Suzanne Cabrera’s Biography

Suzanne Cabrera is the President/CEO of the Housing Leadership Council of Palm Beach County (HLC). The HLC is a private, non-for-profit, 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2006 by community and business leaders to address workforce/affordable housing issues. The organization is an action-oriented coalition of businesses, civic, and community leaders working to increase the availability and attainability of housing for the areas workforce. With more than 20 years’ experience in the field, Cabrera has a wealth of experience and knowledge in the area of workforce/affordable housing. Prior to joining the HLC she served as Executive Director of The Lord’s Place, a non-sectarian, non-profit agency, which serves the poor and homeless. Cabrera’s has extensive experience in writing and administering federal, state, and local grants including NSP, CDBG, ESGP, ESP, and FEMA.  She has written grants resulting in over $40 million in successful awards. Her professional volunteer roles includes current member and  past chair of the Palm Beach County Commission on Affordable Housing, chair of the West Palm Beach Affordable Housing Committee, executive member of the Affordable Housing Collaborative, member of the Homeless Advisory Board Housing and Advocacy committees. She received a Bachelor of Science degree from St. Lawrence University with a double major in biology and chemistry and did graduate work at McGill University.

Bradford Goar’s Biography

BRAD GOAR serves as Program Manager for FPL’s Residential Conservation Services and Low Income Weatherization programs. Prior to his being a program manager, he was responsible for product marketing of FPL’s residential and business DSM programs. Prior to his joining FPL, Goar was the Director of Marketing and Sales for Comcast Communications in Naples/Ft Myers Florida. He has more than 20 years experience as a marketing/sales director for a variety of communication companies in a variety of locations through out the United States and Puerto Rico. Goar has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Maryville College, Maryville, Tenn.

Lori Pampilo Harris’s Biography

LORI PAMPILO HARRIS has served the Habitat for Humanity ministry for over nine years.  Lori is currently serving, as the first Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity of Florida-which is the statewide association of the 63 affiliates in the state. 

Her first role was with HFHI as an affiliate support manager in the MidAmerica region of HFHI, serving affiliates in Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee and Kentucky. Over the years, Lori has taken on increased responsibility and has contributed her numerous talents in several different HFHI staff capacities, including serving as an organizational development consultant for urban affiliates.  And her most recent role, as the field operations manager for state support organizations. 

During her time working with state support organizations,  the growth of funding for SSOs was substantial, with over a million dollars secured  through Partners in Sustainable Building, Capacity Building funds, Housing Trust Fund advocacy grants, Learning and Organizational Development department and more.  A “team approach” method in supporting and folding in the efforts of SSOs through several HFHI departments committing staff time towards this was implemented in the organization.  And the SSO community continues to enlarge from 24 to the forecast of 35 SSOs by the end of 2010.  Collectively, SSOs distributed over $25 million (FY09) to affiliates in the country, an increase of over 10% from the last fiscal year. 

Prior to coming to Habitat, Lori was an executive director of a social justice organization in Indianapolis.  She also spent two years as a state legislative lobbyist, where she grew her experience and knowledge in advocacy.  Lori also engages in Native peoples’ initiatives and advocacy, promoting self-determination.

Ben Johnson’s Biography

Ben Johnson is President and majority shareholder of Seltzer Management Group, Inc. Seltzer’s primary focus is providing financial services to Florida’s affordable housing lending community with its largest client being the Florida Housing Finance Corporation. Seltzer has been under continuous contract with Florida Housing for more than 16 years. Seltzer also provides similar services to most large county local housing finance authorities located in Florida. Johnson has worked at Seltzer since 1996 and been its President since 1998. He maintains direct managerial responsibility for Seltzer’s credit underwriting function. Prior to Seltzer, Johnson was the controller and in-house CPA for a publicly traded Real Estate Investment Trust. He received a B.S. in Accounting from Virginia Tech and M.S. in Finance from Kings College.

Steve Kropp’s Biography

STEVE KROPP is currently a Partner in Highland Investment Partners, LLC, a company recently formed to acquire and preserve troubled affordable housing projects in Florida. He is also the President and Broker of record of Kropp Real Estate Advisory, Inc., a licensed real estate brokerage company in Florida. From 1995 until 2008, Kropp served as president of LCA Development which developed and managed over 4,000 affordable and market rate apartments in Central Florida. He graduated from Florida State University with a degree in Finance. He then served as a commercial real estate loan officer for Barnett Bank. Following his short career in banking, Kropp was the first person to receive concurrent master’s degrees from the University of Florida, obtaining an MBA in Finance and a Master of Arts in Real Estate Valuation and Urban Analysis. He was awarded the Matherly Scholar designation for finishing in the top ten of his MBA class. Kropp obtained the MAI designation from the Appraisal Institute and the CCIM designation from the Commercial Investment Real Estate Institute.

William O'Dell’s Biography

WILLIAM O'DELL is a key member of the University of Florida's Shimberg Center for Housing Studies research team. Prior to his appointment as Associate Director, he managed the Florida Housing Data Clearinghouse housed in the Shimberg Center. He has worked closely with the Florida Housing Coalition for many years on a variety of issues. The Clearinghouse has, for example provided the information needed to determine housing need for the Sadowski Act Coalition and the information the Florida Housing Coalition uses in its work around mobile home park closure displacement. O’Dell’s work includes the development of tools and applications that utilize the Center's evolving housing database. He is currently focusing on site suitability for affordable housing, revisions to the affordable housing needs assessment, assisted multi-family housing preservation and expansion of the Center’s research and data capacity. He received a bachelor's degree in architecture and a master's in political science.

Lori Sandonato’s Biography

Lori Sandonato is the Vice President of Homes for Independence, Inc., and Director of Housing for ServiceSource, d/b/a Abilities, Inc. of Florida.  Sandonato is responsible for the development and geographic expansion of integrated affordable rental properties, retrofit and rehab programs as well as ownership opportunities for non-profit community based organizations in four states.  In addition to development activities and operational responsibilities, Sandonato serves on multiple condominium boards, holds a current Credential for Green Property Management and several other designations from NAHMA.