Warren Sebra is a principal in the Portland, Ore., office of Novogradac & Company LLP. Mr. Sebra has experience in affordable housing and community development, including low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC), new markets tax credit (NMTC) and historic rehabilitation tax credit (HTC) transactions. He has worked extensively on financial statement audits, tax return preparation, final cost certification audits, transaction underwriting, placed-in service applications, LIHTC compliance, NMTC compliance and NMTC allocation applications. Mr. Sebra has also contributed to various publications, including the Novogradac Journal of Tax Credits, Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Handbook and Historic Rehabilitation Handbook. Mr. Sebra is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and seminars on affordable housing and community development industry topics. He received a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a master’s degree in accounting from Brigham Young University. Mr. Sebra is licensed in Oregon and California as a certified public accountant.

Sarah Zahn is a development manager at Gerding Edlen. Gerding Edlen exists to do one simple thing: to create vibrant, sustainable and inspiring places where people can work, learn and live. Ms. Zahn is the former director of housing for human solutions, which provides low-income housing and anti-poverty services to all of Multnomah County. In addition to eviction prevention, re-housing for homeless families, job skills training and other services, Human Solutions owns and operates more than 600 apartment units. Ms. Zahn is also a member of the Fair Housing Advocacy Committee (FHAC), Oregon Opportunity Network (OON), and CREW Network.

Born and raised in Cleveland, Michael Chesler spent much of his early career working as an analyst for Time Magazine in Tokyo. He moved back to Cleveland in 1988 to found The Chesler Group, Inc. (TCG). Since that time, Mr. Chesler has renovated over 30 historic buildings. Of these, six were historic nineteenth century mansions that TCG converted into commercial office/institutional buildings. In early 2015, Mr. Chesler founded the MainStreet America Fund to provide capital for historic projects nationwide. Mr. Chesler is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Case Western Reserve University and earned both B.A./B.S. degrees. He serves on several boards, including the Visiting Committee of the College of Arts and Sciences for Case Western Reserve University, Heritage Ohio, and The Cleveland Restoration Society. His company, The Chesler Group, Inc. brings to each historic restoration project a unique, holistic approach, The Chesler Continuum – covering acquisition, development, design and engineering, historic register qualification and consulting, financing, restoration construction, historic tax credit capitalization, leasing and property management. The restoration construction side of the business operates through Chesler Construction (CCL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of TCG. Mr. Chesler was awarded the Individual Merit Award in 2009 from the Ohio Historic Preservation Office for 20 years of service. His buildings have received local, state, federal and global recognition.

Jonathan Leit is a real estate developer and urban planner focused on implementing neighborhood redevelopment projects in partnership with community organizations. Since 2007, he has served as director of the New Orleans office at Alembic Community Development, a mission-driven development company with offices in New York City and New Orleans that invests in long-term partnerships in underserved neighborhoods. Mr. Leit develops mixed-use properties and affordable housing, and provides capacity building and development services to nonprofit organizations. He has particular experience in leveraging public and private financing for high-impact projects, including various tax credit programs and philanthropic sources. Highlighted projects include the adaptive reuse of an historic former school building in New Orleans into a fresh food market with arts and office space; affordable rental and homeownership developments in New Orleans and coastal Mississippi; and the creation of business and strategic plans for several organizations in Louisiana and Mississippi. Mr. Leit also serves as an adjunct lecturer in Tulane University’s Master of Sustainable Real Estate Development program, including teaching core curriculum finance and case studies courses. Previously, Mr. Leit worked with Partners for Democratic Change, providing technical assistance to local organizations in Eastern Europe and coordinating a range of conflict management projects. Mr. Leit was a Rockefeller Fellow in New Orleans through the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Urban Redevelopment Excellence at the School of Design, and holds a master’s degree in city planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree in history from Columbia University.

Kevin Brokaw serves as both the director of development and general counsel for the Geis Companies. Thanks in large part to more than $350 million of development in Cleveland, including the highly visible development projects like the Midtown Tech Park, The 9 and the new Cuyahoga County Headquarters, the Geis Companies has not only significantly increased its employee base over the past five years from 45 to more than 100, but has been thrust into the national spotlight as a leading developer. The company has projects as far west as California, as far south as Mexico and as far east as Boston, as well as its first project in Germany. As a result of the company's tremendous growth, Mr. Brokaw’s role and responsibilities with the company have grown exponentially. As director of development, Mr. Brokaw advises fellow executives on strategic planning and management of day-to-day operations, including deal structure, budget preparation, due diligence, pro-forma review, leasing, finance and construction. As the first general counsel of the Geis Companies, Mr. Brokaw is responsible for all legal matters of the organization and manages outside counsel relationships while providing counsel on all initiatives, projects and issues affecting the company's growth, stability and reputation. Mr. Brokaw's legal expertise is called upon to help the company continue to effectively manage this diversity and growth while mitigating financial risk. Mr. Brokaw also directs the Geis Companies’ efforts to obtain incentives through relationships with local municipalities for the Geis portfolio and client projects In addition to negotiating the terms of conventional and mezzanine debt, Mr. Brokaw has successfully managed Geis’ use of numerous public funding sources, including real estate tax abatement in Community Reinvestment Areas and Empowerment Zones, tax increment financing, historic tax credits (HTCs), new market tax credits (NMTCs), EB-5 funding, capital lease structures and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) programs. Consistent with the Geis Companies, Mr. Brokaw has an established track record of managing the efficient and profitable completion of complex commercial transactions and development projects incorporating both private and public financing.