Contact:
David Jeffers
(202) 650-0003
jeffers@firststorypr.com
Washington, August 8, 2019 -- The Board of Directors of Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future (SAHF) today announced the appointment of Andrea Ponsor as Interim President and Chief Executive Officer. On Wednesday, Wells Fargo announced that Eileen Fitzgerald, President and Chief Executive Officer of SAHF since 2014, will become Head of Housing Affordability Philanthropy at the
Wells Fargo Foundation
.
“We are pleased to congratulate our colleague Eileen Fitzgerald on her exciting, new opportunity. The Board of Directors is enormously grateful for her extraordinary service to SAHF and its members,” said Aaron Gornstein, Chair of the SAHF Board and CEO of Preservation of Affordable Housing. “And we are gratified that a person with the talent, experience and integrity of Andrea Ponsor will provide leadership during this period of transition.”
A national collaborative of 13 nonprofit housing providers, SAHF identifies, develops and fosters effective and innovative strategies for sustainability, affordability and positive resident outcomes in rental housing communities for low-income families, seniors and disabled persons. SAHF members collectively operate in 49 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Together owning more than 140,000 affordable rental homes, members are BRIDGE Housing, CommonBond Communities, Community Housing Partners, Homes for America, Mercy Housing, National Church Residences, National Housing Trust, Preservation of Affordable Housing, Retirement Housing Foundation, The Community Builders, The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society, The NHP Foundation and Volunteers of America.
Ponsor, who joined SAHF in 2016, has served as the organization’s Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President for Policy. She has helped lead the organization’s efforts to develop new approaches for the creation and preservation of affordable housing, formulate policy proposals and work with lawmakers and regulators to build support for the preservation and production of affordable rental housing.
Prior to joining SAHF, Ponsor served as the federal policy director for the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC). Previously she was a principal at Hessel, Aluise and Neun, P.C., a boutique law firm with a national affordable housing practice, where she represented lenders, developers and management agents in affordable housing transactions and policy matters.
SAHF’s new acting chief executive began her career as an attorney with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in Atlanta, GA where she focused on multifamily mortgage closings, property disposition, program enforcement and fair housing.
Ponsor holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Florida College of Law and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Tulane University.
