Speakers

Chimeka Gladney is a senior vice president for new markets tax credits (NMTCs) at Truist Community Capital where she is responsible for the origination and closing of NMTC investments in several states. Prior to joining Truist, Gladney led the NMTC team at Enterprise Community Investments, whose NMTC portfolio includes more than $1 billion of investments in commercial, mixed-use and community facilities. Before joining Enterprise, Gladney was director of project management with U.S. Bank’s Community Development Corporation. There she led a 17-member team that structured, underwrote and closed more than $750 million in federal and state NMTC and historic tax credit investments annually. Gladney’s community development experience also includes planning and economic development work with the District of Columbia government and municipal bond finance at several investment banks. She holds bachelor’s degree from Howard University and an MBA from Stanford University.

Tracey Gunn Lowell has served in several capacities for U.S. Bancorp Impact Finance since joining the team in 2005. Since 2013 she has been a business development officer on the NMTC and HTC production team in which she also leads the origination of state NMTC investments as well as small QLICI funds nationally. Before her current role, Lowell was responsible for sourcing RETC investment opportunities for two years. Lowell has previously originated and closed federal tax credit syndications with investors nationally, including banks, insurance companies and large corporations and also structured and closed investments as part of our NMTC and HTC divisions after joining U.S. Bancorp Impact Finance. Prior to working at U.S. Bancorp Impact Finance, Lowell worked in the strategy and operations group at Deloitte Consulting, primarily with health care clients. She majored in economics, political science and business at Washington University in St. Louis.

Nicole Boone has more than 14 years of experience in the banking, real estate and community development finance industry. At Lendistry, she is responsible for leading the capital strategy across all government program funding and other community capital products. Boone previously served as executive director, senior commercial banker within community development banking at JP Morgan Chase Bank, specializing in new markets tax credit (NMTC) equity. In her time there, she deployed more than $400 million in NMTC financing across nearly 40 deals. She also created and led the first-ever Community Development Banking Racial Equity Special Purpose Credit Program (SPCP) targeting Black Americans. SPCP resulted in the deployment of an additional $200 million of tax credit financing, across fifteen transactions supporting black businesses and nonprofits nationally. A graduate of Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University, Boone also serves on the board of directors at Excellent Education Development (ExED), the Local Advisory Council of LISC LA, and is on the executive leadership team at The Way Los Angeles.

Laura Vowell is the Managing Director of Community Finance Solutions at U.S. Bancorp Impact Finance. Her team invests in New Markets and Historic Tax Credits and lends to CDFIs and other intermediaries. Since joining USBIF in 2005, Vowell has been instrumental in investing billions of dollars of tax credit equity into projects around the country. Previously, she managed the national team of NMTC and HTC originators who secure funding for a diverse array of projects, from food banks and performing arts centers, to grocery stores and historic hotels.

Vowell is a vocal advocate for Racial Equity within the New Market Tax Credit industry and is a regular speaker at national community development and historic preservation industry conferences and tax credit-related events. She is a Founder of Women in Tax Credits, the Board Member of the NMTC Coalition, and on the Executive Committee of the Partnership for Job Creation. She is currently a member of the St. Louis Symphony’s Community Advisory Committee and Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Task Force.

Vowell began her career in the Washington D.C. area as a transportation engineer. Prior to joining USBIF, she worked with a private real estate developer, managing several redevelopment projects in the Los Angeles area. She holds an M.B.A. from the Anderson School of Business at UCLA and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.
 

Cody Rogers is a skilled transactional attorney who focuses his work on impact investment and community development projects throughout the country with particular experience in new markets tax credit (NMTC) and historic tax credit (HTC) transactions. From project structuring to the kick-off call to the preparation of final closing documents, Rogers uses his experience to help large scale institutional investors, community development financial institutions (CDFIs), community development entities (CDEs), nonprofits, developers and project sponsors navigate the complexities of these federal incentives programs. Despite the complexities, Rogers understands the end-goal of these programs are to assist communities in need and he works to ensure deals close efficiently and timely.

James D. Howard is the president of Dudley Ventures. A native of The Bronx, New York, Howard earned his degree from The College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, and a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center. Dudley Ventures was founded by Howard in 1996 and has been one of the leading advocates of the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) program since its inception. Dudley Ventures, with its 25-plus member team, successfully manages NMTC investment funds in excess of $1.6 billion, providing all origination, fund reporting and compliance activities in-house. In addition, Dudley Ventures CDE, DV Community Investment, has been awarded $525 million of NMTC allocation to date. Acquired by Valley National Bancorp in October 2021, Dudley Ventures now has the resources of a $50 billion publicly traded financial institution. Howard is a board member of the New Markets Tax Credit Coalition and has been an innovator in the NMTC industry. Howard has authored numerous articles on tax credit investing and is a regular speaker at major NMTC conferences. Howard is a licensed member of the Arizona State Bar and holds the FINRA designation of principal and investment banker.

Michael Novogradac is the managing partner of Novogradac, which has been in business since 1989. He specializes in affordable housing, community development, historic preservation and renewable energy. Mr. Novogradac’s focus is in real estate taxation and accounting. He is the author of numerous real estate-related tax and accounting articles and books, including the Novogradac Opportunity Zones Handbook, the New Markets Tax Credit Handbook and the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Handbook. A frequent speaker at tax incentive conferences and forums throughout the country, Mr. Novogradac also broadcasts a weekly podcast, Tax Credit Tuesday. As a leading industry expert, he is frequently quoted in national media, such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Politico, Bloomberg, Forbes, CNBC News, NBC News, National Public Radio and Crain’s New York Business.  Mr. Novogradac is active in advocating for the inclusion of affordable housing, historic preservation, community development and renewable energy incentives in federal and state tax policy, and serves as advisor on industry and governmental affairs for the NMTC Working Group, LIHTC Working Group and the Opportunity Zones Working Group. Mr. Novogradac provides input to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, and other federal and state agencies as well as members of Congress, including testimony before the United States House Committee on Ways and Means. Mr. Novogradac also serves on the executive committee of the Housing Advisory Group and the boards of directors of the Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition, the National Housing Conference, the NMTC Coalition and Historic Tax Credit Coalition. In 2016, Mr. Novogradac was inducted into the Affordable Housing Hall of Fame. He also received The Affordable Housing Visionary Award from The NHP Foundation in 2018, in recognition of his contributions to the affordable housing community and in 2020 was honored as one of the top 25 OZ Influencers through Opportunity Zone Magazine. Mr. Novogradac graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a bachelor’s degree in economics. He received an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley. He is licensed in California, Oregon, Maryland and Texas as a certified public accountant. You can follow Mr. Novogradac on twitter @novogradac and on his blog at www.novoco.com/blog or listen to his weekly podcast at www.novoco.com/podcast.

Christopher Allison is the program manager for the new markets tax credit (NMTC) program at the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund. Mr. Allison previously served as associate program manager for the NMTC program. He oversaw the development of NMTC application materials, led the implementation of the NMTC evaluation process in the CDFI Fund’s new Awards Management Information System, and made recommendations for tax credit allocations. Prior to joining the CDFI Fund, Mr. Allison was a program manager at Single Stop USA, where he oversaw grant and performance management for a national portfolio of community-based organizations related to income supports. He worked on several innovative workforce development and asset building projects at Seedco, a national economic development intermediary. Mr. Allison has also held positions with Self-Help Ventures Fund and the Center for Community Capital in North Carolina. Mr. Allison holds a Master of City and Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with an emphasis on economic development, and a bachelor’s degree in urban studies from Eugene Lang College at The New School in New York.