WPHD names new Executive Director

The Wisconsin Partnership for Housing Development is pleased to announce that, after an external search, Todd Mandel has been hired to serve as executive director, effective April 26, 2021.

WPHD delivers affordable housing throughout the state with a focus on creating and preserving single-family homeownership and affordable rental opportunities. Over the past ten years, WPHD has created more than 100 affordable housing units across Wisconsin with a focus on small and rural communities.

Marissa Downs, the President of the WPHD Board of Directors, enthusiastically endorsed Mr. Mandel’s appointment, “Todd has a passion for housing and housing issues as they impact low-income families and individuals. His focus on how housing, and through housing how our treatment of one another, can define a community has us excited for the next chapter in the organization’s development.” Todd has previously served on the WPHD Board of Directors for six years before being hired as the executive director.

Todd succeeds Nicole Solheim who helped lead the organization through the challenges of COVID-19 and was instrumental in reconfiguring the organization’s operations to deal with the realities of remote work and a distributed workforce as well as leading an effort to refinance some of the organization’s properties to enhance the non-profit’s operating capacity.

Todd brings deep experience in affordable housing, particularly in rural and small communities. He previously oversaw development of more than $12 million in affordable ownership and rental housing, mostly in communities of less than 10,000 people. He is an experienced grant writer with more than 20 years of experience in the governmental and non-profit sectors. He has previously been a member of the Community Investment Advisory Council at the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago as well as a member of the Great Lakes Advisory Council for the Minneapolis Federal Reserve. In 2020, Mr. Mandel completed a Master of Arts in Servant Leadership degree from Viterbo University in La Crosse.

His volunteer leadership positions have included serving as the Director of Cadet Programs and as the Director of Marking and Communication for the Wisconsin Wing of the Civil Air Patrol as well as serving as the National Grants and Research Manager for the Civil Air Patrol’s National Headquarters located at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama. He also is a member of the La Crosse Boychoir Board of Directors.

“The Wisconsin Partnership for Housing Development has long been a champion for affordable housing in all corners of our great state. To be a part of an organization that can bring housing opportunities to rural communities, which are often overlooked or forgotten in discussions around affordability and housing, is an honor,” said Mandel.