Board Members

Tom Bechard

Chairman of the Board

Thomas Reed Bechard serves as Chairman of the Board and is a member of the Personnel Committee.

Mr. Bechard is a licensed Real Estate Agent (DRE #01253974) with TRI Coldwell Banker and has been active in real estate since 1998. He serves as Chief Development Officer and Partner at Propark America, where he is responsible for all real estate development and transactions nationally. He is also Director of Parking Acquisition Ventures (PAVE), formed in 2014 to acquire and manage a national parking real estate portfolio, and Managing Partner of Bechard LLC, which owns and manages a multi-property commercial real estate portfolio including residential units, office buildings, retail, and parking structures.

Mel Carriere

President & COO

Mel Carriere is President and Owner of MTA Consulting, Inc.

He was an employee with Wells Fargo Bank for over twenty years, where he served as Vice President responsible for all aspects of Marketing and Business Development of the bank’s multi-billion dollar commitment under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). During his tenure, Mel developed over $1.5 billion in CRA eligible loans in both real estate and commercial loans. He was the first banker to make loans to nonprofit housing developers in 1984 and created the name “Community Development” that is now a national description for bankers working around CRA lending. In 1986, Mel negotiated one of the first Low Income Housing Tax Credit transactions in California, catalyzing Wells Fargo to become the first bank in California to invest in LIHTC. He is founder and emeritus board member of the National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders (NAAHL) and founding board member of the National Affordable Housing Preservation Association, Inc.

Bradford Paul

Secretary

Bradford Paul serves as Secretary of the Board. Mr. Paul brings extensive experience in housing policy and community development to his role on the GCH Board of Directors.

Brad recently returned to consulting after 12 years as a regional executive with the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) and Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC). From 1982-87 he led the North of Market Planning Coalition, a community based advocacy group working to improve the Tenderloin for its residents and businesses. He continued supporting residents/organizations in the Tenderloin and other low-income communities as Deputy Mayor for Housing under Mayor Art Agnos and a Senior Program Officer, Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund. He later worked on other Tenderloin community plans as well as large mixed-use developments (Mission Bay, 5M project at 5th & Mission).

Brad helps public, private and nonprofit clients address a variety of economic, social and political challenges by helping them create successful planning, financing and project management strategies, and mediating among groups with very differing points of view.

Sean Jeffries, Esq.

Board Member

Sean Jeffries, JD, is Vice President at Millennium Partners, the nationally recognized developer of mixed-use properties.

Under his direction, Millennium Partners expanded its real estate development operation on the west coast and completed over $1 billion of projects. Mr. Jeffries serves as Administrative Limited Partner of MP Mason Street, LLC / Mason Street Affordable Housing, LP (125 Mason Street). He is President of the Yerba Buena Alliance, a neighborhood organization supporting business and cultural offerings in the area. He actively supports the San Francisco chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and is a member of the Lambda Alpha Economic Fraternity. Mr. Jeffries was recognized with City of Hope’s Spirit of Life Award for his outstanding contributions to the community.

Rod Henmi

Board Member

Rod Henmi has compiled a distinguished career as architect, educator and social advocate over four decades.

He is an award-winning designer, having completed more than 4000 units of housing, multiple schools and infrastructure buildings. He has worked with Glide Church and GEDC since the late 1990’s as he designed the Cecil Williams Glide Community House as well as 125 Mason Street. He is an experienced educator and is extensively involved in mentoring and advancing opportunities for minority design professionals through his involvement with NOMA (National Organization of Minority Architects) for which he served on the national board. He also has extensive experience with non-profits as he is the Chairperson of the board of directors of Kimochi, Inc., an organization serving senior citizens with a focus on Japantown.

Jerry L. Vallery, Esq.

Chair, Personnel Committee

Jerry L. Vallery’s areas of expertise include business, law, technology, and securities markets, with significant executive and board leadership in corporate, nonprofit, and church organizations.

His professional experience in information technology started with IBM sales and advanced to senior executive positions with Fortune 50 firms including Oracle, Computer Sciences, and CA Technologies. He successfully led sales and consulting business units with revenues over $250 million and 3,000 employees in U.S. and global markets. Mr. Vallery served 10 years as trustee of the GLIDE UMC Foundation, one of San Francisco’s largest social services entities, serving as board Vice-Chair and committee Chair for Strategic Planning, Entity Formation, Housing Services, Governance, and Audit. He also served as Board Chair of the Graduate Theological Union and Board Chair of Goodwill Industries–San Francisco.