COSCDA Leadership & Staff

Board of Directors

Alison George photo

President

Alison George



Housing Director, Colorado Department of Local Affairs

1313 Sherman Street, Suite 521
Denver, Colorado 80203

Phone: (303) 864-7818
E-Mail[email protected]

vice president

Rebecca Frawley Wachtel

Tax Credit and HOME Program Director
Massachusetts – Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities 

100 Cambridge Street, Suite 300
Boston, Massachusetts 02114

Phone: (617) 573-1318
E-Mail:  [email protected]

TraciWatts1

TREASURER

Traci Watts

Director, LCDBG, LGAP, CWEF Programs
State of Louisiana, Division of Administration, Office of Community Development

1201 N Third Street, Suite 7-270
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70764

Phone: (225) 342-7412
E-Mail:  [email protected]

Cindy Stone

SECRETARY

Cindy Stone


Director, Community Programs

Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development

7800 Hawkins Road
Lanham, Maryland 20706

Phone: (301) 429-7519
E-Mail: [email protected]

Deborah Johnson

IMMEDIATE PAST President

Deborah Johnson

Director, Office of Community Development, Maine Department of Economic & Community Development

59 State House Station
Augusta, Maine 04333-0059

Phone: (207) 624-9817
E-Mail:  [email protected]

Janice Waddell

Member-at-Large

Janice L. Waddell


Federal Programs Branch Chief,
California Department of Housing and Community Development

2020 West El Camino Avenue
Sacramento, California 94252-2050

Phone: (916) 223-9004
E-Mail[email protected]

Member-at-Large

Kent Archer


Director of Community Infrastructure
Community and Rural Development

Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development

312 Rosa L Parks Ave., 27
th Floor
Nashville, Tennessee 37243

Phone: (615) 354-3591
E-Mail: [email protected]

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Member-at-Large

Kimberly N. Carter, EDFP

Division Director, Community Finance Division
Georgia Department of Community Affairs

60 Executive Park South, NE
Atlanta, GA 30329

Phone: (404) 679-0604
Email: [email protected]

Member-at-Large

Tricia Davis


Assistant Director

Utah Workforce Services, Housing and Community Development, Office of Homeless Services

140 E. 300 S.
Salt Lake City, UT 84111

Phone: (801) 859-4805
E-Mail: [email protected]

Member-at-Large

Heather Lagrone


Senior Deputy Director
Texas General Land Office

1700 North Congress Avenue
Austin, Texas 78701-1495

Phone: (512) 463-5001
E-Mail: heather.lagrone.glo@
recovery.texas.gov

Member-at-Large

Seila Mosquera-Bruno

Commissioner
Connecticut Department of Housing

505 Hudson Street
Hartford, Connecticut 06106-7106

Phone: 860.270.8037

E-Mail: [email protected]

Board - Katherine Easterly Martley

Regional Representative-Eastern

Katherine Easterly Martey

Executive Director
New Hampshire Community Development Finance Authority

14 Dixon Avenue
Concord, New Hampshire 03301

Phone: (603) 717-9118
E-Mail: [email protected]

Regional Representative-MidWestern

Kayla Savage

Director, Community Development Division
Kansas Department of Commerce

1000 S.W. Jackson Street, Ste. 100
Topeka, KS 66616

Phone: (785) 213-7056
E-Mail: [email protected]

Regional Representative-Southern

Suzanne Barnard

 

Director for CDBG Programs
Texas Department of Agriculture, Office of Rural Affairs

P.O. Box 12847
Austin, Texas 78711

Phone: 512.463.6612
E-Mail[email protected]

Regional Representative-Western

Pauletta Bourne

Grants Administrator III
State of Alaska, Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development

455 3rd Avenue, Suite 140
Fairbanks, Alaska 99701

Phone: 907.451.2721
Fax: 601.359.3108
E-Mail[email protected]

COSCDA Staff

Tess Hembree

Tess Hembree is the Executive Director and has overall management responsibility for the operation of the organization, to include fiscal, staffing and operational. She has responsibility for membership services, internal management, external representation, including advocacy on a host of programmatic and regulatory issues of importance to the COSCDA members, policy development and ethics. Tess is the primary liaison to the COSCDA Board of Directors, the governing body of the organization.

Ms. Hembree comes to COSCDA from the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO), where her decade-long leadership on Congressional affairs and grassroots advocacy resulted in consistent advances and policy victories in affordable housing for members representing thousands of local housing agencies nationwide. She brings a total of nearly 15 years of experience developing and implementing strategies to produce tangible results in appropriations, regulatory efforts, and grassroots advocacy. Hembree has an Executive Masters in Public Administration from the University of Washington Evans School of Public Policy and Governance.

Josh Shumaker

Josh Shumaker leads COSCDA’s government relations as Director of Advocacy and Federal Programs. Representing COSCDA’s four mission areas of community development, housing, homelessness, and disaster recovery, he engages national stakeholders to ensure federal resources and policies adequately respond to state and local needs. Prior to joining COSCDA, Josh served in a similar role with the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO). He also has experience in working with local governments on community and infrastructure development initiatives in his home state of Tennessee. Josh holds degrees from Wofford College and the University of Memphis.

Angel Billingsley

Angel Billingsley, Operations and Office Manager, is the key administrative support person for COSCDA. Her responsibilities include data base and web management, conference and training logistics, technical assistant for IT solutions, and membership.

Ed Geiger

Ed Geiger  serves as the Conference Training Coordinator who manages the planning, organizing, and implementing of COSCDA’s annual trainings, specifically the Program Managers Meeting in late winter and the Annual Training Conference in the fall.  He previously administered most of the community development and housing programs within the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED). After nearly 33 years with Pennsylvania state government, Ed started Edge Strategic Consulting, which provides training, research, technical assistance, and strategic planning for housing and community development clients.

Michael Lightfield

Michael Lightfield is the Comptroller and has primary responsibility for COSCDA’s fiscal and budgetary issues. He is the President of Lightfield Wealth Management.

COSCDA 2023 Committee Leadership

Community Development
Chair: Suzanne Barnard (TX)
Co-Chair: Dennis Porter (ID)
Co- Chair: Crystal Loffler (NY)
Co-Chair: Wendy Bell (IL)

Disaster Recovery 
Chair: Heather Lagrone (TX)
Co-Chair: Jenny Cho (CA)
Co-Chair: Jenny Mason (NE)
Co-Chair: Sam Viavattine (NJ)

Housing
Chair: Rebecca Frawley Wachtel (MA)
Co-Chair: Julia Zaffarano (CO)
Co-Chair: Barbara Richards (OH)
Co-Chair: Curtis Stauffer (KY)

Homelessness
Chair:  Janice Waddell (CA)
Co-Chair: Ara Mendoza (VA)
Co-Chair: Whitney Whitaker (CO)
Co-Chair: Steve DiLella (CT)

Member Services
Chair: Kimberly Carter (GA)
Co-Chair: Fumi Schaadt (OR)
Co-Chair: Kayla Savage (KS) 
Co-Chair: Brianne Hasty (ME)

Nominations and Elections Committee
Chair: Kent Archer (TN)
Co-Chair:  Cindy Stone (MD)
Co-Chair: Jason Bradley (CA)

Training and Professional Development Subcommittee
Chair: Seila Mosquera-Bruno (CT)
Co-Chair: Donna Enrico (PA)
Co-Chair: Sandra Gunner (LA)
Co-Chair: Rikki Roehrich (ND)

Technology Subcommittee
Deborah Johnson (ME)
Kent Archer (TN)
Jennifer Domenici (UT)

Awards Review Subcommittee
Chair-Traci Watts (LA)
Suzanne Barnard (TX)
Rebecca Frawley Wachtel (MA)
Heather Lagrone (TX)
Janice Waddell (CA)

Past Presidents Advisory Board
Chair: Steve Hardin (MS)
Catherine Racer (MA)
Steve Charleston (NE)

Guiding Committee Appointment Principles:

1. No officers as committee chairs
2. No state has two chairs
3. Generally, seek co-chairs from different states than board members
4. Maximize leadership opportunities for chairs and co-chairs
5. Maximize regional diversity