Larry Mawby is currently president of the board of Peninsula Housing, dedicated to retaining and developing affordable housing that will remain affordable for generations to come. He is a retired winegrower, and has spent decades serving on non-profit boards, a township planning commission and a Village council.

Ashley Halladay-Schmandt is an esteemed leader in the field of ending homelessness, currently serving as the Director of the Northwest Michigan Coalition to End Homelessness. With a career spanning over a decade dedicated to ending homelessness and housing insecurity, Ashley brings an impressive track record to her role.

Prior to this, she played a crucial role in the Greater Grand Traverse region, first as a housing-based case manager and then as a program manager with the NW Michigan Community Action Agency. Currently, Ashley serves on the Board of Directors for Housing North, is the Co-Chair of the Michigan Homeless Policy Council and also serves on the Steering Committee for the Northwest Michigan Regional Housing Partnership. Her unwavering commitment is instrumental in making homelessness a rare, brief, and one-time occurrence across Northwest Michigan.

Bill is retired from a career in the technology and telecom industries and lives in Harbor Springs. He was involved in starting a co-working space called The Loft in downtown Harbor Springs to support remote workers and home-based business people. He serves on the City of Harbor Springs planning commission. Most recently, he is part of a group which has started a non-profit community land trust called Harbor Area Residential Trust (HART) to help year-round people buy their first homes in the area.

Chris Forsyth has dedicated his twenty-two-year career to public service, starting as a municipal attorney and now as a public administrator. He currently serves as the Deputy County Administrator for Grand Traverse County. In this role, he focuses on economic development, local government collaboration, strategic planning, special projects, regulatory compliance, and contract negotiation and administration. Prior to being appointed to this position in December of 2018, he served as the County’s Deputy Civil Counsel. Chris lives in Traverse City with his wife, and two children.

Chris has been working on economic and entrepreneur development for nearly 20 years in a variety of roles, including as an appointed and elected city official, and as a community economic developer. He introduced and championed Michigan’s MILE - investment crowdfunding law, and has spoken across the state and nation on local investment. Chris is the lead and developer of NC3’s Community Capital Accelerator which is now piloting NC3’s Diversified Community Investment Fund in six communities across the country.

Mary began her public service career in 2001 when she was elected to the Kalamazoo City Commission where she served until her appointment to the Kalamazoo County Treasurer in 2007. She served as the county treasurer from 2007 until 2020.

Mary began her public service career in 2001 when she was elected to the Kalamazoo City Commission where she served until her appointment to the Kalamazoo County Treasurer in 2007. She served as the county treasurer from 2007 until 2020.

Berens brings nearly 25 years of municipal administration and law experience in a variety of positions for the City of Bellevue, Washington. Throughout her career, she has worked on a wide range of community initiatives, including regional homelessness response, affordable housing, long-range municipal finance strategies, real estate, and land use.

Berens received her Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan and her Bachelor of Science degree in Conservation of Wildland Resources from the University of Washington.

Under Stephanie's leadership, the Community Foundation has been a vital partner in developing and sustaining the Housing Corporation. This has included supporting workforce housing initiatives including funding for the City of Mackinac Island's Forest Way Townhomes, and the Housing Corporation's Edgewood Community Land Trust. Most recently, Stephanie spearheaded the development of four new single-family homes in the Edgewood Community Land Trust, which are now occupied by year-round Island residents. She continues to facilitate a close partnership between the Community Foundation and Housing Corporation to develop the next phase of affordable housing for Mackinac Island.

Dakota Riehl, the Senior Real Estate Development Manager for ICCF Community Homes, has dedicated her career to creating sustainable, affordable housing solutions that empower communities and neighbors. Notably, she played a pivotal role in the inception and management of ICCF's Land Trust program. Dakota's extensive skill set encompasses the affordable real estate spectrum - from the development and sale of affordable single-family homes to the orchestration of large-scale multi-family projects with Low-Income Housing and Historic Tax Credits. Since starting at ICCF in 2017, the Development team has successfully created over 500 units of new or preserved affordable rentals; produced nearly 30 new opportunities for affordable homeownership; and been awarded more than $41 million in local, state, and federal grant funding.

State Senator John N. Damoose has been serving the people of Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula since first being elected to the Michigan House of Representatives in 2020.During his first year in the Senate, Senator Damoose has made a tremendous impact and has routinely worked across the aisle to promote a better future for the state. Representing the 37th Senate District, he was named the second most effective Republican senator in the Michigan Legislature by MIRS News this year, and recently was named “Legislator of the Year” by the Michigan Manufacturers Association. In his roles as senator and as a member of the Housing and Human Services Committee, Senator Damoose has shown his commitment to the state of Michigan and stood in support of good ideas no matter where they come from. The senator currently lives in Harbor Springs with his wife Margo and four children.

Shelly Collins is the Area Director for USDA-Rural Development in the Traverse City Area Service Center, covering the northern half of the Lower Peninsula. She has been with USDA for 32 years, with an emphasis on Housing for the last 23 years.

Jenifer Acosta is a solutions-minded community developer known for redeveloping historic buildings and extensive work driving property and downtown revitalization. With a heart for saving underutilized relics, she bridges old and new, building (and often rebuilding) dynamic communities that evoke a strong sense of place. Since 2016, she has driven over $26+ million in real estate development projects in the Great Lakes Bay Region, and catalyzed countless more as a result.

Leah DuMouchel is Director of Programs and Communications at the Michigan Association of Planning (MAP), a chapter of the American Planning Association serving nearly 4,000 professional community planners and elected and appointed land use decision makers. Her current projects include a MEDC-supported Zoning Atlas for local communities to support better housing supply, access, and affordability by modernizing their zoning codes, and a MSHDA-supported study of communities using MAP’s Zoning Reform Toolkit to welcome more housing. Prior to coming to MAP, Ms. DuMouchel was a principal in private consulting practice at Beckett & Raeder, Inc. She holds credentials from the American Institute of Certified Planners, the Congress for the New Urbanism, the National Charrette Institute, and the Form-Based Codes Institute, and she is a member of APA’s Sustainable Communities Division and its Planning and the Black Community Division.