News

OCCH Staff Spotlight

January 15, 2019

Promotions

		Lori McMillan promoted to Director of Underwriting OCCH is pleased to announce the promotion of Lori McMillan to Director of Underwriting in the Fund Management Department. Lori joined Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing (OCCH) in June 2011 as a Development Analyst and was promoted to Vice President of Fund Management in July of 2015. Lori is responsible for maintaining all lower tier financial projections and reviewing and approving the underwriting due diligence for all equity approvals for new equity investments in OCCH's multi-investor and proprietary investor housing tax credit funds, including commitment letters, partnership agreements and equity disbursements to insure OCCH is investing in quality deals that meet OCCH standards and Investment Guidelines for each fund investing in the lower tier projects. Prior to joining OCCH, Lori was a consultant for developers of affordable housing. She also worked as a Vice President Project Manager at Column Capital for three years and as Vice President of Underwriting at Paramount Financial Group for six years. Her responsibilities were underwriting, obtaining approvals and closing LIHTC properties. She is a licensed attorney in the state of Ohio and received her Juris Doctorate from Mercer School of Law in Macon Georgia and a Bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice and Public Administration from Brenau University.

		Wolfgang Teran promoted to Director of Dispositions OCCH is pleased to announce the promotion of Wolfgang Teran to Director of Dispositions in the Asset Management Department. Wolfgang joined Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing in 2014 as a Vice President of Fund Management. After, he assumed the role of Vice President at Ohio Capital Finance Corporation (OCFC), the lending arm of the Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing. More recently, he assumed the role of Director of Dispositions. His responsibilities include growing the dispositions platform at OCCH and negotiating the disposition of assets at the end of the compliance period. Prior to joining OCCH, he worked in finance, economic development, and real estate for many years for institutions such as JPMorgan Chase, and Wachovia in the New York, and South Florida markets. Since relocating to Central Ohio, Wolfgang has worked in roles focused on commercial lending, economic development, capital markets, and asset management. He earned his Bachelor of Business Administration Degree from Florida International University. He also holds a Master's Degree in City and Regional Planning from The Ohio State University, where he focused on real estate and economic development, and a Master's in Business Administration from The Ohio State University, where he focused on finance and real estate.

New Staff Additions

		Merydith Greene, Chief of Development Merydith Greene joined Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing (OCCH) in 2018 as Chief of Development. In this capacity, she is responsible for the strategic direction of OCCH’s development department and ensuring its alignment within the strategic vision and mission of the organization. Prior to joining OCCH, Merydith spent over 17 years with National Affordable Housing Trust where she held several management positions in development, originations and asset management. Merydith is a Housing Credit Certified Professional (HCCP); Specialist in Housing Credit Management (SHCM); Housing Development Finance Professional (HDFP) and is currently working on the Certified Housing Asset Management (CHAM) designation. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a focus on Real Estate and Urban Analysis from the Ohio State University and a Communications and Professional Skills Executive Certificate from the Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University.

		Emily Moser, Development Analyst As a recent addition to Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing (OCCH), Emily provides technical support for the development and underwriting of affordable housing projects for real estate developers using the LIHTC program. This includes evaluating the feasibility of investments, generating applications for affordable housing funds, and preparing financial projections and investment packets. Prior to joining OCCH, Emily worked as the Director of Research and Technical Assistance at the Council of Development Finance Agencies (CDFA), where she managed a national program that provides technical assistance related to financing the cleanup and redevelopment of brownfield properties. In this role, she participated in nearly thirty site visits in different states and prepared financial strategy reports for each project. Prior to her role at CDFA, Emily worked for Homeport, a nonprofit affordable housing developer in Central Ohio. As a project manager, she was responsible for overseeing the development of single family housing for a neighborhood revitalization project in Columbus. Emily holds a Master’s Degree in City and Regional Planning from The Ohio State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in English from Hillsdale College.

		Jake Heady, Staff Accountant Jake joined Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing (OCCH) in November 2018 as a staff accountant. His responsibilities include maintaining the accounting for several equity funds and reviewing audited financial statements and tax returns. He is also responsible for preparing quarterly investor benefit schedules and other financial information for his respective funds. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, Economics, and Marketing from Muskingum University.

		Simone Malone, Junior Development Analyst Simone Malone joined Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing (OCCH) in November of 2018 as a Junior Development Analyst. She assists the development team in providing technical support and consulting for real estate developers using the LIHTC program to produce and preserve affordable housing. Simone is working in various community engagement initiatives throughout the year including the Resident Development Fund and the Starting at Home conference. She recently graduated from Baldwin Wallace University in spring of 2018 with a degree in Political Science. During her undergraduate career, she was heavily involved in the university’s office of community engagement, serving as a student leader and intern at local nonprofits including, The Cleveland Foundation, Esperanza Inc., and the Department of Regional Collaboration at Cuyahoga County.

		Joseph (JP) Sorah, Administrative Assistant JP joined Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing (OCCH) in January 2019 as Administrative Assistant in the Operations and Communication Department. He supports the organization with administrative and project-based work, with a focused role in review and registration for company and industry conferences and events and contact database management. Prior to OCCH, J.P. worked as Administrative Assistant for The Pennsylvania State University, Office of Physical Plant. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from The Ohio State University.

		Elena Birkdar, Accounting Coordinator Elena joined Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing in 2019 as an Accounting Coordinator. She earned her Master’s Degree in Foreign Language Instruction and currently pursuing an Accounting Associate Degree. Elena has 5 years of accounting experience in non-profit organizations processing accounts payable and receivable; reviewing, investigating, and correcting errors in financial entries and transactions, maintaining petty cash accounts, analyzing accounts and accounting data. Her responsibilities at OCCH include monitoring, maintaining, opening/closing reserve bank accounts, assisting partners creating replacement, operating, and lease-up reserve accounts with the banks, re-establishing dormant accounts, bank reconciliations; statements and journal entries.