Leadership Team

Holly Benson is executive vice president and chief operating officer responsible for the organization’s real estate development, property management and resident service divisions. As such, she oversees the production of new affordable housing; creation of new business opportunities; management of existing real estate assets; and financial and operational performance of Abode Communities’ real estate portfolio and resident services program, Beyond Homes. Benson serves an integral role in operationalizing the organization’s strategic plan to ensure the organization meets and exceeds
its strategic goals.

With nearly 20 years in the affordable housing industry, Benson’s depth of experience is underscored by her contribution to the production of more than 1,000 affordable homes and the procurement of some $300 million in loans, grants and equity from both private and public sources throughout California.

Benson is an esteemed affordable housing leader and serves as current board member and past president of the Southern California Association for Nonprofit Housing. She is a former board member of the Kennedy Commission and is often requested to serve as an industry expert by organizations such as Housing California, Urban Land Institute, Enterprise Community Partners, University of California, Los Angeles School of Public Affairs and University of Southern California School of Public Policy. Benson is passionate about advancing affordable housing policy and her expertise in the field has been featured on the Tavis Smiley Show, KNX Broadcasting and KPCC Public Radio in Los Angeles. She received a bachelor degree in communication studies from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Rick Saperstein is executive vice president and chief financial officer responsible for the oversight of Abode Communities’ long-term financial solvency, including budgeting, reporting, treasury management and risk management.

Saperstein has more than 30 years of experience in organizational finance and accounting management; internal and external financial reporting; budgeting and forecasting; cash flow reporting and department management. He is regularly called upon by organizations such as Enterprise Community Partners and the Southern California Association for Nonprofit Housing to discuss topics such as Low Income Housing Tax Credits and implementing efficient techniques for cross-divisional communications between asset management, housing development and finance departments, amongst more.

He is a Certified Public Accountant #44683 from the California Board of Accountancy and a licensed Real Estate Officer #01866181 from the California Board of Real Estate. He received his bachelor degree in accounting from California State University, Northridge.

Gio Aliano is senior vice president, principal architect responsible for the executive oversight of Abode Communities’ architectural design studio. Under Aliano’s leadership, the design studio fachieves design excellence through progressive and innovative thinking while relying on fundamental design principles to create meaningful architecture that is relevant and contextual.

With nearly 30 years of experience, Aliano brings the highest level of architectural expertise and a passion and commitment for Abode Communities’ mission. He has been actively involved in environmental design, planning and architecture practice, and his diverse experience includes multifamily and single-family residential, community buildings such as libraries and healthcare facilities, educational institutions such as community colleges and K-12 schools, and public facilities.

Aliano served as a Design Review Board (DRB) commissioner for the City of Glendale for 10 years leading the DRB as chairman through two, one-year terms during that time. Aliano’s commitment to deepening the understanding of key design principles to burgeoning architects has led to his service as design studio guest critic for University of California, Los Angeles, Woodbury University and California State University, Fullerton.

He is a licensed architect in the State of Califonia (C-26571) and currently serves as a board member for the Los Angeles Education Partnership. A member of the American Insitute of Architects, Aliano received his master of architecture from University of California, Los Angeles and a bachelor of science in design from Arizona State University.

Lara Regus is senior vice president of development responsible for the oversight of new affordable housing production. As such, she identifies a wide-range of financing to bring developments to fruition; oversees predevelopment, construction and permanent financing activities; manages relationships with lenders and investors; and manages and trains Abode Communities’ experienced and dedicated development team members. Regus is also instrumental in engagement to increase public awareness and support for affordable housing through education, policy and advocacy endeavors.

In her tenure with Abode Communities, Regus has contributed to the development of more than 1,000 multifamily residential units yielding $317 million of real estate investment in California. Her in-depth experience at Abode Communities includes successfully identifying and securing acquisition opportunities as director, business development, as well as managing the development process for a variety of affordable housing developments. Prior to joining the organization in 2006, she served as a program associate at California Community Foundation and an analyst at JPMorgan Chase.

Regus’ commitment to environmentally sustainable affordable housing has propelled Abode Communities to become the leading provider of LEED® for Homes Platinum-rated units in the State of California. Regus is a trusted resource on the subject of sustainability, as well as transit-oriented development and has participated on various panels hosted by U.S. Green Building Council, Southern California Association for Nonprofit Housing, Urban Land Institute and American Planning Association.

She received her masters in urban planning from University of California, Los Angeles and a bachelor degree in economics from Claremont McKenna College.

Jan Peters is senior vice president of property management responsible for the oversight and management of Abode Communities’ affordable residential portfolio, which includes 35 affordable housing developments with 2,354 homes that serve some 6,200 low-income people throughout Southern California.

Peters is an established affordable housing management professional with nearly 30 years of property management experience. She is responsible for developing and maintaining property operation and capital improvement budgets; monitoring financial variance, vacancy and delinquency reports; overseeing and approving legal actions; responding to Fair Housing concerns; preparing contracts; and supervising, hiring and training property management staff.

Peters tenure in affordable housing property management includes serving as executive vice president and chief operating officer of Eden Housing, a position she held for more than a decade. She was responsible for the oversight of the organization’s residential portfolio consisting of 5,000 residential units and 40,000 square feet of commercial space, as well as oversight of the finance, human resources, administration, and resident services departments. Prior to joining Eden Housing, Peters served as president of WNC Management, Inc.

She is a licensed real estate broker in the State of California and is past president of the Affordable Housing Management Association of Northern California, Nevada, and Hawaii. She is also co-chair of the National Affordable Housing Management Association (NAHMA) Credential Review Board and is a National Affordable Housing Professional – Executive (NAHPe).

Peters earned her masters of social work (MSW) from Rutgers University; masters in education from Antioch University; bachelor of arts from Melbourne University; and  an Achieving Excellence in Community Development Certification from Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education.

Sara Tsay is vice president of business development responsible for identifying and securing affordable housing and community development opportunities. This includes managing Abode Communities’ acquisitions; procuring joint-venture partnerships; negotiating purchase and sale agreements; working with consultants to define the development program and architectural design; identifying acquisition and predevelopment financing; and providing executive oversight of the business development team.

Tsay holds more than 11 years of real estate experience and most recently served as strategy and development manager at The Walt Disney Company, and as senior real estate negotiator at Target Corporation. Prior to that, Tsay was lead project manager with Hollywood Community Housing Corporation where she managed real estate development projects from concept and acquisition through lease-up, including affordable housing, mixed-use, and historic rehabilitation/adaptive reuse developments. She also served as a project management associate with Abode Communities where she was responsible for multifamily residential development from financing and construction to transitioning from development to property management.

Tsay earned her masters in urban planning from the University of California, Los Angeles, and her bachelors in urban studies from Brown University.

Steven Cole is vice president of portfolio management responsible for the long-term performance of Abode Communities’ existing residential portfolio. Cole ensures that each property is financially solvent; complies with legal and regulatory requirements; and remains a viable real estate asset. Cole oversees more than 2,400 units in Abode Communities affordable housing portfolio. As such, he analyzes each property’s strategic position and evaluates opportunities to improve performance while developing repositioning and recapitalization plans where needed.

With more than 17 years’ experience in the management of real estate portfolios, Cole previously served as team leader with Alliant Asset Management where he managed a team of asset managers responsible for monitoring and reporting the performance of real estate assets during construction, lease-up and stabilization. Prior to joining Alliant, Cole worked for WNC & Associates, Inc. for nearly eleven years where he enjoyed many roles including senior asset manager of construction risk management and regional director of structured assets where he was responsible for a portfolio of distressed assets that required specialized work-out plans to restore stabilized operational performance. Cole was also a portfolio manager for large property management company where he actively managed six homeowner associations totaling over 1,100 residential units.

Cole is a National Association of Home Builders Housing Credit Certified Professional and earned his Bachelors in Business Management from the University of Phoenix.