Washington, D.C., Jan. 02, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Washington, D.C. – It is with great sadness that we announce that Todd A. Lee, Executive Director and CEO of the DC Housing Finance Agency (DCHFA), died yesterday. The entire DCHFA staff mourns this loss, and our thoughts and sympathies go out to the Lee family during this trying time.
Mr. Lee was not only the leader of this team, but a trailblazer in the greater Washington, D.C. community. Mr. Lee had a passion for making lasting, meaningful impacts on the lives of everyone he met and he brought that energy to his work every day.
“We are shocked and saddened by the passing of Todd. He was a devoted family man, a great leader, and grew to be one of my closest friends. The entire DCHFA team mourns his loss, and we extend our sympathies to his wife and two children who were the center of his world,” stated Buwa Binitie, DCHFA Board of Directors Chairman. “I am honored to have worked with him and learned a great deal from him.”
Mr. Lee served as Executive Director and CEO of DCHFA since April 2016. He was responsible for supervising, coordinating and strategically directing the Agency’s functions. His focus was on innovation, infrastructure and process improvements, and new product development. During his tenure, Mr. Lee launched new affordable multifamily financing solutions, single family mortgage products and workforce housing investment strategies. Under Mr. Lee’s leadership, there has been over $1 billion invested in the creation and preservation of affordable multifamily rental and workforce housing units in addition to supporting homeownership opportunities in all eight wards of the District.
Mr. Lee was the driving force behind the Agency’s initiatives and his unwavering support, endless laughter and always positive attitude will be greatly missed. DCHFA became the District’s only HUD Level I Risk Share lender, launched the Housing Investment Platform, DC MAP, ReMIT and most recently DC4Me all under Mr. Lee’s directorship. Mr. Lee cultivated a team culture at the Agency and oversaw DCHFA’s rebranding in 2018 that included a revision of the mission and the development of the first Statement of Values.
Mr. Lee looked forward to all that 2020 had in store for affordable housing in the District, so it is the Agency’s commitment to help bring his big ideas to fruition in the coming year.
As a commercial real estate professional, Mr. Lee spent nearly 30 years in the industry. Prior to joining DCHFA, Mr. Lee served as Vice President for Multifamily Equity in the Community Investments unit of Fannie Mae’s Multifamily Division. He joined Fannie Mae in 2001, and before that worked as the Vice President for Bank of America’s Real Estate Structured Debt Group; Vice President for Chevy Chase Bank’s Real Estate Banking Group (now Capital One); and Assistant Vice President for NationBank’s Community Development Lending Group (now Bank of America).
Mr. Lee was a member of the Urban Land Institute and District of Columbia Building Industry Association (DCBIA). In March 2019, Mr. Lee was the DCBIA Government Sector Awardee. In 2018, he was named one of The Washington Business Journal’s Minority Business Leader Award honorees and was elected to the National Council of State Housing Agencies’ (NCSHA) Board of Directors in 2018 and 2019. In addition Mr. Lee served on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Local Housing Finance Agencies (NALHFA) and was a member of the Real Estate Executive Council. He was formerly a member of the District of Columbia Housing Preservation Strike Force where he served as the Chair of the Finance sub-committee, and he’s a past board member of the East of the River Community Development Corporation. He was a proud alumnus of The College of William and Mary where he played football for the Tribe and earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance.
The District of Columbia Housing Finance Agency is an S&P A + rated issuer in its 40th year of serving Washington, D.C.’s residents. The Agency’s mission is to advance the District of Columbia’s housing priorities; the Agency invests in affordable housing and neighborhood development, which provides pathways for D.C. residents to transform their lives. We accomplish our mission by delivering the most efficient and effective sources of capital available in the market to finance rental housing and to create homeownership opportunities.
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