of Shea Homes, one of the largest homebuilders in America operating in nine states. Shea Homes was awarded Builder of the Year Award by Professional Builder Magazine and named one of America’s Best Builders by Builder Magazine.

Bert holds a Business degree from the University of Southern California and an MBA from UCLA. He is also fluent in Spanish.

Bert was inducted into the California Homebuilding Foundation Hall of Fame in 2010 and received CEO of the Year by Builder and Big Builder magazines. Bert also received the Hearthstone Humanitarian Lifetime Achievement Award, which included a $100,000 donation to the charity of his choice.

Bert is currently an Executive Committee member of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate, member of St. Ignatius College Prep Board of Regents in San Francisco and National Vice President, MDA (Muscular Dystrophy Association)/Augie’s Quest. He previously served as Chairman of the Board for HomeAid America.

 Beth Kang is an experienced association and nonprofit leader with a commitment to achieving results. Her experience includes working with nonprofit organizations, government agencies, in the academic setting and the private sector. Beth has expertise in consensus building, collaborative problem solving and meeting facilitation.

Currently, Beth is the Executive Director of HomeAid Sacramento. She has been with HomeAid since 2011. Her work involves leading and supporting the development, fundraising and programs to build and renovate housing where the homeless can rebuild their lives.

Brad Blank is the President of Winchester Homes, a member of the TRI Pointe Group. Brad joined TRI Pointe Group in 2014 as the Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary during which time he provided guidance to the company’s Board of Directors and Senior Management Team, and played a critical role in the company’s strategic growth following the Weyerhaeuser Real Estate Company (WRECO) merger. Prior to joining TRI Pointe Group, Brad served as Corporate Counsel for Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP, working with a variety of public and private companies focusing on mergers and acquisitions, strategic investments, securities offerings and general corporate advice.

Brad received his bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Pepperdine University and earned his law degree from the University of San Diego.

Mr. Crow joined the Company in September 1999, and has held several roles with increasing responsibility, including his current role as President and Chief Executive Officer.  In 2009, Chad Crow was named as the Company’s Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Crow joined the Company as Assistant Controller and was promoted to Vice President – Controller of the Company in May 2000. Prior to joining Builders First Source, he served in a variety of positions at Pier One Imports, most recently as Director of Accounting. Prior to Pier One, Mr. Crow spent five years at Price Waterhouse. Mr. Crow is a C.P.A. and received his B.B.A. degree from Texas Tech University.

After serving on the Board of Directors of HomeAid Northern California for over 4 years, Cheryl stepped into the leadership role as Executive Director of HomeAid Northern California in 2011. Most recently, O’Connor served as Chief Executive Officer of the Building Industry Association (BIA) of the Bay Area and Regional Chairman of the BIA in 2008. Cheryl has thirty-five years of experience in marketing and selling new home communities in Northern California. In her career, she has held senior level management positions with Summerhill Homes, Warmington Homes, Taylor Woodrow, Ponderosa Homes and The O’Brien Group. Cheryl is a green building and affordable housing advocate and is a LEED Accredited Professional and holds a California Real Estate Broker’s license. She also serves on several Boards including Build it Green, HomeAid America and STAND! For Families Free of Violence.

 Chuck Stein has been the President and CEO of Environmental Stoneworks since 2009. Prior to that, he worked for Owens Corning for 12 years where he held several senior management roles including: VP Marketing, Building Materials; President, Cultured Stone; and President, Services and Solutions. He has over 20 years’ experience in the building materials industry. Stein earned a BS in Industrial Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Chicago.

Dan Hanson’s mortgage career encompasses more than 30 years of experience on a national scale. As the National Builder and Retail Executive for Directors, Norwest, Wells Fargo and Countrywide Home Loans, he is widely recognized as a national retail leader. Currently, Dan is the Executive Vice President, National Production for imortgage that will fund over $7 billion in purchase loans in 2015. In addition to Dan’s professional resume he is an active Board Member of several national charities: HomeAid America, Free Wheelchair Mission and HOPE International.

As Director of Design, Dave leads the firm’s architectural efforts. With more than 30 years of experience in the residential arena, Dave combines a wealth of knowledge with excitement and energy and serves as relationship manager with a number of our builder-developer clients. In addition, Dave leads the practice’s charrette process – a week-long design session that provides clients with creative input and expedited completion of new plans and elevations. As Senior Principal, Dave helps develop talent in the design department. His expertise extends to the industry as a whole as well; Dave is an active member of the American Institute of Architects. He has devoted his time and talent to charitable efforts as well, leading the design on numerous HomeAid Project Playhouse submissions. A licensed architect, Dave has been with Bassenian Lagoni since 1986. He received his degree in architecture from Kent State University. He is licensed in California, Arizona, Nevada and Massachusetts.

David Ellis, CAE, has served as Executive Director for a number of successful Home Builders Associations over the years.  Most recently as Executive Vice President at the Charleston HBA. He previously served as the Executive Vice President of the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association and has served over 25 years as an executive with other local building industry organizations. David has been recognized by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) as the best new Executive Officer in the nation and was honored in 2003 as NAHB’s Executive Officer of the Year. He is a past President of the Home Builders Association of Georgia Executive Officers Council and the NAHB Executive Officers Council. In 2014, he was recognized by the NAHB Professional Women in Building as the Executive Officer of the Year. David graduated cum laude from Furman University with a B.A. degree in History. 

David joined Boral in 2010 and was appointed President and CEO of Boral Industries Inc. in July 2016. Prior to that David was Executive General Manager of Boral Building Products for Boral Limited in Sydney, Australia. He was previously Chief Operating Officer for the Cladding division at Boral Industries Inc. Through his career, David has performed a variety of management roles at Boral and Holcim as well as outside the building products industry with Daimler Chrysler and Detroit Diesel. David holds a degree in Civil Engineering from Michigan Technological University and a Masters in Business Administration from Clemson University.

 Ms. Bennett manages Wells Fargo’s institutional homebuilding group that delivers banking services to both publicly traded residential homebuilders and a select group of larger, regionally focused private homebuilders headquartered across North America. Ms. Bennett’s career has spanned over 25 years in the financial services industry with the majority of her time spent in real estate. Prior to joining Wells Fargo she held a variety of banking and investment banking roles with national and money center banks focused on real estate lending and capital raising in the Western U.S. including Bank of America and Bank One. Ms. Bennett has a BA in Economics from the University of California at Los Angeles. Her professional and personal affiliations include HomeAid America, the Building Industry Association, Boy Scouts of America and the Presbyterian Church, USA.

Larry serves as Chief Executive Officer for The New Home Company. As founder and CEO, Larry leads the company’s overall vision, strategic planning and policy making. Larry’s 30 years of success in the homebuilding industry are distinguished by a conscientious approach to helping his clients and employees, and by giving back to the communities in which he builds. This includes his many charitable commitments such as serving on the boards of HomeAid America and Interval House.

Throughout his career, Larry has been honored and recognized by the industry for his philanthropy, marketing excellence and visionary leadership. He holds a master’s degree in city and regional planning from Harvard University. Larry has been invited to teach classes in the real estate field at the University of Southern California; University of California, Irvine; Harvard University and Cornell University. He regularly delivers keynote addresses at national conferences for organizations such as the Urban Land Institute and the National Association of Homebuilders.

James is the Executive Vice President of National Retail Lending with Caliber Home Loans. James brings more than 25 years of mortgage banking sales, operations and strategic partnership expertise to his current position with Caliber. Previous to this role James served as a member of the Executive Management Team with Stearns Lending where James was responsible for leading and growing strategic production channels such as the Consumer Direct, Builder, Credit Union Partners, and Marketing and Recruitment teams.

James received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree for Marketing from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, School of Business Administration.

Jay Moss is the Chief Marketing Officer for Woodside Homes. Jay joined the team in 2010 where he was responsible for re-branding Woodside Homes under new management. Jay is responsible for sales management, new products, merchandising and market positioning. In addition, Jay sits on the Land Committee making collaborative decisions with regards to land acquisitions and new market strategies. As an integral part of the Woodside executive team, Jay was deeply involved in the acquisition by Sekisui House, Ltd. of Woodside Homes in 2017. Sekisui House is Japan’s largest homebuilder with operations worldwide including Australia, Singapore, China and the United States. 

Jay Moss is a thirty-five year veteran of the homebuilding industry. Prior to joining Woodside Homes, Jay held multiple senior leadership roles at KB Home. Jay and his wife, Diana, are longtime supporters of many local and national charitable organizations. Jay has previously taught Real Estate Economics at University of California, San Diego, and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from San Diego State University.

Mr. Meyers has been an industry leader in market research for 30 years. With the recent merger of Meyers Research and Hanley Wood/Metrostudy, he now oversees the dominant research, media, and consulting company in the industry.

Jeff specializes in on-going advisory services and manages all consulting assignments for several top ten public home builders through his direct involvement with land acquisition strategies, product development, segmentation, and positioning. Highly regarded as an industry expert for real estate trends and issues, Mr. Meyers is quoted frequently in several national publications including The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, and The New York Times. His recent speaking engagements include the National Association of Home Builders Council, the Pacific Coast Builders Conference, the Southern California Building Industry Association, and the Urban Land Institute. Mr. Meyers is highly accomplished and regarded as the leading expert on residential trends in the real estate market.

Jeff is responsible for overseeing the homebuilding operations in the West Region. Jeff joined Lennar in January 1996. He started and managed Lennar's Orange County Division, which was the foundation for Lennar's expansion in California.

Jeff has been involved in the homebuilding and construction industry for more than 30 years. Prior to joining Lennar, Jeff headed Bramalea California, Inc. and was responsible for the homebuilding activities, financial restructuring and subsequent sale of the company's Southern California Division to Lennar in 1996.

Jeff helped found the Lennar Charitable Housing Foundation in 2001 which serves as a financial vehicle to assist homebuilders with the opportunity to help meet our country's significant homeless problem and allows homeowners to provide funds to support organizations that assist the transitionally homeless.

Joe Tavarez is Senior Vice President of First American Title Insurance Company’s Homebuilder Services Division where he develops and manages all First American homebuilder business nationwide, including administrating service levels, overseeing all sales, and production of new business and products.

Tavarez began his career in the financial services industry with positions at C.I.T. Corporation, Commercial Credit Business Loans, and GlenFed Mortgage. Beginning in 1990, he served as President of Spring Mountain Escrow and later, its sister company, Pioneer Savings and Loan. Tavarez worked at WMC Mortgage Company and Fidelity National Title Company in similar capacities prior to joining First American in 2000.

Tavarez received his B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Southern California and attended the University of San Francisco School of Law. He is active in the Building Industry Association, Rancheros Visitadores and El Viaje de Portola and serves on the boards of HomeAid America and the Lott Award.

John currently works as a General Manager at a Maryland Division of NVHomes, an NVR, Inc. company and top five national homebuilder. Previous to his current role, John spent 22 years with Winchester Homes, Inc as Executive Vice President for Winchester Homes, Inc, a Bethesda, MD based subsidiary of The TRI Pointe Group, Inc. He is currently an active board member of HomeAid Northern Virginia, HomeAid America's local chapter that builds and renovates homeless shelters and transitional housing for Northern Virginia care providers who serve homeless families and individuals. Monacci has served on this board for over a decade, serving as Board President in 2011. He received the organization’s President’s Award in 2014. He is also an active Board member of the Evan Foundation, an organization which funds research for Pediatric cancer. 

He received a B.A. from Providence College, a Graduate Legal Certificate from Georgetown University, and an M.S. in Real Estate from Johns Hopkins University.

With more than 29 years of experience in the kitchen and bath industry, including 22 years at Delta Faucet Company, Jon brings extensive knowledge to his role as vice president of sales. Previously held positions within Delta include, vice president of trade sales, vice president of sales strategy as well as sales manager. Jon has served on several industry advisory committees to assist wholesalers, plumbers, builders and K&B dealers drive their strategies forward. Jon is a graduate of University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, where he received a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He enjoys golfing, bicycling and spending time with his wife and three sons.

Jon is responsible for overseeing Lennar’s homebuilding and land operations nationally. He is also responsible for new business and strategic growth initiatives for the company. Jon has been with Lennar for over 35 years starting in 1983.

Jon has served as Vice President and Chief Operating Office since 2004. From 1997 to 2004, he was on the Board of Directors of Lennar. Jon was responsible for various aspects of Lennar’s Florida operations until 1995. At that time he relocated to California to lead Lennar’s entry into the western United States. He was responsible for successfully acquiring and integrating over 20 homebuilding and development companies, in the western United States.

Jon graduated from the University of Florida in 1981 with a degree in architecture and continued with graduate studies in Architecture at Georgia Institute of Technology. 

Executive Senior Principal, President and CFO of Lifescapes International, Inc., Julie Brinkerhoff-Jacobs has been active in the construction industry since 1975. Her 40 years’ experience is focused on guiding, managing and seeing the growth of the results-oriented landscape architectural firm. She is a frequent guest speaker, lecturer and author on design and marketing-related issues for the industry. A graduate of Cal State University, Sonoma, Julie is actively involved in organizations such as Urban Land Institute, International Council of Shopping Centers and is cofounder of HomeAid Orange County and HomeAid America (the national board) and is active on the Executive Committee. She is also a board member of the Southern Nevada HomeAid chapter.

Since 2016, Karen Mendelsohn serves as SVP of Marketing at Mohawk Industries. In this position, Mendelsohn is responsible for the overall creation and implementation of marketing strategies to drive dynamic new growth across Mohawk’s North America Flooring businesses. A 30-year veteran of the building products industry, Mendelsohn earned an MBA from Columbia University and spent more than 15 years in strategic sales and marketing leadership at Masco, a supplier of brand-name building products and services. Before that, she was vice president of marketing for 12 years at Delta Faucet Company. Mendelsohn is the 2014 City of Hope Spirit of Life Honoree, the hardware/homebuilding industry’s highest honor. She serves on the executive council of City of Hope and is a founding board member of the Homebuilding Community Foundation.

Karen Robertson, Esq. has focused on growth initiatives and forward thinking in the title industry for more than 15 years. Working her way from the ground up, Karen’s background includes various title, underwriting, and management roles. She now oversees national commercial and builder operations in California and Seattle as Senior Vice President, National Operations Manager at Fidelity National Title. Karen works with her team to tailor Fidelity’s services to each client’s unique needs. She holds a Juris Doctorate with a concentration in Real Estate and is a graduate of Texas A&M University.

Katy Gnapp leads the client management team responsible for delivering a broad set of financial solutions to professional commercial real estate investors serviced by the Commercial Real Estate Banking (CREB) division of Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Based in Chicago, Katy has been with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, related subsidiaries, and predecessor institutions since 1982 serving the commercial real estate industry.

She is past President of the Real Estate Lenders Association and a member of the Real Estate Networking Trust, the Urban Land Institute (ULI), and the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC). Katy also serves on the Board of HomeAid America.

Katy earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Accountancy from the University of Illinois and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago.

Ken joined Ashton Woods in 2009 as Executive Vice President - Operations for Dallas, Houston and Phoenix, and was soon promoted to President and Chief Executive Officer for the entire company. Prior to Ashton Woods, Ken worked for 16 years with Centex Homes, serving in every financial position up to Vice President of Finance, along with other senior executive roles in Land Acquisitions, Entitlement and Development, Division President and Regional Executive Vice President. Ken graduated from the University of Central Florida with a BS in Finance

Kristyn Burr is the Executive Director & CEO of our Northern Virginia Chapter. She has served in this capacity for the last two years and prior to that was the Chapter’s Program Manager for two years. HomeAid Northern Virginia was founded in 2001 and in its 18 year history has completed 132 construction projects totaling an investment of $16.2 million into the Greater DC area and even more importantly saving local nonprofit organizations over $9.8 million in labor, time, materials and expertise through generous in kind donations and filling financial gaps.

Kristyn holds a Business degree from the University of Nebraska, an MBA from Bellevue University and a Nonprofit Management Certification from the University of Delaware. She is also a Registered Yoga Teacher and specializes in Trauma Sensitive Yoga.

Mandy Crater joined HomeAid Atlanta as executive director in 2015. She is an Atlanta native and has spent her entire career in the construction industry beginning at the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association from 2001-2008. Crater moved on from there to a couple of public relations and marketing positions within residential construction. She then spent four years at Goodwill of North Georgia as Regional Program Manager for Workforce Development managing construction, apartment maintenance and forklift training. In 2014, she worked as Membership and Programs Director at the Council for Quality Growth. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations from UGA and a Masters in Construction Management from GA Tech. She resides on the west side of Atlanta with her husband and two children.

Mike, as Chief Operating Officer for Landsea Holdings Corporation, is responsible for overseeing the company’s US homebuilding operations. He also assists in the development of the company’s overall strategic initiatives, including market expansions and company acquisitions, while providing guidance and support on the integration of the company’s domestic and international business. Prior to joining Landsea, Mike spent over 30 years in the homebuilding industry as a senior level executive at national homebuilders KB Home, CalAtlantic (Ryland Homes) and Taylor Morrison.

In addition, Mike, as a founding partner, worked with two of the US most notable Blue-Chip private equity firms, Starwood Capital Group and Colony Capital, in creating two of the nation’s largest specialized residential land platforms. Mike received his BS from Arizona State University. He currently resides in Laguna Beach, CA, with his wife Sheila. They have 3 grown children.

Michael leads Sherwin-Williams' National Accounts organization, which is a dedicated, nationwide team offering innovative solutions for strategic clients in the residential, multi-family, commeercial, hospitality, healthcare and government market segments.  His team works to align the significant resources at Sherwin-Williams with key client stakeholders, often through exclusive partnerships with many of the country's leading companies.  Mike's 30-year career includes the last 22 with Sherwin-Williams, joining the organization as part of the Duron Paint acquisition in 2004.  Mike is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University with a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration. Mike is a proud Eagle Scout and supporter of scouting. 

Mitchell Goodman is SVP, Finance, and Treasurer for The Resmark Companies. He joined Resmark in 2003, and oversees all cash management aspects of Resmark’s businesses. In addition, he manages Resmark’s banking relationships, loan originations, lines of credit, business development, and strategic planning initiatives and execution, and is also a member of Resmark’s Investment Committee. Previously, Mr. Goodman was an Asset Manager for several years in Resmark’s Land and Housing division where he managed a 3,000-unit portfolio of geographically and product diversified assets located in California, Arizona and Florida. Mr. Goodman is on the Executive Committee of the Board of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate, and a member of the Board of the Anti-Defamation League’s Pacific Southwest Region. He attended the University of Southern California where he majored in Business Administration.

Randy Florence is Builder Division manager for US Bank Home Mortgage since 2013. Randy has over 30 years’ experience in Mortgage Lending with specialty in supporting new home Builders. His career has included roles of Senior Leadership, oversight of credit risk, secondary markets and fulfillment. He is an accomplished trainer and public speaker.

Randy is currently on the Executive committee of CVEP (the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership) as well as being a Board member of The Boys and Girls Clubs of Coachella Valley. He is also a previous executive committee member of HomeAid/Inland Empire chapter.

Scott D. Stowell is the Retired Executive Chairman of the Board for CalAtlantic Group, Inc. one of the nation's leading publicly traded homebuilders. Stowell was instrumental in the creation of CalAtlantic Group Inc. which was formed through the merging of industry icons Standard Pacific Corp. and Ryland Group, Inc. and also for the recent merger with Lennar Homes.

For almost three decades, he has contributed to the achievements that distinguished Standard Pacific Homes as an industry leader. Stowell was named Director, Chief Executive Officer and President in January 2012. He was named President in March 2011. Prior to that he served as Chief Operating Officer from May 2007 to March 2011, President of the Southern California Region from September 2002 to May 2007 and President of our Orange County division from April 1996 to September 2002.

Stowell's distinguished academic career includes graduating Magna Cum Laude from Brigham Young University with a degree in Organizational Communications. He obtained his Master of Business Administration degree from the University of California at Irvine.

Tom Farrell is an industry veteran with more than 30 years of real estate finance experience across most geographies and layers of the capital stack. His current position is SVP/Division Manager of Umpqua Bank’s Homebuilder Finance Division. Umpqua Bank is a $26B commercial bank headquartered in Portland, OR. Prior to Umpqua Bank, Tom was Director of Business Development for Landmark Capital Advisors. Landmark sources debt and equity for commercial and residential real estate developers throughout the U.S. Before Landmark, Tom was with Sabal Financial Group as the Director of Home Builder Finance, where he formed a start-up homebuilder finance group providing non-recourse A&D and construction loans to homebuilders nationally. He was able to successfully take advantage of the gap created when commercial banks largely deserted the space during the housing downturn. Prior to Sabal, Tom was at Bank of America for 25 years in a number of positions of increasing responsibility in the Commercial Real Estate Bank. His last position at Bank of America was Division Executive in charge of the Homebuilder Division, which was the largest provider of financing to homebuilders nationally with over $13 billion in commitments. Tom earned his bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and his MBA from Pepperdine University. He is a member of ULI, NAHB, CBIA, HomeAid America (Treasurer), and the Cornell University Real Estate Council.

Tracy Berger has been part of the real estate industry for over 30 years and is a 13 year veteran in the home warranty space. She joined First American Home Warranty in 2013, as the Senior Vice President of Real Estate Sales. In 2017, she was given additional responsibility to streamline the Training and Quality Assurance Depts. for continuous improvement and change management initiatives.Prior to joining FAHW, she was the VP of Sales and Marketing for Long & Foster Settlement Services. The largest privately owned residential Real Estate company in the country.

She has a Masters in Communication from Northwestern University and is a Certified Executive Leadership coach from IPEC. She and her husband reside in Sonoma, California on a small working vineyard. They have two sons, and are blessed with three grandchildren ages 7, 5, and 3 months.

Peter Simons joined HomeAid America as CEO in March of 2013. Prior to joining HAA, Mr. Simons spent 20 years as a homebuilder, the bulk of it with Beazer Homes, one the nation’s ten largest homebuilders. Mr. Simons’ roles at Beazer included Colorado Division President (at which time he served on HomeAid Colorado’s Board of Directors for over ten years), Senior Vice President of Corporate Development for Beazer’s Corporate office in Atlanta, and initially as Director of Operations for Lokelani Homes, the Hawaii Division of Beazer.

Mr. Simons graduated from the Yale School of Management in 1989 with an MBA. Before earning his MBA, Mr. Simons worked on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. for five years, serving as Sr. Legislative Aide to Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii. Mr. Simons earned a BA from Yale University in 1982, majoring in Economics and Political Science.

Robin Arnett began her career in the building industry 20 years ago at the Building Industry Association (BIA) of Orange County, home to HomeAid’s first chapter. She left the BIA and became the Executive Officer of the Home Builders Association of Midwest Georgia, an affiliate of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). She took that experience to NAHB as a Regional Field Representative before starting at HomeAid America 12 years ago.

Robin’s role at HomeAid is to work with the chapters to improve operations and to implement the HomeAid Shelter Development Program. Robin has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Legal Studies from Chapman University.

With over 10 years in the nonprofit sector, Amanda is an experienced communications, marketing and fundraising professional dedicated to finding solutions to address housing insecurity. Previous to this role, she served as the Director of Communications and Community Outreach for HomeAid Colorado. She began her career as a Development Associate at PDK Fundraising, Inc. raising funds for organizations including The Salvation Army, American Red Cross, The Conservation Fund, Robert Duvall's Childrens Fund and various community foundations. Amanda came to HomeAid from Mile High United Way where she led marketing, event planning and volunteer management teams.

Amanda graduated from Virginia Tech with a BS in Psychology and Sociology. She is currently earning a Master's in Nonprofit Management at the School of Business and Economics at Regis University.

Laura McKenna has 30 years of experience as a nonprofit leader, specializing in project management, program development, fundraising and grant writing. Previous to her role at HomeAid America, Laura served as the Executive Director of HomeAid Colorado for 16 years. During her tenure at the Colorado chapter, Laura managed the development of 56 housing projects that added nearly 400 beds to give homeless families and individuals a place to rebuild their lives. She has previously served on the HomeAid America Board of Directors and Executive Committee.

Laura’s current role is to develop strategic partnerships with builders and suppliers to support our growing pipeline of projects as well as work with foundations and corporate donors to support the work of existing chapters and chapter expansion efforts across the country. Laura earned her Master’s in Organizational Communication from Southern Illinois University and a BA in Communication from Truman State University.

Lynn began her career with McGladrey & Pullen, CPA’s, a national public accounting firm, where she worked with companies spanning a variety of industries doing both software consulting and accounting services.  Lynn started a private accounting practice where she served multiple manufacturing companies in the private sector for the next eleven years, until she joined HomeAid America in 2002. Lynn sits on the Board of Directors for Gold Rush Cure, a childhood cancer advocacy Foundation in Orange County, and One Step Ministry which serves homeless single parent families in South Orange County. Lynn has a Bachelor’s degree in Business with an emphasis in Accounting from California Baptist University.