Donald King is a founding member of the Nehemiah Initiative. He is an architect, planner and educator with over 50 years of professional experience in the planning and design of community projects. Donald King has a Master of Architecture degree from UCLA and is licensed to practice architecture in California, Hawaii and Washington. He has been a member of the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects since 2000 and is currently an Affiliate Professor of Architecture in the College of Built Environments at the University of Washington.

Larry is a seasoned financial services executive, entrepreneur and community development leader. He currently is the President and CEO of ClearBlu Capital Group which is a commercial lending company committed to expanding wealth among underserved segments in business and real estate through providing coaching, credit and capital solutions nationally. Community Development / Lending - He recently served as Vice President of Community Lending for HSBC where he managed mortgage operations and sales related to community reinvestment throughout the United States. This included broad relationships with macro CDFIs, non profit counseling organizations, CDCs and the like. His experience in community lending / development is extensive; responsible for affordable lending policy for the Mortgage Bankers Association from 2000-2004, Managed the development of all affordable lending strategies for Norwest / Wells Fargo from 1996-2000, as well as managing activities for Option One Mortgage and others. Prior to HSBC, Larry was the first to launch Home Care Assistance in the state of Connecticut in 2013, which is a senior home health care company servicing most of Fairfield County Connecticut. He grew the agency to over 50 diverse caregivers providing a variety of holistic care services to assist seniors transition in the security of their own homes. He has managed numerous national organizations focused on increasing education and awareness within financial services while ultimately streamlining service delivery. This includes the Student Loan Alliance focused on expanding the role of financial advisors to assist student loan borrowers, serving as President and CEO of Hope Loan Port, a technology improving communication between mortgage borrowers, 3rd party advisors and lenders, and Executive Director for the HOPE NOW Alliance which coordinates a series of strategies to improve the borrower experience to protect homeownership. He also worked with the first woman mayor of Washington, DC to launch the Homeownership Preservation Exchange designed to assist socially responsible investors purchase non performing mortgage notes with an emphasis on community preservation. Other roles have included VP of Industry Relations & Emerging Segments for H&R Block Mortgage, Associate Director for affordable lending for the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), and with Wells Fargo as Manager of Market Opportunities managing the development of strategic plans focused on increasing lending among low and moderate income, minority and immigrant segments. He has been an active promoter of diversity and inclusion throughout his numerous roles, including establishing the Mortgage Bankers Association of America’s Path to Diversity initiative, past participation on MBA’s diversity committee and serving as the Vice Chair for H&R Block mortgage company’s Diversity and Inclusion. Larry enjoys being active in the community primarily on issues affecting affordable housing, homelessness and financial education. He volunteers in numerous capacities which more recently includes the President of the Redmond Kiwanis Club, Board of Directors for the Bellevue YMCA. He formerly served on the Boards for the Westchester County Housing Action Council and Long Island Housing Partnership, Board of Trustees for the Longridge School, City of STAMFORD Zoning Board of Appeals and Inspirica (the largest affordable housing/transitional housing/homeless shelter in Fairfield County, CT). In prior years, he also served on the Corporate Board of Governors for the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) and advisory boards for the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB). Larry has been married to his beautiful wife Kina Wallace Gilmore for over 18 years and enjoys spending time with his 3 wonderful children; Asante, Lauren, and Laurence James. In addition to time with family, he enjoys time outdoors biking, hiking and occasional golf.

Michelle Purnell-Hepburn is no stranger to the UW Foster community. She earned her undergraduate degree in business economics and finance, and her MBA specializing in accounting and finance at the Foster School. She was a member and president of the Association of Black Business Students (ABBS) during her time as a graduate student and in 2021 was awarded the school’s Spratlen Legacy Award, named in honor of the late Dr. Thaddeus H. Spratlen. Last year, she taught a class at Foster entitled “The Power of Access: Impact Lending to Underserved Communities.” Purnell-Hepburn has extensive experience in the financial services and nonprofit foundation industries. She most recently served as the director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) at the Seattle Foundation. She has also held executive-level leadership positions at Salal Credit Union, Seattle Metropolitan Credit Union and Group Health Credit Union. She served on the advisory board of Capitol Hill Housing and currently serves on the board of trustees of Community Roots Housing. In her role as associate dean of inclusion and diversity, she will serve as a member of the senior leadership team at Foster.

Ms. Barrientos has been named one of the most influential urban-infill developers in Seattle, a 2015 PSBJ Woman of Influence, and is categorized by her peers as innovative, thoughtful, and creative - creating housing that incorporates many forward-looking trends. Over the past 30 years, Maria has become a respected leader in Seattle’s real estate development community. Project types include urban mixed-use, mixed-income, historic renovation and adaptive reuse, both market rate and affordable housing, and student housing properties. Maria brings in-depth knowledge of innovative development tools, sustainable development techniques, public/private partnerships, financing mechanisms that include tax-exempt bond financing as well as other sources of private equity and debt. Maria has always been active within the community and serves on several community based and civic organizations and is very involved in land use issues within the city of Seattle.

Kateesha is the Founder & Managing Director. She oversees all real estate development activities including land acquisition, feasibility, financial strategy, and design & construction management. Kateesha brings 16+ years of unique real estate development, management, and public policy experience. Most notably, through her position as Senior Commercial Property Manager at the Pike Place Market Preservation & Development Authority (PDA), a quasi-government agency chartered by the City of Seattle to own, manage, and develop nine acres and 11 mixed-use public-owned assets in Seattle’s most beloved historic district. Kateesha also served as a Project Manager in the 2008 Pike Place Market $68.2 million Capital Redevelopment project; and, provided early conceptional planning and design to the Pike Place Market Waterfront project. She is a third generation Seattleite and Garfield high school graduate. Kateesha holds a bachelor’s degree in International Business from the University of Washington, is an upcoming International Law student at Seattle University, and is Certified in Commercial Real Estate Development (University of Washington College of Built Environments), Construction Management (Turner School of Construction), and Sales & Marketing (Bellevue College).

Lover of cities. Architect. Urban Designer. Real estate developer. FinTech pioneer. Urban change agent. I’m the founder of SmallChange.co, a real estate equity crowdfunding platform. We raise funds for meaningful real estate projects building better cities everywhere. We match developers to investors, providing investment opportunities for everyone who cares about cities and wants to make change. All through a fluid and compliant technology platform. My world has always been wrapped around cities and change. My background as an architect, city planner, urban designer, real estate developer, community development strategist, publisher, and all around instigator gives me a rich understanding of how cities work, how urban neighborhoods can be revitalized, what policies are needed to do it, and the unique marketing that creates the buzz needed for regeneration. Amongst my many urban (ad)ventures, I’ve developed a dozen buildings in blighted neighborhoods, founded a non-profit, cityLAB, built Pittsburgh’s first tiny house, organized a speaker series, launched a Pittsburgh e-zine called PopCity, and established downtown Pittsburgh’s first co-working space. I also co-founded Pittsburgh’s wildly successful Open Streets program and now host a weekly podcast series about real estate impact investing. Some honors I’m proud of include Small Change ranking as one of 7 top Real Estate Crowdfunding Platforms of 2020 by US News, nabbing Top Innovator in the “Capital” category by HIVE, my tenure as a Fellow at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center Residency Program and our recent participation in Village Capital’s FinHealth US 2021, an accelerator program for early-stage startups. All of these experiences have led me to become one of the foremost thinkers on urban change.