Vanessa Luna

Director of Multifamily Supportive Housing Development

Vanessa joined Brilliant Corners in 2020, bringing 15 years of experience in supportive multifamily housing development in the Los Angeles area. In her previous role as Housing Director for Clifford Beers Housing, Vanessa and her team added 356 supportive and affordable units to the City’s housing stock. These units were distributed among six Low-Income Housing Tax Credit developments that totaled over $100 million in financing, with over 200 of these units created for households experiencing homelessness or with special needs. Vanessa has also focused on innovative construction techniques, such as the use of shipping containers, to reduce the costs of building construction, and is passionate about working at the intersection of affordable housing with issues of environmental justice and climate resiliency. Vanessa holds a Master of Planning degree from the University of Southern California.

Stephany Ashley

Housing Services Director, Northern California

Stephany oversees all housing services programs across Brilliant Corners’ San Francisco and San Mateo offices. She is the former Executive Director of the St. James Infirmary, the nation’s only healthcare and social service agency by and for the sex worker community, and she currently serves on the Leadership Team of the TGI Justice Project. She has been active in San Francisco politics, serving as President of the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, as a Legislative Aide to former Supervisor David Campos, and as a Campaign Manager and Communications Consultant for various local campaigns. Most recently, she worked on Tipping Point Community’s Chronic Homelessness Initiative. 

Chris Contreras

Director, Los Angeles Flexible Housing Subsidy Pool

Chris joined Brilliant Corners in 2014. As a leader of Brilliant Corners’ Housing Acquisitions team, Chris helped to launch the FHSP program and has provided strategic oversight to the scaling of the FHSP’s housing portfolio to include over 4,800 individual market rate scattered-site units throughout the county over the past four years. His current role has given him the opportunity to focus extensively on housing location and landlord recruitment throughout Los Angeles County. Prior to joining Brilliant Corners, Chris worked to improve community housing outcomes in Santa Barbara County. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from University of California, Santa Barbara.

Josh Decell

Director of Data and Technology

Josh brings over a decade of experience in the public and non-profit sectors to the Brilliant Corners operations. From 2011 to 2017, he worked at the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), where he oversaw data collection, research and program evaluation. Prior to that, Josh spent five years in the non-profit education space with a focus on designing data systems to support participant information management and outcome measurement. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from San Francisco State University and a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Southern California.

Monique Davis

Chief People Officer

Monique joined Brilliant Corners in 2021, bringing a wealth of experience not only in the human resources field, but also in the housing sector and DEI work. Most recently, she was the Chief Community Officer at Skid Row Housing Trust in Los Angeles for six years. Prior to that, Monique has held HR leadership roles in a number of organizations, including being responsible for all HR activities for a successful startup with over 70 locations nationwide, as well as starting her own business offering talent and business management consulting services. Monique’s work to end homelessness has been recognized by Biz Now, University of Phoenix, as well as US Bank and People Magazine for her work with Skid Row Housing Trust. During her many public speaking opportunities, Monique has addressed race and social equity as a leading cause of homelessness and poverty. She advocates for the homeless community in efforts to address the disparate impact of homelessness in the African American, Women, LBGTQI, Disabled and previously incarcerated communities.

Daryl James

Director, CIIP

Before joining Brilliant Corners, Daryl served as the Director of Housing for H.O.P.E., Inc., where he oversaw all aspects of both housing development and asset management for a portfolio of over 150 affordable housing properties serving over 350 individuals in Los Angeles County. Prior to that he served as the Executive Director at Rebuilding Together Long Beach where he coordinated more than 180 community revitalization projects in and around the city. Daryl received his J.D. at USC and his B.S. in Finance from Howard University. In addition, Daryl completed the James Weldon Johnson Civil Rights Law Fellowship at the University of Miami in the summer of 2004. In 2015, he completed the Beyond the Basics Leadership Certificate Program, a pilot leadership training and educational program at California State University Long Beach. He is also a graduate of the Leadership Long Beach Institute class of 2015 and the Leadership Long Beach Executive Leadership Series class of 2016. Most recently, Daryl was recognized as one of the “40 Under 40” by the Long Beach Post.

Tyler Fong

Senior Director of Program Initiatives

Tyler joined Brilliant Corners in 2009. Tyler initially provided support and oversight for Brilliant Corners’ first scattered-site supportive housing program, located in San Francisco, to house over 150 people experiencing homelessness. In 2013, Tyler moved to Los Angeles to expand Brilliant Corners’ operations in Southern California, while also launching Brilliant Corners’ first partnership with the Los Angeles Department of Health Services – Housing for Health office. Two years later, Tyler helped to launch the Flexible Housing Subsidy Pool in Los Angeles County. Tyler currently provides oversight to innovative supportive housing programs in the Inland Empire and the Bay Area. 

Serena Fields

Director of Supportive Housing Development & Management

Serena joined Brilliant Corners in 2016 and currently serves as the Director of Supportive Housing Development & Management. In this role, she oversees all development and property management operations for the Community Placement Plan (CPP) program statewide, which includes an overall portfolio of more than 250 small licensed residential care homes. Additionally, Serena oversees management of all CPP projects in the development pipeline. Prior to relocating to Northern California, Serena started her career at Brilliant Corners as a Development Project Manager in BC’s San Diego satellite office, managing CPP development in partnership with the San Diego Regional Center. Before joining Brilliant Corners, she spent more than ten years as a City Planner, managing various levels of residential and commercial projects through government entitlement processes. She holds a B.S. in Health Science from Saint Mary’s College, Moraga, CA and is currently a licensed salesperson with the California Bureau of Real Estate.

Lisa Johnson

Statewide Case Management Director

Lisa joined Brilliant Corners in 2015. She oversees Brilliant Corners’ case management programs and services in San Francisco, the Inland Empire, and Los Angeles County. Lisa engages with high-level government and partner stakeholders to develop, operationalize, and scale supportive housing services that embrace a Housing First model. She developed and managed Brilliant Corners’ Breaking Barriers program, an innovative rapid rehousing and case management program serving Los Angeles County adult probationers. Prior to joining Brilliant Corners, Lisa provided clinical case management to former foster care and probation youth. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Stanford University and a Master’s in Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis. Lisa is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (#75963, California Board of Behavioral Services).

Jonas Mok

Chief Operating Officer

Jonas brings to Brilliant Corners a background in both for-profit and non-profit organizations in high-growth stages. He has helped lead organizations to scale, served as a thought partner with CEOs and founders, and has hands-on experience in program, project and people management, technology and finance. He played key roles in scaling Bay Area organizations and companies nationally—including Revolution Foods, Sports4Kids/PlayWorks, and Noah’s Bagels. Jonas also led operations efforts for three international organizations: at Room to Read, as Vice President of Finance and Operations at Global Citizen Year, and as founder of World PULSE, a Bay Area international non-profit for young adults from low-income backgrounds. Jonas has a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Asian Studies from University of California, Berkeley.

Wendy Moorhouse

Director of Supportive Housing

Wendy joined Brilliant Corners in 2015. She has more than 30 years of experience promoting and providing safe and appropriate housing for very low-and extremely low-income seniors, people with disabilities, and people experiencing or at risk of homelessness or institutionalization. She has supervised property managers at every level as well as overseen social service, compliance, fair housing and maintenance departments. Her portfolio has included management of cooperatives, SROs, affordable housing for families and the elderly, care homes, and other forms of permanent supportive housing. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Human Development, Family Studies, and Related Services from Cornell University.

Cristobal Nava

Director of Internal Audits

Cristobal leads the financial reporting function for Brilliant Corners, including financial statement audits and other internal and external reporting engagements. Prior to joining Brilliant Corners, Cristobal spent more than 10 years in public accounting, working primarily with non-profit affordable housing real estate developers that emphasized tax credit projects. He has worked with most of the larger Bay Area affordable housing developers, including Eden Housing, BRIDGE, Mid-Pen, and EBALDC along with other developers throughout California including Newport Partners and CHIP. His particular areas of focus during that time were cost certifications and consolidations. Cristobal holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the University of Florida.

Narmin Nuru

Housing Services Director, Inland Empire

Narmin joined Brilliant Corners in 2018. She oversees the management and growth of operations, programs and partnerships in the Inland Empire. Narmin comes to Brilliant Corners with 10 years of experience in non-profit management, social justice and community and organizational leadership. She most recently served as the Bay Area Program Director of Peer Health Exchange, a national non-profit organization dedicated to empowering young people with the knowledge, skills and resources to make healthy decisions. Narmin completed a dual Bachelor’s degree in Development Studies and Mass Communications from University of California, Berkeley and a Master’s of Social Work from University of Michigan.

William F. Pickel

Chief Executive Officer

Bill joined Brilliant Corners in 2007. During his tenure, he has been fortunate to work with internal and external partners who shared and operationalized his belief in the power of supportive housing to change lives and improve communities. During his decade with the organization, Brilliant Corners has emerged as a leading supportive housing provider with a track record of piloting, replicating and scaling system-changing programs – particularly programs for people transitioning from homelessness or institutionalization. He has championed the agency’s re-branding, its alignment with the guiding principles of supportive housing, its geographic expansion outside the Bay Area, and expanding its mission to serving a range of vulnerable individuals who could benefit from supportive housing. Under his tenure, Brilliant Corners’ workforce has grown from 2 to over 300 full-time team members working in our San Francisco and Los Angeles hubs with expertise in supportive housing development, property management, housing services, and case management. Prior to joining Brilliant Corners, William served as Director of Housing Development for California Community Housing, where he had primary responsibility for all real estate development and financing, securing $250M in federal, state, local and private funding in support of 18 multi-family projects including HUD and Low-Income Housing Tax Credit housing. He holds an M.A. in Religious Studies from Boston University, a Bachelor’s degree in Literature from the State University of New Jersey, and an Advanced Affordable Housing Development Training Institute Certificate from the Local Initiative Support Corporation.

Danielle Wildkress

Chief Program Officer

Danielle joined Brilliant Corners in 2017. She oversees Brilliant Corners’ supportive housing programs and provides strategic oversight for Brilliant Corners’ Flexible Housing Subsidy Pool. She also plays a leadership role in inter-agency and public-private advocacy and coordination within Los Angeles County’s increasingly robust supportive housing systems. Previously, Danielle served as a Director for CSH, advising public agencies on systems changes to prevent and end homelessness with a focus on reentry issues. Prior to CSH, she served as a Senior Policy Analyst at HomeBase, providing technical assistance for the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD). Danielle earned her J.D. from New York Law School, where she received awards for her commitment to civil rights and public service.

Donny Lieberman

Past President Emeritus

Donny is President and CEO of Sunseri Construction, a general contracting company with operations in California and Nevada. Founded in the early 1970’s, Sunseri has a mission to serve organizations providing affordable multi-family and senior housing. This mission has been realized with the construction of over 8,000 units of housing for low-income seniors, families, homeless individuals and people needing assistance. Donny has been active in housing advocacy since the early 1980’s and is a member and contributor to numerous organizations, including East Bay Housing Organization, Housing California, Sacramento Housing Alliance and the Non Profit Housing Association of Northern California.

Bob Mills

Vice President

Bob is a practicing attorney with Goldfarb & Lipman, emphasizing transactional real estate involving the development and preservation of affordable housing Bob’s focus is on structuring complex transactions involving multiple layers of financing, especially those with some type of federal assistance, including, for example, tax credits, FHA mortgage assistance, and Section 8 rental subsidies.  Prior to Goldfarb & Lipman, Bob was an attorney at HUD, participating in numerous loan closings, negotiating the sale of properties from HUD’s multifamily portfolio, and enforcing the federal Fair Housing Act.  Bob has also worked as a newspaper reporter in Los Angeles and Australia before abandoning all creative thought processes and attending law school. For fun, he occasionally sports odd facial hair, to the deep embarrassment of his two daughters. When that ceases to provide enjoyment, Bob likes to run, read, and tend to the backyard garden.

Shamus Roller

President

Shamus is the Executive Director at the National Housing Law Practice, a non-profit national housing and legal advocacy center with a mission to advance housing justice for poor people. Prior to his work at NHLP, Shamus was Executive Director of Housing California. While there, Shamus led advocates statewide in advancing important initiatives that improved California’s policy frameworks for housing its most vulnerable communities, including the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program, the Veterans Housing and Homelessness Prevention Program, the CalWorks Housing Support Program, and Bringing Families Home. Prior to Housing California, Shamus served as Executive Director of the Sacramento Housing Alliance where he spearheaded policy initiatives that cleared the path for increased mixed income housing and transit-oriented development. He started his career running street outreach programs for homeless youth and adults.

Earl Edwards

Board Member

Earl Edwards is an education and homeless policy researcher and consultant. In 2018, he co-facilitated an ad hoc committee on Black people experiencing homelessness for the Los Angeles Homelessness Service Authority, and contributed to the committee’s groundbreaking report on structural racism as a primary driver of Black homelessness. Earl is a research fellow for two UCLA labs–the California Policy Lab and UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools. He is also a member of the National Racial Equity Working Group on Homelessness and Housing and the USC Homeless Policy Research Institute. Currently, Earl is a doctoral candidate at the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies. He earned his Master’s in Public School Leadership from Teachers’ College, Columbia University, and he holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Boston College.

 

Navneet Grewal

Board Member

Navneet Grewal works as Litigation Counsel for the Civil Rights Practice Group at Disability Rights California. The practice group focuses on litigating cases that result in greater social integration and empowerment of people with disabilities – with a significant focus on housing and homelessness. Through her work, Navneet strives to eliminate the harmful and ongoing impacts of a history of segregation and discrimination. Prior to joining DRC, Navneet was a Senior Attorney at Western Center on Law and Poverty and a Staff Attorney at the National Housing Law Project. She has successfully litigated cases in state and federal court that have, for example, expanded due process rights for Section 8 voucher applicants, reimbursed thousands of public housing residents for rent overcharges, enforced state land use and zoning laws (resulting in the development of affordable housing), and that have preserved mobilehome parks. She also works on statewide housing policy. Navneet has authored several housing law-related publications; she was a contributing author to the Section 8 chapter of the 2017 California Rutter Group Practice Guide – Landlord-Tenant. She also previously served on the Steering Committee of the State Bar’s Fair Housing and Public Accommodations Section and the Board of Directors of Housing California.

 

Bruce Oka

Advisory Member Emeritus

Bruce has over 40 years of experience in the field of disabled rights advocacy. A San Francisco native, he received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from San Francisco State University. His clients include Hyatt Hotels, the San Francisco Paratransit Broker, and the San Francisco Municipal Railway. He has served on numerous boards of directors and brings a thorough knowledge of accessibility and civil rights.

Cynthia Nagendra

Secretary

Cynthia Nagendra is the Executive Director of the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative. Prior to joining UCSF, Cynthia served as the director for the Center for Capacity Building at the National Alliance to End Homelessness. Her experience includes over 10 years of providing assistance to communities around the country in building system capacity to provide more effective responses to homelessness. Before working at the Alliance, Cynthia worked as a staff attorney for HomeBase, The Center for Common Concerns. She also worked in direct services for several years as a program manager for the St. Anthony Foundation Learning Center with homeless individuals and families in San Francisco. She has performed legal and policy work related to women’s rights, immigration and re-entry programming in New York City.

Debbie Burkart

Board Member

Debbie is the National Vice President of Supportive Housing at National Equity Fund, Inc. (NEF), a leading non-profit syndicator of low-income housing tax credits. She has overseen the acquisition and/or underwriting of more than $1 billion in tax credit equity for special-needs projects including more than 4,000 units of housing for homeless veterans in 15 states. Debbie founded and directs LISC-NEF’s Bring Them HOMES, a supportive housing initiative for homeless veterans. She serves on the boards of National Coalition for Homeless Veterans and Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH). Debbie received the Corporate Silver Star Award from Volunteers of America Illinois, the Community Hero Award from New Directions, and was profiled by Affordable Housing Finance as one of ten women leading the affordable housing industry. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from Duke University and Master’s degrees in Business Administration and City and Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Nancy Conk

Treasurer

Nancy Conk served for nearly 20 years as an executive director and CEO of nonprofit affordable housing and community development organizations. She has expertise in affordable housing development, property and asset management, community engagement, and advocacy. Her development financing expertise, enhanced by experience in community development lending as a relationship manager for a major national bank, spans work with varied housing types. Along with executive management positions reporting to boards of directors, Nancy has served on boards of numerous local, regional, and statewide organizations. Her current practice includes board governance coaching and organizational development consulting from her base in Sacramento, California.

Chris Ko

Board Member

Chris Ko serves as the Director of Homeless Initiatives for the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, managing Home For Good, LA’s collective plan to end homelessness. In this role, he leads California’s largest community-based effort to end homelessness and developed the Coordinated Entry System, which went on to become a national model. The Coro Foundation named Chris a Public Affairs Leadership fellow through which he worked for the LA District Attorney, SEIU, KPCC, and LAUSD. Previously, he served on the boards of Coro Southern CA and the Supply Education Group.

Derric J. Johnson

Board Member

Derric is the Founding Director of the Equity & Justice Institute at Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences in Santa Monica, CA. He has served in leadership roles at several non-profits, including the California Community Foundation, the MLK Community Health Foundation, the Alliance for Children’s Rights and the Community Oriented Correctional Health Services in Oakland. He recently served as Senior Deputy for Public Safety and Justice for the Office of Los Angeles County Board Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. Derric was appointed by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to represent the Second District as a Commissioner for the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission; he was recently elected Vice President. In addition, Derric is an Executive Council Member of the Children’s Defense Fund-CA, and serves on the Alumni Board of Pitzer College. Derric holds a Bachelor’s in Psychology and Sociology from Pitzer College. He earned his Master’s in Public Administration from Baruch College-City University of New York and his Master’s in Business Management from Azusa Pacific University.

Mildred Brown

Board Member

Mildred (Millie) Brown has been a CSH SpeakUp Advocate for five years, speaking regularly on homelessness, trauma and mental health at organizations and community events. She advocates for more permanent supportive housing and funding due to her own lived experience with homelessness. Millie is a survivor of domestic violence and is an advocate for the Domestic Violence and Homeless Services Coalition. She is passionate about helping people struggling to find and maintain housing. Millie is excited to bring her experience to the Brilliant Corners board and connect with other people working to end homelessness. Millie lives in permanent supportive housing in Los Angeles.