Christiana Foglio
Board PresidentChristiana Foglio is the founder and CEO of Community Investment Strategies, Inc. (CIS). Currently, CIS is developing over $120,000,000 in affordable housing in New Jersey.
Ms. Foglio was recently named Chair of the New Jersey State Planning Commission by Governor James McGreevey.
Prior to forming CIS, Ms. Foglio served as Executive Director of the New Jersey Housing & Mortgage Finance Agency (NJHMFA) and was responsible for over $1 billion in multi-family bond financing. Ms. Foglio is credited with the creation of Housing Policy for the State of New Jersey, and has received national awards for innovative state housing initiatives. She was appointed by Governors Florio and Whitman to serve as Chair of the New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing.
Before joining NJHMFA, Ms. Foglio served as Director of Policy Planning and Economic Development for the City of New Brunswick, and President of the New Brunswick Development Corporation, a not-for-profit, real estate development company located in New Brunswick. In that capacity, she oversaw the implementation of over $300 million in urban redevelopment projects. Ms. Foglio is credited with creating the foundation for New Brunswick's economic rebirth.
Ms. Foglio is a licensed planner in New Jersey and a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners and the American Planning Association. She has served as Vice Chair of the Middlesex County Improvement Authority and currently serves on the Board of the Mercer County Improvement Authority. In addition, she is a member of the NJHMFA Tax Credit Advisory Board.
Ronald Berman
Board TreasurerRonald Berman spent 25 years as a real estate attorney representing major developers and municipalities in New Jersey, before co-founding and serving as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of DKM Properties Corp. in 1984. In that capacity, he presided over the acquisition, development, construction management, and asset management of over 6,000,000 square feet of office, retail, health care, and industrial space, primarily in Central New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Mr. Berman took special interest in the development of urban projects in public-private partnerships.
After leaving DKM in 1993, Mr. Berman founded his own company, R. Berman Development Co., L.L.C., and has continued his development interests in urban centers. Among his more recent projects have been The Roebling Market, a 220,000-square-foot, mixed-use complex located in the historic former Roebling Wire Rope Works in Trenton, and Liberty Plaza, a 135,000-square-foot, mixed-use office and commercial project in downtown New Brunswick.
Mr. Berman has also served as Assistant Commissioner of Public Transportation for the State of New Jersey, Urban Renewal Attorney for the City of Trenton, and Special Counsel for Urban Redevelopment in New Brunswick and Jersey City. He is a former director of the New Jersey chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Parks (NAIOP) and of the Regional Planning Partnership Council. He currently serves as a Trustee of the Garfield Foundation.
Mr. Berman is the founder and owner of the Trenton Titans, a minor league hockey franchise.
Mark Murphy
TrusteeMark M. Murphy is the Executive Director of The Fund for New Jersey, an endowed private foundation furthering the exploration of State public policy issues impacting our poorest communities. This includes supporting efforts to get relevant information to the public, to encourage and empower citizen participation in decision-making, to analyze alternative approaches to significant social problems, and to oversee government activity.
Mr. Murphy served as founding president of the Council of New Jersey Grantmakers, and serves as a trustee of the New Jersey Health Initiatives, and Children's Futures initiatives of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Princeton Area Community Foundation.
Mr. Murphy has served as a policy aide to U. S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, and to the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Human Services. He has also devised funding programs for several national and local foundations.
David M. Scheck
TrusteeDavid Scheck was hired as Executive Director of New Jersey Community Capital, formerly the New Jersey Community Loan Fund, in September 2001. In his capacity as chief executive, Mr. Scheck is responsible for the overall leadership and management of the company, including development of a strategy to enhance its impact. Mr. Scheck has increased the amount of capital under management for direct lending and investing from $18 million to $44 million, secured a first round allocation of New Markets Tax Credits, and expanded the organization's asset management capabilities. He is developing a framework to expand the breadth and depth of the organization's product lines.
Prior to joining New Jersey Community Capital, Mr. Scheck was employed by the New Jersey Redevelopment Authority as Director of Finance. In that capacity, he served as chief financial officer and senior credit officer and was responsible for developing financial assistance programs and structuring project financing designed to spur neighborhood revitalization efforts within the States urban municipalities. He managed the $20 million Redevelopment Investment Fund, the $15 million Brownfields Redevelopment Initiative, and the $25 million Urban Site Acquisition Fund, which won the National Council of State Housing Agencies' 2000 Award for Program Excellence.
Mr. Scheck has been employed by a commercial bank as lead lender in the New Jersey market for an entrepreneurial unit focused on community economic development. He has also worked as a research analyst at an investment bank on Wall Street, and served as a VISTA volunteer providing consulting services to affordable housing developers and community development corporations in urban and rural North Carolina.
Preston D. Pinkett III
TrusteePreston D. Pinkett III is Senior Vice President Programs, for the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA). In this position, he oversees several EDA divisions that manage the funding programs and services to spur economic development in New Jersey, including bond financing, business lending, community development, and real estate development.
Mr. Pinkett joined the EDA in September 2003, after serving for nearly eight years as a Senior Vice President for PNC Bank. There, he directed PNC's Development Bank, a 200-branch network focused on developing and stabilizing low-income urban communities, and managed strategic planning, marketing and merchandising for the low- and moderate-income customer segment through PNC's six-state trade area, which included New Jersey. He also was responsible for all community development lending and investment activities made through the bank and PNC Community Partners, Inc., a community development venture fund.
Prior to joining PNC Bank, Mr. Pinkett was a Senior Vice President for Chemical Bank New Jersey. In that capacity, he managed business units statewide that focused on community and economic development, government banking, government relations and regulatory compliance. Mr. Pinkett has also been a Senior Planner with the New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing and an Associate with the Summit Group.
C. Sean Closkey
TrusteeC. Sean Closkey is Executive Vice President for Residential Real Estate at The Reinvestment Fund (TRF) in Philadelphia. TRF is one of the nation's largest and most productive Community Development Financial Institutions. This multi-purpose fund invests in affordable housing, commercial development, education and sustainable energy.
From 2002 to 2005, Mr. Closkey served as Executive Director of the New Jersey Housing & Mortgage Finance Agency, the nation's seventh-largest State housing finance agency employing 240 individuals and controlling $3.9 billion in assets. The Agency's mission is to finance the development of affordable housing throughout the State of New Jersey. In this capacity, Mr. Closkey created New Jersey's Smart Growth Housing policy.
Prior to joining the NJ-HMFA, Mr. Closkey was Executive Director of St. Joseph's Carpenter Society, the largest non-profit developer of affordable, for-sale housing in the State of New Jersey.