Building Equity. Together.

Jennifer Leimaile Ho is the 7th Commissioner of Minnesota Housing, appointed by Governor Tim Walz in December 2018. She has been working to end homelessness since 1999, first as executive director of Hearth Connection and later as deputy director at the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. Her roles have focused on the intersection of health and housing, particularly health care financing and improving outcomes associated with supportive housing. Jennifer served as the Senior Advisor for Housing and Services at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama Administration and worked with First Lady Michelle Obama to launch the Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness. She currently serves on the board of the National Council of State Housing Agencies. She has served on the boards of the Corporation for Supportive Housing, the Melville Charitable Trust, and West Side Community Health Services in St. Paul.

As Vice President of Development, Feras Qumseya oversees the management of several project teams advancing multi-faceted projects through the entitlement, design, financing, and construction life-cycle. In addition, Mr. Qumseya leads Foulger-Pratt’s affordable housing platform; he also works closely with Asset Management to execute marketing and leasing plans that maximize value for our stakeholders. Mr. Qumseya joined Foulger-Pratt in 2017 after fifteen years of experience in real estate development focused on affordable housing and public-private urban developments. As part of his career, Mr. Qumseya served a total of three years in the public sector working under Washington’s DC’ Mayor Fenty and then under Mayor Gray administrations. Mayor Fenty awarded him the District’s Meritorious Public Service Award in 2010 and was the founding Executive Director for the Saint Elizabeths Redevelopment Initiative.

Ms. Rolnik is a professor, architect and urban planner, with over 35 years of scholarship, activism and practical experience in planning, urban land policy and housing issues. Based in São Paulo, she is a professor at the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the University of São Paulo. In her career, she has held various government positions including Director of the Planning Department of the city of São Paulo (1989-1992) and National Secretary for Urban Programs of the Brazilian Ministry of Cities (2003-2007) as well as NGO activities, such as Urban Policy Coordinator of the Polis Institute (1997-2002). From May 2008, Ms. Raquel Rolnik was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council as UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing for a six years mandate, ending June 2014. She is author of several books, including “Urban warfare : housing and cities in the age of finance” by  VERSO UK  and “A cidade e a lei” among others.

Dr. Bill Thomas is a physician, professor, entrepreneur, playwright, and performer whose wide-ranging work explores the terrain of human aging. His dedication to culture change and innovations for well-being led the Wall Street Journal to highlight Dr. Thomas as one of the nation’s “top 10 innovators” changing the future of retirement in America and US News and World Report named him to its list of “America’s best leaders.”

He began his career in the field in the early 1990s when he co-founded The Eden Alternative (with Jude Meyers). This model humanized nursing homes using Care Partner teams that work to enhance the well-being of staff and residents by eliminating the three plagues: loneliness, helplessness, and boredom. In the early 2000’s he launched The Green House Project which Provider Magazine called the “pinnacle of culture change.” In 2007, Dr. Thomas developed the Senior ER model of care in partnership with the Trinity Health system.

Also in 2007, Dr. Thomas co-founded (with journalist Kavan Peterson) ChangingAging.org a live/digital platform designed to address the endemic ageism within American culture. In 2012 his one-act play “Play What’s Not There” premiered at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. The play using magical realism to explore the life challenges physicians confront while juggling practice, self-fulfillment and family. In 2013, he starred in the award-winning documentary Alive Inside. The film’s “joyous cinematic exploration of music’s capacity to reawaken our souls” won the 2014 “People’s Choice Award” at Sundance.

In 2014, Dr. Thomas collaborated with Kavan Peterson, to create the ChangingAging Tour. The ChangingAging Tour directly addressed damaging myths about aging and featured two non-fiction theater performances in a “pro-aging festival” over the next four years this tour performed in over 130 cities across North America.

Hundreds of conversations held during the ChangingAging Tour had a profound impact on the path Dr. Thomas’ career as he learned that an overwhelming number of people, living all over the country, shared a primary concern; housing. This discovery led to his latest mission: research and improve housing that builds resilience and independence so that people of all ages and abilities can live their best lives on their own terms.

Stephanie Firestone is a global thought leader advancing livable communities for all people of all ages and abilities. She leads AARP International’s global initiatives to promote enabling, equitable, and multigenerational housing and communities, and collaborates with international institutions such as the World Health Organization—leading efforts such as AARP’s engagement in the Decade of Healthy Ageing. As a 2015-2016 Health & Aging Policy Fellow, Stephanie worked with the American Planning Association and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, helping local leaders think regionally about how to create more inclusive communities and expand affordable housing opportunities for vulnerable residents. Stephanie has led international social and environmental justice efforts, founding Israel’s first Jewish-Arab environmental nonprofit organization and coordinating that country’s sustainability agenda, including representing the country’s efforts toward the World Summit on Sustainable Development at the United Nations General Assembly. Stephanie holds a Master of Urban & Environmental Planning degree from the University of Virginia.

A catalyst for positive change through design, Esther Greenhouse is a built environment strategist and environmental gerontologist.  People, places, communities, and organizations benefit from her expertise in the impact of the built environment on all types of people, especially older adults. Considered a visionary for her unique and beneficial perspective, Ms. Greenhouse is the creator of the concept “Enabling Design”--a powerful approach to design and planning which harnesses the features of the built environment to enable all people to thrive. 

As a consultant for AARP International, she is creating a quantum leap in age-friendly housing and multigenerational communities through her facilitation and initiative development work. Ms. Greenhouse also serves as the Strategic Director for one of the first Age Friendly Centers for Excellence.  At Cornell University, she is shaping the field as an industry scholar for the Cornell Institute for Healthy Futures and an adjunct lecturer in the department of Design & Environmental Analysis.  She contributes to successful community planning with workshops and consulting nationwide, and co-authored the American Planning Association’s Aging in Community Policy Guide.  Her expertise was requested for such projects as the book Independent for Life, for two PBS series on design for aging, and for the design of the nation’s first senior-focused emergency department. In the building industry, she has been recognized as an award-winning instructor and leader in Universal Design and aging in place by the National Association of Home Builders.