Adenah Bayoh escaped the civil war in her native country of Liberia at age 13 and is now one of the most successful entrepreneurs in New Jersey. Adenah owns 7 restaurants in northern NJ, including Cornbread, an independent fast casual, farm-to-table, soul food restaurant, which she co-founded with fellow entrepreneur, Zadie B. Smith. Adenah is a successful real estate developer with several major residential and mixed-use urban redevelopment projects, and she has under construction a mixed-income residential building and an affordable housing project for seniors. In January 2015, Adenah was appointed to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Advisory Council on Small Business and Agriculture. She has been named to Ebony Magazine’s Power 100 list and NJBIZ’s Best 50 Women in Business list, and she recieved the Faces of Diversity Award from The National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation.

Joel Cantor is a Distinguished Professor of Public Policy and the founding Director of the Rutgers University Center for State Health Policy. He is widely published on issues of health equity with a focus on health insurance markets and Medicaid. Dr. Cantor’s current research addresses the contribution of homelessness to healthcare disparities and the potential of supportive housing for mitigating those disparities.

Evan Cole is a Research Associate Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management in the Graduate School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh. He also serves as the Research Director of the Medicaid Research Center within the University of Pittsburgh's Health Policy Institute. His areas of expertise are in Medicaid, primary care delivery, and insurance design. He has experience in claims-based research, policy analysis, and both quantitative and qualitative analysis. Previously, Dr. Cole was the Associate Project Director for Medicaid policy research at the Georgia Health Policy Center at Georgia State University, and was a population health fellow at the University of Wisconsin’s Population Health Institute.

Jorge Cruz is the Executive Director of LISC's New Jersey Office. As LISC-New Jersey’s fourth Executive Director – the local arm of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) – Jorge serves as the lead market executive directing an estimated $22 million in annual commitments in grants, loans, equity investments and other forms of financing into target, low-income communities. Jorge brings nearly 30 years of executive and thought leadership in both the private and public sectors – with his work almost entirely focused on comprehensive, equity-driven neighborhood revitalization in economically distressed communities.

Ewa Farry is the Administrative Director of Adult Programs at the Mental Health Association of Monmouth County, where she manages Housing Navigation, Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness (PATH), Community Support Services, MHA Social Services, the Red Bank Resource Network, and the Financial Success Center. For 15 years, she has developed housing, finance, and case management programs that help consumers with severe mental health conditions obtain affordable housing and achieve personal fulfillment. In 2005, Ewa graduated from Monmouth University with a Master of Arts in Psychological Counseling and a post master’s certificate in Professional Counseling. 106 Apple Street, Suite 110, Tinton Falls, NJ 07724 (732) 542-6422 www.mentalhealthmonmouth.org

MaryBeth “Beth” Gonzales is the Deputy Director, Policy, Planning and Performance Management for the Office of Homeless Services (OHS) in the City of Philadelphia. She is responsible for driving the architecture of OHS’s work to maximize efficiency and effectiveness in Philadelphia’s continuum of care by mobilizing resources, driving change and creating value for providers and the people they serve. Beth has worked in government, the private and nonprofit sectors and higher education implementing policies and programs that drive outcomes and impact. She loves to blend leadership development, philanthropy, data analytics, and creativity to address serious and complex societal problems. Beth holds a BA from Howard University, a Master’s in Counseling Psychology from New York University and an MPA in Public and Nonprofit Management and Policy from New York University.

Nancy Holland, Housing Acquisition Manager, joined Merchants Affordable Housing Corp. as a Housing Acquisition Representative with the HomeNow Indy Initiative in November of 2020. As a part of the Housing Acquisition Team, she develops landlord relationships to identify and secure rental housing units to be leased by participating households and maintains the relationships through ongoing landlord support. Nancy has helped the HomeNow Indy team house over 370 formerly unhoused individuals within an approximate 18-month time. Nancy brings over 8 years of marketing management with a national association where she was responsible for branding and positioning strategies. Nancy also has previous experience as a property manager for section 8 housing and her own childhood experiences with evictions and homelessness sparked a passion to create a charitable nonprofit that provides street outreach for the unhoused.

Kathe Newman is a Professor in the Urban Planning and Policy Development Program at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy and Director of the Ralph W. Voorhees Center for Civic Engagement.

Eileen O’Donnell has been the Executive Director of Coming Home of Middlesex County, Inc. since 2011. Coming Home is the coordinating body for all entities working to serve persons who are homeless and to end homelessness in the County. Eileen spent 20 years of her career as a health care lawyer and policy analyst and made a career change in 2011 to obtain her MSW and focus on social work. Coming Home has constructed a system of coordination among the social service providers in the County and a community-based case management program for those not eligible for, or diverted from, shelter; administers the countywide HMIS; partners with affordable housing developers to create homes for those without, and has forged collaborations with the health care payor and health care delivery systems and is passionate about focusing attention on the social determinants of health in order to provide people equal opportunities to make choices to live healthy lives.

Steve Schoch, AIA, LEED AP is Principal and Director of Housing for New Jersey’s leading multidisciplinary design firm, Kitchen & Associates. Since he first joined K&A in 1984, Steve has been either the Lead Designer or Principal-In-Charge for residential development projects surpassing 50,000 units. Of that total, approximately two-thirds are ‘affordable’ homes – developed specifically for individuals and families with low-to-moderate incomes. His work is regarded as among the best examples of design for the disabled, and is held up as an example of excellence on a national level. He is known for integrating Supportive Housing in projects of all sizes and scales, and his influence as an advocate has helped institute fundamental changes in the NJ regulations that allocate funding for affordable housing – giving projects that integrate Supportive Housing into their communities a competitive advantage.