People
The Community Development Finance (CDF) division employs an expert staff with decades of experience in debt and equity financing and a passion for community development. Members of the CDF team help customers navigate complex financial and regulatory issues to create affordable housing, with an emphasis on smart growth and environmental sustainability.
MANAGEMENT
Annette Billingsley – Senior Vice President and Division Head
Terce Sandifer – Senior Vice President and Originations Manager
Judy Kong-Cheung – Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Chris Johnston – Vice President and Co-Director of Asset Management
Rita Wang – Vice President and Co-Director of Asset Management
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA AND PACIFIC NORTHWEST MARKETS
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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA MARKET Jessica Mackenzie |
MANAGEMENT
Annette Billingsley, Senior Vice President and Division Head
Annette Billingsley serves as Senior Vice President and head of Union Bank’s CDF division, overseeing the bank’s loans and equity investments in affordable and workforce housing across the United States, which total more than $2 billion. She has more than 20 years of experience in real estate finance and decades of leadership with major civic organizations. As the head of the CDF division, Annette not only works to improve Union Bank’s bottom line, but also helps to advance its corporate social responsibility mission.
Prior to joining the CDF group, Annette oversaw national real estate lending at Union Bank for more than 14 years. She began her career with Union Bank in 1984 as a trainee, and then moved on to work at other major financial institutions including Security Pacific Bank and Credit Agricole (now known as CALYON). Her experience at Credit Agricole included a two-year assignment in the group’s Paris office, where she coordinated the workout of its U.S. and U.K. real estate portfolio. Annette rejoined Union Bank in 1995, playing a key role in expanding its national lending platform.
For more than 15 years, Annette has served as a member of the Urban Land Institute and has been an active contributor to the organization’s San Francisco district council and national council. She serves on the Board of the Golden Gate Chapter of Lambda Alpha International, which is the Honorary Society for the Advancement of Land Economics and is on the Board of Governors of the California Housing Consortium. She is a member of the San Francisco Planning + Urban Research Association, the Marin Agricultural Land Trust, and the Affordable Housing Investor Council. Annette graduated with a B.S. in Economics from Arizona State University and has an MBA in Finance from Penn State University.
Terce Sandifer, Senior Vice President / Originations Manager
Terce Sandifer serves as Senior Vice President and Originations Manager, directing all CDF debt and equity originations activity. His experience in community development finance runs the gamut with respect to both products and customers. Since joining CDF in 2002, Terce has arranged financing and syndication of debt and equity in support of customers ranging from large national developers to smaller community-based nonprofits.
Terce began his career at Union Bank in its National Corporate Banking unit. He later completed the bank’s Management Training Program and joined the CDF group. In addition, he has traveled to Japan to participate in a management exchange program with The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd., Union Bank’s parent corporation.
A native of Southern California, Terce earned his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California and is a member of the Urban Land Institute.
Judy Kong-Cheung, Senior Vice President / Chief Financial Officer
Judy Kong-Cheung serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the CDF division, with responsibility for finance, tax credit syndication, and risk management. She has played a key strategic role in growing the division and developing a Sarbanes-Oxley compliant platform at CDF since joining the bank in 2000. Prior to Union Bank, Judy worked for JPMorgan Chase in Singapore, where she oversaw the bank’s management accounting function for the South and Southeast Asia Region and managed major technology integration projects relating to the Euro conversion and Y2K.
Over the course of her career, Judy has also held financial management positions with Citibank and Wells Fargo. A Certified Public Accountant in California, she holds an MBA from Golden Gate University and a B.A. from San Francisco State University. She is a member of the Affordable Housing Investor Council.
Chris Johnston, Vice President / Co-Director of Asset Management
Chris Johnston serves as Vice President and Co-Director of Asset Management, responsible for managing the fund assets of the division’s affordable housing investments. Before joining Union Bank in 2008, Chris served as an acquisition officer at The Summit Group where he acquired and syndicated affordable developments throughout the U.S. Prior to that, he served as an affordable housing investment manager at Sempra Energy. Chris earned his master’s degree in City Planning from the Georgia Institute of Technology and his bachelor’s degree in Urban Studies and Economics from the University of California, San Diego.
Rita Wang, Vice President / Co-Director of Asset Management
Rita Wang serves as Vice President and Co-Director of Asset Management, responsible for the asset management of the direct tax credit equity portfolio and the permanent debt portfolio. Prior to joining Union Bank in 2007, Rita held positions in external and internal reporting on tax credit investments and portfolio management at PNC MultiFamily Capital. She is a Housing Credit Certified Professional (HCCP) and a member of the Integratec Investor Central User Group. Rita earned her bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA AND PACIFIC NORTHWEST MARKETS
Jonathan Klein, Vice President / Northern California and Pacific Northwest Market Manager
Jonathan Klein serves as Vice President and Northern California and Pacific Northwest market manager. In this position, he oversees all debt and tax credit equity originations in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest. Prior to joining Union Bank in 2008, Jonathan worked for Citibank’s community development group, where he closed approximately $350 million in financing for affordable developments in California and Washington for a mix of for-profit and non-profit clients.
Jonathan also served on the Board of Directors of the Northern California Community Loan Fund and the Affordable Housing Finance Committee for the County of Contra Costa. He is currently active with the Bay Area Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC). He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a master’s degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Bryan Friend serves as Vice President, providing debt, equity, and derivative products to the bank’s Pacific Northwest market. He has more than 20 years of experience in the financial industry, working in community development and conventional real estate. Prior to joining Union Bank in 2008, he managed the Community Development team for Bank of America in Seattle. Bryan serves on the boards of Housing Resources Group and the Downtown Emergency Service Center in Seattle, two prominent local low-income housing providers. He holds a bachelor’s degree and an MBA from Indiana University.
Fiona Hsu serves as Vice President, responsible for community development originations in Northern California. Prior to joining Union Bank in 2006, Fiona worked for a non-profit affordable housing developer, a real estate consulting firm, and an economic policy think tank.
Fiona is a member of the Urban Land Institute’s Young Leaders Group and the San Francisco Planning + Urban Research Association’s Young Urbanists. She is an active supporter of Habitat for Humanity and has helped build homes in Veracruz, Mexico and Bangalore, India through their Global Village program. Fiona is a co-founding board member of Spark, a nonprofit organization that supports grassroots women’s groups in the San Francisco Bay Area and around the world. Fiona holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley.
Ted Holman serves as Vice President, providing debt, equity, and derivative products to the bank’s Northern California affordable housing relationships. Prior to joining Union Bank in 2010, Ted was Vice President at Centerline Capital (formerly Related Capital). In that role, Ted originated LIHTC equity and debt deals, and also worked on liquidity management and asset disposition strategies.
Previously, Ted served as Director of Real Estate Lending at Opportunity Fund, a leading CDFI, and served as a financial and economic advisor at several international consulting firms. He holds a B.S. from Rutgers University and an M.A. in economics from the University of Virginia. He is a Certified Management Accountant.
Dameon Philpotts, Assistant Vice President
Dameon Philpotts serves as Assistant Vice President, providing debt, equity, and derivative products to the bank’s Northern California affordable housing relationships. Prior to joining Union Bank in 2007, Dameon spent four years with Chubb Insurance Company underwriting Directors and Officers and Errors and Omissions insurance for small, medium, and large financial institutions. In that role, Dameon worked with the institutions’ senior management to create risk management solutions. He also provided a regional distribution channel of more than 90 independent agents and brokers with the products and education required to service Chubb’s client base.
Dameon holds an MBA from George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree from Franklin and Marshall College.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA MARKET
Johanna Marie Gullick, Vice President / Southern California Market Manager
Johanna Marie Gullick serves as Vice President and Southern California Market Manager, responsible for overseeing all debt and tax credit equity originations in Southern California. She has more than 22 years of experience promoting and developing affordable housing in the region as a private and public lender and developer. She also has over 35 years of experience as an architect, planner, and general contractor.
Prior to joining Union Bank in 2007, Johanna served as Housing Development Director at Jamboree Housing Corporation, where she was responsible for the development of over 2,800 units of housing throughout California. Previously, Johanna spent 11 years managing the affordable housing loan programs at the City of Santa Monica’s Planning Department and Housing and Redevelopment Division. She also spearheaded the financing and development of over 1,200 affordable rental units with the City of Long Beach’s Housing Services Bureau. Johanna holds a bachelor’s degree from the Southern California Institute of Architecture.
Brian Frankel serves as Vice President, responsible for originating debt and equity financing for developers building affordable housing. He completed Union Bank’s commercial loan training program and worked in the real estate group from 1993 to 1997. Brian then worked for a private real estate equity group until 2002, when he rejoined Union Bank and began his career in the CDF division, initially leading the expansion of Union Bank’s equity portfolio.
Brian has long been a member and committee chairman for the Affordable Housing Investor Council, and has been an active participant in various affordable housing industry associations and conferences. He received his B.S. in Commerce from Santa Clara University.
Brian Roberts serves as Vice President, responsible for originating and underwriting construction loans and low-income housing tax credit investments. Brian joined Union Bank in 2005 and completed the bank’s commercial credit training program. He began his real estate career with CDF in 2006, where he developed his expertise in affordable housing finance. In 2011, Brian rejoined the CDF team after serving a one-year appointment in Union Bank’s Real Estate Special Assets Department.
Brian represents Union Bank on the Local Area Committee of the San Diego Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC). He holds bachelor’s degrees in Real Estate, Finance, and Law, as well as International Business, from California State University Long Beach.
Perica Bell, Assistant Vice President
Perica Bell serves as Assistant Vice President, responsible for originating and underwriting debt and equity financing. Prior to joining Union Bank in 2010, she served as a project manager at Jamboree Housing Corporation, a premier affordable housing developer based in Southern California. In that role, Perica managed all phases of project development, from site acquisition through project stabilization. Prior to her work at Jamboree, Perica worked in government and public affairs for the Orange County Chapter of the Building Industry Association, a non-profit trade association that represents organizations affiliated with the home building industry.
Perica holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Irvine and a master’s degree in Public Administration and Public Policy with an emphasis in Urban Affairs from California State University Long Beach. She has also completed the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) Affordable Housing Training Institute in both Development and Finance.
Jessica Mackenzie, Loan Officer
Jessica Mackenzie serves as a real estate loan officer on the originations team. She is responsible for underwriting and closing construction loans and LIHTC investments. Prior to joining Union Bank in 2009, Jessica held positions in real estate development at The Quinn Group and in environmental planning at Christopher A. Joseph.
Jessica holds a master’s degree in Real Estate Development and Urban Planning from the University of Southern California and a bachelor’s degree from University of California, Los Angeles. Jessica is a member of the Urban Land Institute and serves as a board member for the New Los Angeles Charter School. She is a LEED Accredited Professional and a Qualified Architectural Historian.
CO-FOUNDER
James H. Francis, Executive Vice President
James H. Francis joined Union Bank in 1986 and co-founded the CDF division in 1995. As head of the division, Jim oversaw the origination of more than $3 billion in capital for affordable housing development. He currently leads Union Bank’s Consumer Lending group.
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