Nick Kelly is a researcher and advocate working on public policy and housing policy, with a particular focus on fair housing and urban politics. In his research, he develops and evaluates new policy tools to address racial inequality in housing.

Nick received my PhD in Public Policy and Urban Planning from the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT. He currently serves as a Senior Fellow at the Boston Housing Authority as well as a consultant and advocate on housing issues in Greater Boston and around the country.

Prior to MIT, Nick studied at Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs where he received a Master in Public Affairs. He also worked at the New York City Economic Development Corporation, as an aide for Senators Charles Schumer and Elizabeth Warren, and at the National Economic Council at the White House.

Erin Kenney is a senior associate at Mass Economics and data-Fab. Erin is experienced in data analysis and methods using statistical software and conducting analyses at geographic scales ranging from individual neighborhoods to thousands of counties nationwide. Recent work includes the development of new economic data and suppression-resolving estimation methods, which underpin core data-Fab product offerings and support Mass Economics’ myriad consulting work. She is also leading the creation of a nationwide county-level database with over 3,000 variables to create an economic typology of U.S. counties and assess the drivers of health outcomes. At Mass Economics, Erin has contributed to the development of industry-cluster strategies for economic development plans in St. Louis and Memphis, supported the development of a report on the role of corporate anchors in community and economic development, modeled the jobs impact of green stormwater infrastructure policies in Detroit, and assisted in the development of an economic and fiscal impact model for a proposed greenway in St. Louis. Previously, Erin worked as a policy analyst at the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning. She holds a master’s degree in city planning and bachelor’s degree in math from MIT.

Elizabeth Kneebone is the Research Director for the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley. In that role, she provides strategic leadership in designing, managing, and implementing the Center’s research portfolio and agenda. Elizabeth’s research expertise includes the geography of poverty in the United States, and how the built environment, housing, and land use policies shape access to economic opportunity.

Before joining the Center, Elizabeth was a Fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program, where she led the program’s work on urban and suburban poverty and co-authored the book Confronting Suburban Poverty in America. She remains affiliated with Brookings as a Non-Resident Senior Fellow.

Chrystal Kornegay currently serves as Executive Director of MassHousing which lends over $1 billion annually to produce and preserve affordable rental housing and create homeownership opportunities for low- and moderate-income borrowers. Under Chrystal’s leadership, MassHousing launched a highly successful Down Payment Assistance program; secured over $80 million to expand its Workforce Housing initiative; and developed a nationally recognized program for homeownership production in communities of color.

Before joining MassHousing, Chrystal served as the Baker-Polito Administration’s Undersecretary for Housing and Community Development where she successfully advocated to increase state capital dollars for affordable housing by almost 18%; partnered to increase rental subsidies for low income families by 42%; and collaborated to dramatically reduce the number of homeless families in motels.

Prior to her work as Undersecretary, Chrystal was President and Chief Executive Officer at Urban Edge, one of New England’s largest community development corporations. She is credited with leading the organization’s financial transformation, resulting in a $3 million increase in the Agency’s net asset position.

Chrystal serves on the boards of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority, the National Housing Trust, the National Council of State Housing Agencies (NCSHA) and is a member of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston’s Advisory Committee. Chrystal holds a Master’s in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.A. from Hunter College.

Megan leads Headwaters Economics' research in demographic change, public lands, economic development, and outdoor recreation. She is an economist, and uses economic and demographic analysis to better understand the issues communities face. She holds a Ph.D. and Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Colorado and a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Williams College.

Robin Leichenko is Professor of Geography at Rutgers University and co-Director of the Rutgers Climate Institute. Her current research explores the economic and equity impacts of climate change in New York and New Jersey. Leichenko was co-chair of the Community Equity Working Group of the Third New York City Panel on Climate Change (NPCC), and she is currently serving as co-chair of the Fourth NPCC. Leichenko has authored or co-authored three books and more than 70 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters. Her book, Environmental Change and Globalization: Double Exposures, co-authored with Karen O'Brien (2008, Oxford University Press), won the Meridian Book Award for Outstanding Scholarly Contribution from the American Association of Geographers. Her latest book is titled Climate and Society: Transforming the Future (Polity Press, 2019) and is also co-authored with Karen O'Brien.

John Lettieri is Co-Founder, President and CEO of the Economic Innovation Group (EIG), a bipartisan research and public policy organization whose mission is to advance solutions that empower entrepreneurs and investors to forge a more dynamic American economy. John's career in public policy has included time in both the public and private sectors working with a diverse set of policymakers, entrepreneurs, investors, and global business leaders. Prior to EIG, John was the Vice President of Public Policy and Government Affairs for a leading business association, the Organization for International Investment (OFII), where he led the organization's state and federal policy work on such issues as tax reform, trade, investment promotion, and manufacturing. Before joining OFII, John was Director of Public and Government Affairs for a global aerospace manufacturer. He previously served as a foreign policy aide to former U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel, who was then a senior member of the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee. John is a graduate of Wake Forest University where he studied political science and global commerce.

Paul Lorah is a Geographer at the University of Saint Thomas where he is the director of the Geography and Environmental Studies programs. He grew up in Western Colorado and currently lives in Saint Paul Minnesota.

Daphne Lundi is Deputy Director for Social Resiliency at the NYC Mayor’s Office of Resiliency. Her work is focused on creating programs that strengthen and prepare NYC communities against climate change impacts. Projects include supporting education programs to increase awareness of heat-waves and heat risk in vulnerable communities, expanding green infrastructure investments that mitigate urban heat island effect, and identifying building retrofitting strategies. Prior to that she was an urban planner at the NYC Department of City Planning working on resilient land use and zoning policy for Brooklyn coastal communities impacted by Hurricane Sandy and managed projects undergoing ULURP in southern Brooklyn and downtown Brooklyn.