Bridging the Gap Between Sustainability and Affordability in Today's Home 

With the current focus on creating housing that is sustainable and more energy efficient, the question on everyone's mind is "Does this 'Green' movement help or hinder our ability to build affordable housing?" This month, the Executive Night Speaker Series brings you experts who will answer this question based on their own experiences and dispel myths about the nexus between green building and affordability.

Moderating the event this month is Ravi Malhotra, Executive Director of iCAST, a Colorado-based nonprofit that works to provide economic, environmental, and social benefits to communities in a manner that builds local capacity.

 Featured Speakers:

• Cris A. White: Executive Director and CEO, CHFA
• Tami Fischer: Executive Director, Lakewood Housing Authority 
• David Zucker: Co-Founder, Zocalo

Cris A. White: Executive Director and CEO, CHFA

 Mr. White joined CHFA in 1988, serving in various capacities until january 1996. he worked as a business development executive with an international equipment and real estate mortgage lender, and then rejoined CHFA in Speptember 1996 as the director of asset management. He has a bachelor's degree in business administration from Regis University.  

 Tami J. Fischer: Executive Director, Lakewood Housing Authority

 Tami has been the Executive Director of the Lakewood Housing Authority as Metro West Housing Solutions for 12 years. Since her time as Executive Director, MWHS has greatly increased its housing stock through acquisition, public housing and section 8 vouchers. MWHS has also received numerous awards for design and innovation of its developments, and overall agency leadership. Tami's leadership and focus on the current needs and anticipated needs of the community and people in it, has defined MWHS as a leader in sustainability and guided her to work with a collaboration of multi-jurisdictions in Transit Oriented Developments.        

 Tami currently serves as Vice President of Housing for Colorado NAHRO. She is also a member of Mountain Plains NAHRO, National League of Cities and The Urban Land Institute.

Tami has received degrees from both the University of Iowa and Regis University and has nearly 30 years work focusing on bettering the lives of people and the communities they live in.

David Zucker: Co-Founder, Zocalo

David co-founded Zocalo spurred by a commitment to development that balanced investment returns, community impact and environmental respect.

David focused on downtown development as soon as he arrived in Denver in 1990. David's first project was the Lofts over the Wynkoop Brewery. Since the Wynkoop, David established the vision for historic conversions such as the Downtown Denver Courtyard by Marriott, which utilized the Historic Investment Tax Credit. In Denver, David was one of the first developers to work through, develop and sell deed-restricted, for-sale units at Silver State Lofts, a program that codified in the Inclusionary Housing Ordinance.

David received his MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in 1990. He was chairman of the board of directors of community jazz station KUVO and was Co-Chair of the Downtown Denver Partnership's Housing Council. David was co-founder of the University of Denver's Affordable Housing Conference and was co-chair for the Conference's first five years.

David has an appointment to Mayor Hancock's Task Force on Affordable Housing. He received the Affordable Housing Leader of the Year Award for 2006 from the Denver chapter of the Enterprise Foundation.