Together we can meet the diverse housing needs of Northern Virginia Residents.
Who We Are
The mission of the Northern Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance is to promote healthy, sustainable and equitable communities that meet the diverse housing needs of Northern Virginia residents.
Board of Directors
Nicholas Bracco, Chair
Nicholas Bracco is Vice President & Regional Project Partner for Lincoln Avenue Capital. Nick brings in-depth experience in acquisitions, financing, and development, as well as a successful track record of managing project teams. In his prior role as Regional Vice President for The Michaels Organization, Nick oversaw the development of approximately 1,500 units of affordable housing in the Mid Atlantic region. Prior to Michaels, Nick served as a Vice President for SCG Development. Before that, Nick was a Senior Project Manager for AHC, Inc., a leading nonprofit developer of affordable housing in the Mid-Atlantic region. In addition to his affordable housing background, Nick has led a number of successful mixed-income and mixed-use developments. Nick holds a Master’s Degree in Real Estate from Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from George Mason University. Nick is a long-time resident of Alexandria and is active in the local community serving as President of the NVAHA Board of Directors.
Laura Martin, Secretary
Laura Martin previously served as the Board Secretary for the Alliance for Housing Solutions. Laura is an associate pastor at Rock Spring Congregational United Church of Christ, focused on social action and pastoral care. She currently serves on the steering committee of Interfaith Power and Light. Her work with the homeless and at risk began in 2002 at New Hope Housing as the Volunteer/Community Outreach Coordinator before becoming Director of Programs for Chronically Homeless Adults.
Laura also served as Director, Patrick Henry Family Shelter and Housing Programs, at Shelter House providing leadership and budget management. Laura is a member of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy and in 2015 she was a speaker at the HUD Educational Panel. A University of Virginia graduate, she earned her Masters of Divinity from Wesley Theological Seminary.
Bailey Hopple Edelson, Treasurer
Bailey Hopple Edelson, Principal at Buchanan Partners, has 17 years of real estate experience in investment, entitlement, master planning, and development in a diversity of product types. She is currently responsible for a range of investment and development activities across Buchanan’s portfolio. In her prior role as Senior Vice President with JBG SMITH, Bailey oversaw the investment in, and design and entitlement of over seven million square feet of mixed-use development in the DC Metro Area. She began her career in the investments group at the JBG Companies and has a background in underwriting and joint venture partnerships. She is a member of Urban Land Institute, participating as a member of the Public/Private Partnership Council, serves as Treasurer and Board Member for the Northern Virginia Housing Alliance, and is a sustaining member of the Junior League of Washington. Bailey holds a Master of Business Administration from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, and she graduated from Brown University with a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies.
Paul Bernard
Paul was selected as AHC’s President & CEO in April 2022. Paul brings a plethora of housing experience to the organization. Before joining AHC, Paul was an Executive Vice President at the Urban Land Institute, managing their Impact Programming. He also worked as Vice President of Public Sector & Community Development Consulting at Enterprise Community Partners. Paul started his career in housing as the Director of Development for the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority and later served as the Executive Director of Detroit’s Planning and Development department. Paul holds a master’s degree in urban economics and public finance from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and an MBA and bachelor’s degree in foreign service from Georgetown University.
Hilary Chapman
Hilary S. Chapman is the Housing Program Manager for the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG). At COG, Hilary works with regional leaders in northern Virginia, suburban Maryland, and the District of Columbia to find collaborative solutions to the shared challenges of homelessness, housing affordability, and fair housing through convening, sharing of best practices, and analysis to support local housing policy and practice. Prior to joining COG, Hilary spent nearly a decade as an affordable housing developer, working with public housing authorities nationally to create mixed-income communities. She had direct responsibility for the construction of over 250 affordable housing units and the planning and financing of over 1,000 more. Hilary also served the Government of the District of Columbia as a Capital City Fellow and is a 2016 graduate of ULI Washington’s Regional Land Use Leadership Institute. Hilary served as Co-Chair of ULI Washington’s Housing Product Council for three years and a regular volunteer at the Homeless Children’s Playtime Project. Hilary has a master’s degree in city planning from MIT and an undergraduate degree in sociology from The College of William & Mary.
Kitty Clark Stevenson
Kitty Clark Stevenson previously served as a Board Member of the Alliance for Housing Solutions. She is a human resources management professional with over 50 years of experience in the fields of mid- and senior-level management, and human resources management. Kitty is president and owner of ABLE’N Consulting, LLC celebrating its 43 rd year of providing consulting services to public- and private- sector employers specializing in EEO, disability awareness training, sexual and other forms of workplace harassment, diversity, affirmative employment, and organization development initiatives. Her company also provides private consulting services to individuals seeking resolution to complaints of unlawful discrimination claims.
She is a certified WINDMILLS trainer, and trained persons with disabilities, managers, employees, and personnel specialists on disability awareness and sensitivity issues. She served in Arlington County, Virginia Government for fifteen years as the Selective Placement Program Manager developing and implementing employment program for persons with disabilities. Serving as Arlington’s first full-time EEO Officer, Kitty was responsible for staffing the first General Government EEO Policy (EEOP) adopted by the Arlington County Board in 1984 and its Affirmative Action Plan (AAP) in 1986. She also staffed their revisions in 1995 and 1996 before retiring in 2000.
Ms. Clark Stevenson was appointed to the Arlington Human Rights Commission in 2007, chairing from 2011 to 2017. Kitty has trained on the ADA with the State of Virginia, the District of Columbia, the State of Maryland, the State of Pennsylvania, and the PCEPD (presently ODEP). Ms. Clark Stevenson is a certified trainer for Teaching Skills and Cultural Competency with the National Multicultural Institute, training in organizations on workforce diversity and multiculturalism. As a certified mediator with the Center for Dispute Settlement, Ms. Clark Stevenson provides alternative dispute mediation services.
Kitty’s professional credentials incorporate many national and international certifications, but her highest passion is a calling to do good works for the right reasons. She is a charter Board Member of the CapacityWare™ Practitioners International Network (CWPIN), a group of like-minded organization developers dedicated to a proven technology, (RGB WorkStyle Preferences). As a certified CapacityWare™ Practitioner, she helps complex organizations bring about important change to issues of social significance and cultural capacity.
Dr. Sylisa Lambert-Woodard
Dr. Sylisa Lambert-Woodard, President and CEO of Pathway Homes, Inc. in Fairfax and Florida, has more than 30 years’ experience specializing in serious mental illnesses, addictions, co-occurring, habitual offenders, and veterans, and providing psychotherapy, forensics, coaching, pastoral counseling, assisted living facilities, and homeless services. Since she has taken on the role of CEO, Pathway Homes Inc. has undergone a tremendous period of growth and innovation. She has been nationally recognized for her ability to seize the opportunity presented during the housing downturn and grow Pathways’ housing portfolio to over 500 properties providing permanent supportive housing for individuals with serious mental illness in Northern Virginia and Central Florida. She was able to manage this growth while evolving service quality through strong fiscal management. Dr. Lambert-Woodard is an avid supporter and advocate of Fair Housing and is known for her continued commitment to combating NIMBYism and eradicating stigma. She has been instrumental in changing local policy and practice by creating political and community support to foster a more inclusive community regionally.
Brian McLaughlin
Brian McLaughlin is the former president and CEO of Enterprise Community Development, Inc. As president and CEO, Brian is charged with leading the overall strategic direction of both organizations, as well as R Home Communities, Enterprise Homes’ property management company. He oversaw a team serving the Mid-Atlantic region with expertise in community planning, land development, design, construction, asset management, property management and award-winning resident services. Brian has 22 years of diverse experience managing real estate business lines across the nonprofit, public and for-profit sectors. He began his career working in the nonprofit community development field in Boston and later in York, Pennsylvania, where he developed a mixed use commercial center and helped build Low-Income Housing Tax Credit- and Historic Tax Credit-supported housing. He later served as assistant secretary of Maryland’s Department of Housing and Community Development where he led the state’s largest and primary division of government responsible for neighborhood revitalization programs and investments. In addition, Brian has held various positions at Fannie Mae, from multifamily underwriting, to leading the company’s short sale product line, to special assistant to the company’s president and CEO. He is also the founding CEO of Lantian Development, a Maryland-based private equity, real estate investment and development company. An honors graduate of Duke University, Brian also holds a master’s degree in City Planning from MIT and a master’s degree in Economics from American University.
Shelley Murphy
Shelley Murphy is the recently retired President and CEO of Wesley Housing. In that role, Murphy oversaw a retooling of the organization, more than doubling the number of housing units and residents served, and expanding resident services programming to all residents. In 2017, she led the organization to be named Nonprofit Developer of the Year by the Housing Association of Nonprofit Developers (HAND); and in 2013, Murphy was named a SmartCEO Brava! Award recipient for her irrepressible entrepreneurial spirit and passion for giving back to the community. She serves on the Boards of the Northern Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance, the Alexandria Housing Affordability Advisory Committee, and the Housing Partnership Network Insurance Exchange. Prior to joining Wesley Housing, Murphy was a senior executive with Verizon Communications. She holds an MBA from Willamette University.
Pamela Quanrud
Pamela Quanrud was previously a board member for the Alliance for Housing Solutions. She is a capital defense attorney currently working with the ACLU Capital Punishment Project and the ACLU of Northern California. Retired in 2018, Pamela enjoyed a thirty-year career in the Foreign Service where she served in a diverse array of leadership positions including as the Director of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, Principle Deputy Executive Secretary to Secretary Clinton, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Europe, Director for Europe at the National Security Council, and at positions abroad
in the U.S. Embassies in Warsaw, Moscow, Bonn, Pretoria, and Kingston. She graduated from Howard University School of Law in 2023 and is a member of the DC Bar. She is also a Tribeca Disruptive Innovator Fellow, which is a collection of individuals who are looking for new approaches to obdurate problems across America.
Fred Selden
Fred Selden is an urban planner who served as Chief of Fairfax County’s Department of Planning and Zoning’s Planning Division for over 15 years before being appointed Director of the Department in July of 2011. He remained in this position until his retirement in September 2019. He is now a consultant in private practice. During his tenure at Fairfax County, he supported planning efforts to transform a suburban county into one that promotes walkable, environmentally friendly activity centers that take advantage of current and future mass transit, and he promoted policies that require the provision of affordable and workforce housing with all new mixed-use development. Prior to his career with Fairfax County, Fred worked at the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and Howard University’s Institute for Urban Affairs and Research. Fred Selden earned a master’s degree in urban planning from Howard University and he attended the Senior Executive Institute at the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service.
David Sisson
David Sisson previously served as a Board Member of the Alliance for Housing Solutions. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from Davidson College before he transitioned into real estate consulting where he applied his analytical skills to proposed projects and developed an interest in affordable housing development and advocacy.
His worked at The Craddock Group, a boutique real estate consulting firm, has focused on capital planning for public transportation entities. Throughout his time working with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), he has grown to understand the intersection of affordable housing and public transportation in solving regional challenges. His work on business cases and proposed capital investments has helped WMATA efficiently allocate its limited resources to provide the optimal service and benefits to the region. Seeking to implement some of the lessons he learned, he joined the Transportation Advisory Committee of Arlington and the Alliance for Housing Solutions (since merged with NVAHA) to increase housing affordable and transportation equity in Northern Virginia.
Michael A. Spotts
Michael A. Spotts is Director of Real Estate Development for Habitat for Humanity of Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia. Prior to joining Habitat in 2022, he was the founder and President of Neighborhood Fundamentals, LLC and served as the Senior Visiting Research Fellow for the Urban Land Institute’s Terwilliger Center for Housing. He has over 15 years of experience providing research and technical assistance to on-the-ground practitioners in both the public and private sectors, at every level of government, and in urban, suburban and rural areas. Prior to founding Neighborhood Fundamentals, he worked for Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. from 2009-2017 as part of the Public Policy team. During this time, he conducted research and analysis of affordable housing and community development policies. Michael serves on the board of directors for the Northern Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance and previously served on the board of directors of the Arlington (VA) Partnership for Affordable Housing.
WE ENVISION A FUTURE IN WHICH NORTHERN VIRGINIA PROVIDES HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL.
The mission of the Northern Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance is to promote healthy, sustainable and equitable communities that meet the diverse housing needs of Northern Virginia residents.