Staff Biographies

Mutual Housing's Executive Director, professional staff, and Board of Directors have a broad background in affordable housing development, financing, construction, management and maintenance of multi-family housing, low-income housing, and community organizing work. Staff experience is highlighted below:

Rachel Iskow, Mutual Housing's Executive Director, has 18 years of experience in community development and nonprofit leadership, including multi-family housing development, community organizing, and administration of nonprofit corporations. Before joining the Mutual Housing team in March of 1994, she oversaw all affordable multi-family housing development and operations for Rural California Housing Corporation (now Mercy Housing California).  Her development experience includes new construction and acquisition and renovation in urban and rural Northern California. She serves on the board of the California Coalition for Rural Housing, and is the former President and director of the Sacramento Housing Alliance, a local coalition advocating for affordable housing and the rights of the homeless. She is the former co-chair of a statewide organization formed both to raise resources for the California Network of NeighborWorks Programs and to increase the visibility of community revitalization collaborations among NeighborWorks programs and corporate and business sector supporters. She was named recipient of the 2003 League of Women Voters Civic Contribution Award. In March 2008 she was named Woman of the Year for the 9th Congressional District by the California State Assembly. Ms. Iskow holds an M.A. in Urban Planning from the University of California at Los Angeles, and a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley.

Lisa Salaices, Chief Financial Officer, oversees the accounting and finance functions of Mutual Housing and our communities. Ms. Salaices has over 16 years of accounting and finance experience in diverse industries and corporations. She has worked in the lending, software, bookselling and entertainment industries in a variety of accounting and finance roles. Her areas of expertise are financial modeling, analysis, and organizational efficiency. She believes strongly in the accountability of non-profits to the public, and continuously seeks for improvement in performance of SMHA and our communities. During her return to higher education, Ms. Salaices co-founded a Sacramento-based nonprofit, Alchemist Community Development Corporation. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Michigan Business School and a M.S. in Community Development from UC Davis.

Sherry Arnold, Office Manager, oversees the daily operations of the Mutual Housing office. She provides administrative and fundraising support, coordinates Mutual Housing events, and maintains reception and vendor communication for the organization. Prior to joining Mutual Housing, Ms. Arnold participated in both sides of the housing industry; one-on-one with the community certifying participants for HUD's Section 8 housing program and working within the building and construction side providing marketing and administrative management for the new home construction arena. She has over 10 years experience working within the housing sector.

Allison Fleming, Resource Development, has 22 years experience in print and electronic communications, primarily for nonprofit organizations. At Mutual Housing, Ms. Fleming oversees and coordinates the fund development program, including grant research, writing and reporting, as well as cultivating and maintaining relationships with individual, corporate and foundation donors. She also participates in internal and external communications projects. Previously she served as Communications Account Executive for Nelnet, a national student loan provider, and Assistant Vice President of Communications for EDFUND, a nonprofit provider of student loan services.

Amy Williamson, Special Projects,  conducts fundraising, communications, research and management for various projects across all Mutual Housing departments. After serving as an Americorps*VISTA volunteer for Rural California Housing Corporation in 1998-99, she founded and for many years managed a large financial education and savings program collaborative, of which Mercy Housing California and SMHA were the lead agencies. In-between her years of nonprofit management work, she spent several years as a newspaper reporter/freelance journalist. She has two masters’ degrees, one in Community Development from UC Davis and one in Journalism from UC Berkeley.

Angela Swift, Community Organizer, joined Mutual Housing more than three years ago to work with residents at our four Davis communities. There, she helps to foster the leadership potential of Mutual Housing residents and helps them in building community as neighbors. Prior to joining Mutual Housing she was the property manager at Twin Pines for seven years, and before that worked in hospitality management and sales and marketing in Scotland, where she was born.

Holly Wunder Stiles, Director of Housing Development, has 14 years experience in the area of affordable housing development and finance. Before joining Mutual Housing, she served as Community Development Loan Officer for Rural Community Assistance Corporation, working to provide financing for affordable housing, community facilities and water and waste water projects in rural communities, with an emphasis on housing for agricultural workers and their families. Prior to that, she was Project Manager for South County Housing in Gilroy, California, where she had responsibility for single-family self-help development as well as multifamily new development and rehabilitation projects. She holds a M.A. in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a B.A. in Political Science from Stanford University.

Vanessa Gurerra, Project Manager, has been part of the Mutual Housing staff since June 2007 working as an intern and now serves as a project manager in the Housing Development Department. Her responsibilities include the coordination of feasibility studies and site evaluation through financing, construction, and oversight of rehab project operations for multi-family housing developments. Ms. Guerra is currently working the rehab construction of infrastructure improvements at the Westerner mobile home park, managing the construction of our recent development Mutual Housing at the Highlands, and coordinating the rehab of our existing Norwood Avenue communities. She is bilingual in both English and Spanish and holds a B.S. in Engineering-Construction Management from CSU, Sacramento.

Emily Bender, Program Manager/Community Organizer, mainly oversees the South Sacramento Coalition for Future Leaders (SSCFL), funded by the Sierra Health Foundation's REACH Initiative and SAMHSA Drug-Free Communities grant. The coalition's main goals are to increase opportunities for youth through involvement in leadership development and providing youth programs specifically concentrated in the Lemon Hill neighborhood. Ms. Bender also has eight years experience working with youth as an adult advisor for a youth support group in the Sacramento midtown area. A while back, she sensed a need for a young adult group and is a co-founding member of the 20s-Something group that also meets regularly in the midtown area. Her past employers include Capital City AIDS Fund, American Cancer Society and Edward Jones Investments. Ms. Bender is a native from Nicaragua and is bilingual in both Spanish and English. She holds a M.A. in Organizational Leadership, and a Master's Certificate in Public & Nonprofit Leadership from Chapman University, and a B.A. in Rhetoric & Communications with a minor in Psychology from the University of California at Davis.

Paul Ainger, Brandon Louie, Fernando Cibrian, Iryna Kline, Pa Phang, Rich Ciraulo, Ryan Chin, Sara Ness, Vladislava Sheludko - Bios coming soon.

Youth Leadership Interns, Mutual Housing employs, on a part time basis each year, up to four young residents of mutual housing, ages 17-22, to work as community organizing interns. These young peple are trained and mentored in leadership and organizing skills and work to involve other young residents in community service and community organizing activities. The interns also recruit young residents to run after school programs for children in mutual housing communities.