Board Members

Carolyn Champion, Chair

Peter Paul RVA

Carolyn Champion has been the Director of Finance and Human Resources at Peter Paul RVA since November 2019. She provides strategic direction for financial aspects of the organization and its programs, including long-term financial planning, budgeting and financial analysis. She also manages the talent management lifecycle including performance management, learning and development, and payroll and...

Schirra Hayes, Vice Chair

Virginia LISC

Schirra Hayes is a Program Manager for Lending at Virginia Local Initiatives Support Corporation (Virginia LISC), where he provides general management and oversight of Virginia LISC’s lending program. Virginia LISC works with community organizations to revitalize underserved Richmond-area neighborhoods, which has led to physical improvements, safer streets, increased property values, and highly engaged residents. Virginia...

Laura Lafayette, Immediate Past Chair

Richmond Association of REALTORS®

Laura Lafayette is the Chief Executive Officer of the Richmond Association of REALTORS® and the Central Virginia Regional Multiple Listing Service—two organizations that serve the over 4,700 REALTORS® in the Central Virginia area. In addition, she serves as the Executive Director of the Partnership for Housing Affordability, a non-profit dedicated to ensuring that an adequate...

William Martin, Treasurer

Virginia Community Capital

Will Martin is a commercial loan officer at Virginia Community Capital, a Community Development Financial Institution. His focus is on financing the renovation of historic properties and multifamily affordable housing developments. Prior to joining VCC, Will worked for Virginia Commonwealth University’s Real Estate Services where he acquired and developed properties for the VCU Real Estate...

Jeisson Apolo Armas, Secretary

Johannas Design Group

Jeisson Apolo graduated from Cornell University where he received two bachelors degrees in architecture and urban planning. Jeisson joined Johannas Design Group in 2017 and has worked on connecting the practice of architecture with the community and the user. He became a MWCLT homeowner in October of 2018.

Duron Chavis

Duron Chavis started his career in community advocacy as first a volunteer then an employee of the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of VA. While there founded the highly acclaimed Happily Natural Day festival as a grassroots effort to supplement the summer jazz concert that was held annually at the institution. The festival is...

Chanel Dixon

Dominion Energy

Currently, Chanel Dixon works as a customer credit representative at Dominion Energy. She works with the Virginia Department of Social Service and other non-profits across Dominion’s service territory. She consults these agencies on how to utilize federal, state, and Dominion sponsored funding to best serve their customers. She is deeply passionate about her opportunity to...

Allison Domson

Williams Mullen

Allison Domson is an attorney with the law firm of Williams Mullen. Allison focuses almost exclusively on representing real estate developers, commercial lending institutions and syndicators in connection with tax credit financing transactions involving low-income housing tax credits, historic rehabilitation tax credits and New Markets Tax Credits. She works with real estate developers, bankers and...

Tiffany Goodman

Mike Mulvihill, APR

Carter Ryley Thomas Marketing & Communications Counsel

Mike Mulvihill is principal of Richmond-based Carter Ryley Thomas Marketing & Communications Counsel. He has been involved in the affordable housing sector for nearly two decades as a member of the Virginia Local Initiatives Support Corporation (Virginia LISC) Leadership Advisory Committee (LAC) including three terms as LAC chairman. Mike has extensive experience leading major regional...

Nelson Reveley

RVA Thrives

Nelson Reveley is the board president of RVA Rapid Transit, a grassroots nonprofit that educates, organizes, and advocates for regional public transportation in metro Richmond. He is also the Collaboration Coordinator for RVA Thrives, an initiative along the Jefferson Davis corridor in Richmond city focused on cultivating equitable thriving in areas of job access, neighborhood beautification, and...

Ashleigh Shannon

Navy Federal Credit Union

Ashleigh Shannon is a Mortgage Loan Officer at Navy Federal and a Maggie Walker CLT homeowner. She received her education from Virginia Commonwealth University in Sociology. Ashleigh hopes to provide information to those who are seeking to gain more knowledge about real estate and the process behind it. She believes knowledge is power, but there...

Patricia Trotta

Partnership for Housing Affordability

Patricia Trotta is a Richmonder with an eclectic range of interests. After a tenure in the VCU Pep Band for her undergraduate degree (with many NCAA tournament experiences later), she served student-athletes in the VCU Department of Athletics, while completing her Master’s in Public Administration (MPA). More recently, she is a proud cancer survivor and...

Staff

Bob Adams

Program Development Manager

Bob Adams has a wide, diverse expertise in both housing finance and public policy. In addition to serving as Executive Director of Housing Virginia, he is also President of Housing & Development Advisors, which he founded in 2006. Bob previously served as the Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer of Community Housing Partners for...

Erica Sims

Chief Executive Officer

Erica Sims has worked in the non-profit management, affordable housing development and community organizing fields for over 17 years. Her focus has been on social and economic justice through housing and economic development. Ms. Sims has held private sector, nonprofit and government roles and has overseen the development of over 2,500 units of affordable housing...

Flora Valdes-Dapena

Administrative & Communications Specialist

Flora is an Administrative & Communications Specialist at HDAdvisors. Before starting at HDA, Flora worked as a Development Intern at the Avalon Center in Williamsburg, which aides victims of domestic and sexual violence, while finishing her BA in Sociology at William & Mary.

Jonathan Knopf

Senior Associate

Jonathan is the Senior Associate for Research and Programs at HDAdvisors, providing data collection and analysis for affordable housing non-profits across Virginia, including the Maggie Walker Community Land Trust. He specializes in using GIS to create static and interactive maps that help tell the story of housing needs throughout the state. Jonathan has a Masters...

Julia MacNelly

Program Director

Julia started as an Americorps VISTA at HDAdvisors, and has now transitioned to a permanent role as Senior Associate. Her work for MMWCLT includes researching and refining the Richmond Land Bank policy and working on acquisitions for the CLT property pipeline in Chesterfield. Before moving to Richmond, she worked at a college support program for...

Lynn Bivens

Resource Development Associate

Lynn has specialized in fund development for affordable housing organizations for the last several years, with a focus on grant writing and corporate fund development for local and statewide nonprofit organizations. Lynn received a Certificate of Achievement in Non-Profit Management Nonprofit Management from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2008, and is a member of the Grant...

Nikki D’Adamo-Damery

Community Coordinator

Nikki D’Adamo-Damery serves as the Community Coordinator for the MWCLT. She has a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology from Duke University, and a M.S. in Sustainable Agriculture and Sociology with a certificate in Social Justice from Iowa State University. Nikki grew up in the Richmond area, and has worked on community development and justice issues in Arkansas, Alabama,...

Sophie Schectman

Americorps VISTA

Sophie is the AmeriCorps VISTA member on the Maggie Walker Community Land Trust team. She graduated in 2018 from the University of Virginia with a Bachelors in Urban and Environmental Planning. During her undergraduate career she was involved in student organizing groups fighting for environmental justice in Virginia and social, economic, and racial justice at...