2024 Keynote Session

Rebecca Foster
Chief Executive Officer, Housing Accelerator Fund

Rebecca Foster is the founding CEO of the Housing Accelerator Fund, a public-private partnership and Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) that provides capital solutions and new tools to improve the delivery of affordable housing. Since 2017, the Fund has created permanent housing affordability for over 4,000 residents throughout the greater San Francisco Bay Area.

Previously, Rebecca served as Director of Social Impact Investment under the late San Francisco Mayor, Ed Lee. Before that, she was a Vice President in Public Sector & Infrastructure investment banking at Goldman Sachs, where she raised capital for local governments, universities, non-profits, and utilities around the country. She received her B.A. from Brown University and her MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. In 2020 Governor Newsom appointed Rebecca to the Board of Directors of the California Housing Partnership Corporation. Rebecca is also a proud board member of the Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and three boys.

Noni Ramos
Chief Executive Officer, Housing Trust Silicon Valley

Noni Ramos is Chief Executive Officer of Housing Trust Silicon Valley, a certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) working across the 14-county greater Bay Area. Under Noni’s leadership, Housing Trust has continued to use transformative housing finance and public and private partnerships to create more equitable and affordable communities. Her impressive background spans more than 30 years working in the affordable housing field.

Before joining Housing Trust, Noni was Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Enterprise Community Loan Fund, where she oversaw the lending, credit and risk management, finance, and administration functions. She serves as the Board Chair of the California Coalition for Community Investment and Mercy Community Capital. She is also a board member of the NPH Action Fund, Community HousingWorks, and Community Health Center Capital Fund. Noni received a Bachelor’s degree from the Walter A. Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, and earned a Master’s in Public Administration from the California State University, East Bay.

Mayor Jesse Arreguín
Mayor of Berkeley

Mayor Jesse Arreguín has spent his entire life fighting for social and economic justice and delivering results. He was elected Mayor of Berkeley in 2016 and re-elected in 2020, becoming the first Latino and youngest person elected to the office in a century. Jesse has served the Berkeley community for 20 years. In 2004, he was elected citywide to serve on the Rent Stabilization Board. As Chair of the Rent Board, he strengthened renter protections. He also served on the Zoning Adjustments Board, Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee, and Planning Commission.

In 2008, Jesse was elected to the Berkeley City Council, where he created the Affordable Housing Fee, helped raise the city’s minimum wage and co-wrote the Downtown Plan to revitalize the heart of the city. As Berkeley’s Mayor, Jesse has made addressing homelessness, affordable housing, improving infrastructure and educational outcomes his top priorities. He also serves as the Vice President of the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), the Bay Area’s regional planning agency and Council of Governments.

Secretary Tomiquia Moss
Secretary of California’s Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency

Tomiquia Moss is the Secretary of California’s Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency. As Secretary, she oversees a dozen state entities responsible for the preservation and expansion of safe, affordable housing and efforts to prevent and end homelessness, protect consumers, and safeguard Californians’ civil rights.

Tomiquia has more than 20 years of leadership experience in the nonprofit and public sectors. Before her appointment, she founded and led All Home, a Bay Area organization advancing regional solutions to disrupt the cycles that perpetuate homelessness and poverty. She was also the CEO of Hamilton Families, served directly under the mayors of both San Francisco and Oakland, and was the Executive Director of the HOPE SF Initiative.

Libby Schaaf
United States Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) appointee to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and Bay Area Housing Finance Authority (BAHFA)

Libby Schaaf is the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) appointee to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and Bay Area Housing Finance Authority (BAHFA), and teaches at UC Berkeley’s Goldman Public Policy School. While Mayor of Oakland from 2015-2022, she set records in reducing gun violence, fixing roads, and producing housing. She created The Oakland Promise, nationally recognized as the most comprehensive cradle-to-career program of its kind.

In 2018, Politico named her one of the 50 most influential people in American politics. Schaaf was appointed by Governor Newsom to his Council of Regional Homelessness Advisors and was named a Housing Hero by the Bay Area Housing Action Coalition. She was the first woman elected Chair of the Big City Mayors of California and as Democratic Co-Chair of the national bi-partisan Mayor & CEOs for US Housing Investment. She served in the US delegation to Habitat III (Quito) where the New Urban Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals were adopted. She is an Aspen Institute Rodel Fellow and holds a Senior Fellowship at the Harvard EdRedesign Lab.

Assemblymember Buffy Wicks
East Bay Representative, California State Assembly

Assemblymember Buffy Wicks represents the East Bay in the California State Assembly, with a district spanning the communities of Oakland to Richmond, and includes the City of Berkeley.

Asm. Wicks was recently appointed Chair of the Appropriations Committee, after serving as Chair of the Assembly Housing Committee for two years prior. Her work focuses heavily on advancing solutions to solve California’s housing and homelessness crisis, expanding our state’s social safety net, protecting kids in the digital world, and championing the rights of women and working families. A lifelong community organizer, Asm. Wicks previously served on both of President Barack Obama’s campaigns and worked for him in the White House. She lives in Oakland with her husband, Peter, and daughters, Jojo and Elly.