The OAS reviewers have been selected because of their experience in the field and their ability to turn their expertise into an independent, unbiased, useful assessment with specific objectives in mind.

OAS Consulting Reviewers

Joan Straussman Brandon was with NeighborWorks® America for 25 years in both the Organizational Assessment Division and Field Operations before becoming a private consultant in 2006. Joan managed organizational assessments of some of the network’s more complex organizations and was involved in the development of the PROMPT® review system. She also develops and provides training at the NeighborWorks Training Institutes. In addition to serving as a consultant to NeighborWorks America, Joan is director of programs with the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey, a statewide association of more than 250 community development organizations and professionals.

Fred Cooper has focused on building community assets, improving access to credit and investment for low-wealth communities, and building capacity among those who serve these communities. As president of Community Development Concepts Advisory Services Inc., a national consulting firm, his clients included CDCs, CDFIs, community development collaboratives and intermediaries, and public agencies. Fred’s work includes organization assessments, capitalization strategies, strategic and business planning, and market assessments. Previously, he served as deputy director for policy and programs with the US Department of the Treasury’s CDFI Fund. Fred lives in Maryland.

Kristin Faust has more than 25 years experience in community development finance serving the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. Currently she is director of lending and network services at Partners for the Common Good in Washington, DC. Formerly Kristin served as President of Enterprise Community Loan Fund, one of the largest non-depository community development financial institutions, growing the organization threefold during her four year tenure. Previously she was chief deputy treasurer for the State of California with responsibility for overseeing more than $300 billion in public investment funds. Kristin spent fifteen years in community development banking in Chicago. She received a BA from Brown University and a Masters in City and Regional Planning from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Jack Geary has led or participated in more than 50 organizational assessments for NeighborWorks America as well as assessments for HUD and others. Jack is a property management/asset management professional with over 30 years of experience in public housing and not for profit housing management and development. He holds an MS degree from the University of Massachusetts, John W. McCormack Institute for Public Management and has completed the State and Local Government Executive Program at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. Jack teaches asset management and real estate development classes at NeighborWorks Training Institutes. As a private consultant based in Florida, Jack works nationally with developers, owners, and managers of affordable housing.

R. Ellen King has served with a variety of nonprofit organizations as a community organizer, development director, executive director, and housing authority commissioner. She has reviewed applications for the New Market Tax Credit, the CDFI Fund, National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling grants for NeighborWorks America, and community economic development requests for the Office of Community Services at HHS. Formerly, she worked as a management consultant with the Organizational Assessment Division of NeighborWorks America. Ellen is based in Kansas City.

Marsha Krassner has more than 30 years of professional experience in small business and community facilities lending. Marsha consults with a variety of mission-based organizations, including financial intermediaries, foundations, CDCs, CDFIs and CDEs. She is frequently called upon for her expertise in strengthening loan operations, developing new business and product initiatives, and crafting capitalization strategies, including writing tax credit, grant and funding proposals. She is also regularly retained to provide due diligence, underwriting services, and investment recommendations on behalf of Federal agencies, financial institutions, foundations, and investors. Before forming her own firm, Marsha held senior positions with the National Cooperative Bank and its CDFI affiliate, NCB Capital Impact. Marsha lives in San Antonio, Texas.

Juana D. Mejia has over 20 years of property and asset management experience. As director of Catholic Property Management, she currently coordinates property and asset management and resident services activities for 2,250 units of senior housing at 15 properties owned by the Diocese of Miami. Juana also has extensive experience as a trainer and consultant to the public and nonprofit sectors. She served for four years as director (and seven years as assistant director) of Urban Edge Property Management – a large Boston-based community development corporation. During her tenure, the community-based organization increased its managed portfolio by more than 100% and became nationally recognized as a top nonprofit management company.

John Moukad has over 20 years experience in the nonprofit and government sectors. He has served as a program administrator in New York State government, a program officer with The Enterprise Foundation, and a vice president at YouthBuild USA. Currently, as an independent consultant in community development, John’s work focuses on organization assessments, financial analysis, strategy development and capacity building. Special areas of expertise include nonprofit business analysis, lending and community development finance, and housing and real estate development. John is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Michael Schaaf focuses his consulting work on building community assets, enhancing access to credit and investment for low-wealth communities, and building capacity within nonprofit organizations and public entities serving them. Clients include CDFIs, CDCs, public agencies, banks, and national intermediaries with services including assistance in capitalization, business planning, market analysis and product design, and strategic planning. He has worked extensively with the full range of public programs and private resources for community development. Operating a consulting firm for 20 years serving a national clientele, Michael is based in the Boston area.

Marshall Tyndall brings to OAS 30 years of executive level experience in banking and finance. After serving for many years as a senior executive with Chase Bank of Texas, he joined LISC as senior program director for Houston. Marshall has been a consultant to NeighborWorks America for 10 years, conducting assessments of a wide variety of organizations, both within and outside the NeighborWorks network. For OAS, his assessments have included urban and rural CDCs, CAP agencies, and a community foundation. He has assessed real estate development, property management, and all other housing lines of business. Marshall lives in Austin, Texas.

OAS NeighborWorks America Staff:

Jeff Baloutine developed and manages Organizational Assessment Services (OAS), the NeighborWorks America initiative providing assessments to build nonprofit capacity. He also manages assessments of organizations applying for affiliation with NeighborWorks America. During a 30-plus year career, Jeff has acted as an advocate to attract new resources and implement policies to enable low–income communities to meet housing and community development needs. His experience has been in banking, for national and local nonprofit organizations, in city and county government, consulting, and teaching at the university level. Jeff has an MS in Community & Regional Planning from the University of Texas and is based in Kansas City, Missouri.

Morgan Green graduated in 2009 with a B.S. in Community Development from Portland State University, Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning. Her focus of study included community organization and change and international community development. In addition, Morgan volunteers with a number of organizations in Kansas City, Missouri, to include Catholic Charities TurnAround Program, Literacy Kansas City, and Harvesters. Currently, Morgan provides administrative support to the Organizational Assessment Division.