BRIDGE Housing
One of BRIDGE’s greatest assets is our team of professionals; they are energetic, motivated and absolutely committed to the success of every development. But we know it takes more than dedication. The BRIDGE team, from the Board of Directors to each staff person, shares a passion for quality and possesses the business acumen to get the job done. Our goal is to set the standard for affordable housing by being the very best at what we do.
Real Estate Specialization
| Affordable Housing |
Investment Style
| Development |
Cynthia Parker
Cynthia A. Parker, President & CEO, is responsible for the overall direction of BRIDGE Housing, a leading nonprofit developer, owner and manager of affordable housing. She joined BRIDGE as President and CEO in February 2010, bringing over 30 years of diverse and relevant experience to the organization. She previously served as Regional President for Mercy Housing and President of Intercommunity Mercy Housing. Prior to her tenure at Mercy, she was Senior Vice President of Seattle-Northwest Securities, a public finance firm, where she oversaw affordable housing, commercial and public facility real estate financing in five Northwest states. A partial list of her real estate financial advisory clients includes: The Port of Seattle, Port of Olympia, City of Redmond and City of Seattle; the housing authorities of Portland, Everett, King County and Seattle (HOPE VI); the University of Washington, Pacific University, and the University of Portland; and the school districts of Edmonds, Seattle, and Portland. In Alaska, her clients included the Municipality of Anchorage and the Alaska Railroad. Ms. Parker established the Housing Office of the City of Seattle and served as the City’s Director of Housing under two separate mayors, with responsibility for the City’s housing investment strategies, $100 million annual capital budget and $824 million loan portfolio. She assisted the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation with the design of both taxable and tax-exempt housing bond programs and has provided syndication services for tax-credit placements. Ms. Parker has developed approximately 10,000 units of housing to date, including more than 3,500 units in Oregon and Alaska with mixed financing. A former director of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Ms. Parker has chaired the Sound Families Initiative for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and currently serves as a director of the National Affordable Housing Trust, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines, Housing Partnership Network, Housing Partnership Equity Trust (Chair), Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future, the Beneficial State Foundation and the Center for Creative Land Recycling, and is on the Board of Governors of the California Housing Consortium. Ms. Parker is a graduate of Portland State University.
Susan Johnson
Ms. Johnson oversees the property management, resident programs and asset management activities of BRIDGE, including a portfolio of nearly 11,000 units of rental housing. She joined BRIDGE in 1983 and was promoted to Vice President in 1989. Ms. Johnson is an expert in marketing and lease-up strategies for affordable and mixed-income communities and a sought-after expert in tax credit compliance and fair housing. She holds a B.S. in Sociology from U.C. Santa Cruz and has prior business and management experience.
Diane Olmstead
Diane Olmstead joined BRIDGE Housing as Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer in November 2016. In this newly created position, Ms. Olmstead oversees capital aggregation activities, including fund development, BRIDGE Impact Capital and securing equity and debt for non-Low Income Housing Tax Credit projects. Ms. Olmstead has 33 years of direct experience in investing, corporate finance and capital-raising. She has originated and closed over $2 billion in loans, property acquisitions and joint ventures, and has executed the workout and restructuring of over $1.3 billion of real estate assets. In 2009, with Susan Sagy, Ms. Olmstead co-founded W3 Partners—a fully integrated real estate operating company and investment manager with national expertise—and served as its Co-CEO. Prior to W3, Ms. Olmstead was a principal at CIM Group, where she opened their San Francisco office and headed acquisitions and development in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest. Previously, as an EVP of iStar, she was responsible for the company’s western region activities, including origination of structured finance transactions and acquisition of triple net lease assets. Earlier, she held positions in asset management, lending, acquisitions and equity raising with Arthur Andersen LLP, USF&G Corporation, Cigna Corporation and Aetna, Inc. Ms. Olmstead received an MBA from Pepperdine University. She is a member of the Urban Land Institute and the Policy Advisory Board of the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Development (UC Berkeley), and serves on the board of Extra Space Management (NYSE:EXR) and Synedgen, a private biotech company.
Kristine Miranda
Simone Robinson
Monica Edwards
Alison Lorig
Ann Silverberg
Kevin Griffith
Chris Nicholson