Speakers
Oliver Kelly Spears III
Captain Spears, a native of Maryville Tennessee, entered the United States Na-
val Academy in June 1963, immediately upon graduation from Maryville High
School. In the summer of 1967 he was awarded a Bachelor of Science from the
Naval Academy and commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy. In
the same month he married his current and only wife, the former Donna Cady,
also of Maryville. 30 years and one month later, he retired from active duty in
the Navy. In January 2000 he and Donna returned to Maryville, TN. He entered
the non-profit world in 2002 and in 2003; he became a volunteer executive in
order to assist in the creation of Foothills Community Development Corporation
(FCDC). FCDC is a 501c3 affordable housing organization. Although a sepa-
rate organization, FCDC is a close working partner of Blount County Habitat for
Humanity. In 2005, Kelly Spears became the Executive Director of FCDC. Since
that time, FCDC has constructed over 50 homes for local families and has
helped over 30 families become home owners with down payment assistance.
FCDC is currently working on their third subdivision in Blount County. Kelly is a certified Housing Develop-
ment Financial Planner and a Homebuyer Education Trainer. He currently serves on the Boards of Direc-
tors of Foothills Community Development Corporation, the Federation of Appalachian Housing Enterprise,
and is President of the BOD of Maryville Housing Authority General Partner Group. He is a member of the
United Way of Blount County Allocation panel and a member of the Blount County Homeless Task Force.
He and Donna attend and are active members of Fairview United Methodist Church in Maryville.
Jon Rogers
Jon Rogers is the Director of Homeownership for the Federation of Appala-
chian Housing Enterprises (FAHE), serving in that capacity since July 2006.
Jon began a banking career in 1986 with increasingly responsible positions to
include the West Virginia Housing Development Fund in 1997 working in both
federal and state affordable mortgage programs and in 2004 moving to Fan-
nie Mae as the Senior Deputy Director of West Virginia’s Partnership Office.
Jon holds a Bachelor’s of Science Degree from West Virginia State University
and earned his Master’s Degree from West Virginia University in Legal Studies
in 2005. He is also a licensed mortgage loan originator in five states. Addition-
ally, Jon also provides Foreclosure Mediation services to Kentucky state courts
in multiple jurisdictions by taking assignments from circuit judges in an effort to
provide workout solutions for homeowners and their lenders.
Jonathan Weatherby
Jonathan Weatherby is a 1998 graduate of the University of Kentucky Col-
lege of Law. He served for two years as the Associate General Counsel for the
Cabinet for Families and Children of Kentucky specializing in employment and
agency defense litigation. In 2000, he joined Thomas and King, Inc., a fran-
chisee of Applebee’s restaurants, also as Associate General Counsel where
his role was expanded to include advising human resources personnel and
teaching classes in employment law and alcohol responsibility to restaurant
managers. Weatherby has tried numerous personnel cases within the state
Personnel Board forum and successfully defended Thomas and King in three
employment arbitrations.
Speakers
Dave Kreher
Dave Kreher has served as the Executive Director of People’s Self-Help Hous-
ing, Inc. in Lewis County, KY since 1985 and was the first employee hired when
the group was founded in 1982. Dave received his Bachelor’s Degree from the
Catholic University of America and was a member of the Home Missioners of
America working in the Appalachian areas of Georgia, Virginia and Kentucky
from 1976-1982. Under his leadership, PSHH in-house construction crews have
built 285 new homes and repaired and rehabilitated 550 homes. Providing a
continuum of care approach to housing, PSHH has also developed and man-
ages 5 emergency shelter units, 17 transitional housing units and 98 single and
multifamily rental units and administers the Emergency Shelter Grant Program,
Supportive Housing Program, the Kentucky HEARTH Program and Tenant-Based
Rental Assistance. Dave is a member of the Affordable Housing Trust Fund
Advisory Committee and has served two terms as chair of the committee.
Dave is a member of the Kentucky Housing Policy Advisory Committee, the
Home Builders Association of Kentucky, Co-Chair of the Board of Directors of the Homeless and Housing
Coalition of Kentucky, a member of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati’s Advisory Council and a
member of the Board of the Federation of Appalachian Housing Enterprises.
Pam Johnson
Pam Johnson, Chief Operations Officer & Corporate Vice-President of FAHE.
Pam has overseen the operations for a wide variety of organizations, from a
small dentist’s office to an international manufacturing plant. She has been
working in affordable housing for over 15 years and as a native Central Ap-
palachian feels a personal dedication to her work at FAHE. She has enhanced
her education with college courses in accounting and law in addition to main-
taining her certification as a Grant Administrator and Housing Counselor. Pam
supervises loan servicing, FAHE Consulting, as well as Human Resources, and
other administrative functions.
Josh Holloway
Josh Holloway joined CDS in 2007 and currently serves as a Project Manager.
He graduated with his Bachelor of Architecture from Virginia Polytechnic
Institute and State University in 2005 and is a LEED Accredited Professional. He
is also a Virginia licensed Lead Risk Assessor and has been trained in proper
Weatherization and Energy Auditing practices. Josh has experience with LEED
for Homes, ENERGY STAR and EarthCraft certified single-family home new con-
struction and multifamily rehabilitation. Josh brings with him both architecture
and construction experience from a variety of organizations and serves as a
board member with the Southwest Virginia Chapter of the U.S. Green Building
Council (USGBC) while active with an on-campus ministry at Virginia Tech.
Speakers
Lance George
Lance George is a Senior Research Associate at the Housing Assistance Council
(HAC) based in Washington, D.C. HAC, founded in 1971, is a nonprofit orga-
nization that supports affordable housing efforts in rural areas of the United
States. Before coming to HAC, Lance worked for Frontier Housing, Inc., a
nonprofit organization that builds affordable homes for low-income families in
Appalachian Eastern Kentucky. Lance’s research and policy analysis at HAC
encompasses a wide array of issues and topics related to rural housing.
Marshall Crawford
Marshall Crawford serves as a key liaison brokering NeighborWorks® America
resources, and serves as a trusted advisor for building and sustaining nonprofit
organizations. He is responsible for developing relationships that produce a
strategic partnership with the NeighborWorks® organizations to enhance their
work for building strong communities. Crawford’s management consultant
broker responsibilities are focused on assuring the identification and delivery
of appropriate technical support from within NeighborWorks® America and
external resources. He must facilitate the development, coordination and
implementation of support, training and special assistance to the different
community-based organizations in the states of Tennessee, Kentucky, and
West Virginia.
Crawford has served in several capacities at NeighborWorks, most recently
promoting collaborations and partnerships between network organizations
and other CDC’s in order to increase production or meet other goals. He facili-
tated and leveraged key relationships between NeighborWorks America and strategic partners, such as
state housing finance agencies.
Before joining NeighborWorks, Crawford worked for the Office of Thrift Supervision as a safety and sound-
ness bank examiner in the Southeast Region. His banking career started in a management training
program for SunTrust Bank in Nashville, Tennessee. He later relocated to Atlanta, GA and worked as a
mortgage loan officer with several banks.
Crawford received a degree in finance from Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky and
a Master of Public Administration with a concentration in nonprofit management from the University of
Nebraska at Omaha.
Speakers
Dana K. Pancrazi
Ms. Pancrazi joined the F.B. Heron Foundation in 2006. She is a Senior Program
Officer and in this role, she is responsible for deploying the full range of Heron’s
“philanthropic toolbox” including grants, program related investments and
market-rate mission related investments. Ms. Pancrazi currently serves on the
steering committee for the PRI Makers Network, on the More for Mission Confer-
ence Leadership Committee, on the Advisory Board for CCA For Social Good,
and as a Trustee for NCB Capital Impact and the American Academy of Dra-
matic Arts.
A frequent speaker at conferences, Ms. Pancrazi has recently completed
engagements with the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, the Housing Assistance
Council, Case Western Reserve University Board of Trustees, and the Rockwell
Fund of Texas.
In addition to her career at Merrill, Ms. Pancrazi served on the San Diego
Economic Development Corporation’s Advisory Board for the Indicators of Sustainable Competitiveness,
as President of the Alumni Council for the California State University’s 23 campus system, and previously
has worked in research and development for a California based biotechnology firm and in production
agriculture. Ms. Pancrazi is a native Californian and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural
Business and Public Policy from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.
Jeffrey Michael Meyer
Mr. Meyer has been a Project Development Advisor at Virginia Community
Development Corporation since 1995. VCDC is a Virginia based non-profit with
the mission of empowering local communities to meet their housing needs and
acting as a catalyst for creative and profitable private sector investments in
those communities. Mr. Meyer works with project sponsors who are developing
affordable housing, assisting them through the process of tax credit applica-
tion, investor committee approval and technical support during a project’s de-
velopment phase. He has 20+ years’ experience working in community devel-
opment. Prior to Mr. Meyer joining VCDC, he was a program administrator with
the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development. Mr. Meyer
holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Clark University and Master’s Degree from Co-
lumbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.
Speakers
Tom Carew
Tom Carew joined FAHE as the Director of Membership on July 1, 2008. Tom is
a veteran of affordable housing in Appalachia, with a broad experience as a
practitioner, advocate, and funder. This position serves on the management
team for the corporation and is responsible for oversight and coordination of
membership relationships and activities.
Since 2004 Tom was a key staff member of FAHE member Frontier Housing Inc.,
where he served in several capacities including Chief Operating Officer and
Director of Red River Housing. From 2000-2004 he was Director of the Design
and Construction Review Team as well as the Director of the Appalachian
Housing Program for the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s Housing Finance
Agency, Kentucky Housing Corporation.
Prior to his work with KHC he served for 25 years as Executive Director of Frontier
Housing Inc., a non-profit corporation based in Morehead, providing Low
Income families with Home Ownership opportunities in seven counties of North Eastern Kentucky (Rowan
Bath, Carter, Elliott, Morgan, Menifee, Fleming).
Mr. Carew received an Honorary Doctor of Law degree from Fairfield University in 1992. He is the recipi-
ent of the Dorothy Williams Lifetime Achievement Award from Kentucky Housing Corporation the highest
award given in the Commonwealth for nonprofit housing producers. During his tenure as CEO of Frontier
Housing the organization received in 1998 the Maxwell Award for Excellence in Housing from the Fan-
nie Mae Foundation. He received the Housing Assistance Council’s Cochran/Collings National Service
Award in 2010.
Ralph Nodine
Ralph Nodine is President and CEO of the Virginia Community Development
Corporation (VCDC). VCDC is a Virginia based non-profit with the mission of
empowering local communities to meet their housing needs and acting as a
catalyst for creative and profitable private sector investments in those com-
munities. In its 15 housing equity funds, VCDC has invested over $320,000,000
in over 115 properties, leveraged $500,000,000 of total financing, and assisted
more than 4,700 units throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is also the
sponsor of four historic equity funds that have invested $25,000,000 in equity to
help preserve historic community development properties in Virginia communi-
ties. The Virginia Community Development Fund, a CDFI managed by VCDC,
has made 38 loans totaling $2,600,000 and recently received an award of
$35,000,000 in New Markets Tax Credits. Mr. Nodine has been with VCDC since
1989 and has over 30 years’ experience working with development financ-
ing in the public and private sectors at the local, state and national level. He
holds a BA from Colby College and a Master of Science in Resource Economics from the University of
New Hampshire. Prior to coming to VCDC he served in the Peace Corps, worked at the local level in Fort
Wayne, Indiana, and Lewiston, Maine, and was a Director at the National Development Council.