FOUNDer & PRINCIPAL
Courtney Horwitz
Courtney worked at Omni New York LLC, an affordable housing real estate development company for over nine years where she had many different titles and roles as the company grew from a 16-person operation to a 500-person company during her tenure. During this time, Courtney worked with a team to manage the acquisition, secure the financing, and oversee the rehabilitation of over 3,400 units of housing with a total transaction size of over $650 million. As Vice President, she created and grew an asset management department, integrated new acquisitions into Omni’s portfolio, and ensured financial and regulatory compliance. Additionally, she oversaw Omni’s energy efficiency initiatives.
Prior to joining Omni, Courtney worked at HR&A Advisors, Inc., a real estate consulting firm, where she co-managed the NYSERDA’s Assisted Multifamily Program. She also worked at TAG Associates, LLC, a consulting firm that assists public housing authorities throughout the U.S. She is currently on the Real Estate Advisory Counsel of The Fifth Avenue Committee. She is a former board member of Women in Housing Finance and the past treasurer of the board of Neighbors Helping Neighbors. She is an alumna of the Coro Leadership New York program. She holds dual master’s degrees in Public Policy and Urban & Regional Planning from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tufts University. She is a credentialed LEED Green Associate.
Director
Adam Phillips
During his time at Strada, Adam has specialized in the pre-development and development of tenant-in-place rehabilitation projects. These projects include a fourteen building, 106-unit Rental Assistance Demonstration conversion of public housing in Baltimore, a small multifamily project in Brooklyn, and the repositioning of a scattered site twelve building project comprising over one hundred units (including a former cluster-shelter site) in Brooklyn. Adam has also successfully applied for and received approval for clients to be eligible to receive additional subsidy through NYSERDA’s RetrofitNY program, a net zero energy retrofit/rehabilitation program for multifamily rentals. He has successfully completed a 4% Low Income Housing Tax Credit application for a client and has provided Asset Management consulting services, including creating tools for clients to successfully track performance across their portfolios. Lastly, he closed on a $1.8 million pre-development line of credit for a client in need of pre-development funds for five projects.
Adam comes to Strada Ventures LLC after working for five years at the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). While he held a number of positions within the Office of Development, in his most recent capacity he served as the Deputy Director of the Multifamily Housing Rehabilitation and Green Housing Preservation Loan Programs. As the Deputy Director, he co-managed a pipeline of approximately sixty-two projects representing nearly 8,000 units and a budget of over $80 million in city capital and other funding sources. He also managed the Landlord Ambassador Program, a demonstration program focused on providing technical assistance through a not-for-profit affordable housing provider to financially, physically, and operationally distressed small multifamily property owners.
Prior to working at HPD, Adam worked at the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB) for nearly eight years. He received a Masters of Science in Urban Policy Analysis and Management from The New School for Public Engagement while working full time at UHAB. He also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from St. Joseph’s University and minored in Foreign Languages and Literature - Italian.
director
Dara Yaskil
Dara Yaskil leads Strada’s Asset Management practice and brings more than a decade of experience in affordable housing policy, finance, and asset management across the public, nonprofit, and private sectors in New York City. At Strada, she provides direct asset management services, supports the repositioning of distressed portfolios, and develops strategies that strengthen long-term financial, operational, and physical performance across multifamily properties.
Previously, Dara served as the Executive Director of Multifamily Stabilization Programs in the Division of Preservation Finance at the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). In that role, she oversaw a team that closed more than 25,000 units of affordable housing transactions and advanced major mayoral initiatives to improve energy efficiency, expand financial and technical assistance for small building owners, and reduce rising operating costs across the affordable housing sector.
Earlier in her career, Dara worked in supportive housing at HPD and Breaking Ground and served as a legal advocate at the Urban Justice Center, assisting tenants facing housing instability.
She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Michigan and a Master’s degree in Urban Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Deputy Director
Evan Easterbrooks-Dick
Evan joins Strada after seven years working at the New York City Department of Housing and Preservation (HPD). Most recently, he served as a Senior Credit Analyst on the Credit & Special Underwriting Team in the Division of Policy and Strategy. In this role, Evan was responsible for reviewing and approving all HPD development projects and transactions involving subsidy and/or tax exemptions to ensure that they demonstrated sound financing and were consistent with Agency and City-wide policy goals. These projects spanned all HPD loan programs involving the preservation and new construction of affordable housing, including both rental and homeownership. Additionally, Evan led several policy initiatives, including co-leading HPD’s efforts to develop a broadband policy that has already ensured free broadband for all residents in dozens of HPD-financed new construction projects.
In his previous role at HPD, Evan worked as a Senior Planner in the Office of Neighborhood Strategies where he managed the RFP process for developing affordable housing on City-owned land. In one noteworthy example, he wrote and managed the RFP process for the SustaiNYC RFP in East Harlem, which brought 650 units of affordable housing to the neighborhood and resulted in one of the largest passive housing projects in the world. Prior work experience includes time at Abt Associates, a public policy research firm, and the Cambridge Housing Authority in Massachusetts.
Evan received his Master in City Planning degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tufts University with a major in Sociology.
Deputy Director
Avery Dement
Avery Dement joins the Strada team after working at the Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF) as an Underwriter, during which time she completed due diligence and secured internal loan approvals for a variety of acquisition, predevelopment, and construction loans for new construction and preservation projects in New York, California, Washington DC, and South Carolina. Prior to LIIF, Avery held multiple roles during her three-year tenure at the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), including most recently Director of the Moderate Rehabilitation and Stabilization Loan Programs. During her time at HPD, Avery managed a pipeline of over 80 projects, closed numerous construction loans for preservation projects, identified strategies to stabilize and preserve HDFC co-ops and projects owned by small landlords that were in financial and physical distress, supported agency negotiations, collaborated with other City and State agencies, as well as private lenders, and trained project managers. She also oversaw the Aging in Place initiative, which provides in-unit upgrades that allow seniors to safely live in their current apartment as they age. As an Intern at HPD, she provided support for the initial implementation of the Basement Conversion Pilot Program in East New York. Prior to HPD, she was a Planning Intern at the Manhattan Borough President’s Office.
Avery has a Master’s of Science in Urban Planning from Columbia University and a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from Parsons the New School for Design.
Senior Project Manager
Colleen Patterson
Colleen Patterson joins the Strada team after working in Transactions Operations at Compass, Inc, a publicly traded real estate brokerage based in New York City. In her role as Escrow Specialist, she primarily handled compliance and processing of third-party pass-through transactions and escrow disbursements. Additionally, she provided customer support for commissions and finance-related inquiries from thousands of local agents.
Prior to working at Compass, Colleen was head of the Personal Services Department at Level Group Ltd, a music business management firm that oversees all aspects of business and finance, including tour accounting, royalties, insurance, and taxes, for a growing roster of musical artists and bands. In her four years at Level Group, Colleen built and managed the Personal Services Department, where she handled personal cash flow planning, bill pay, budgeting, and day-to-day account management for clients. She also facilitated residential and commercial mortgage applications, refinancing, and other loan approvals on behalf of clients.
Colleen is currently working on her Master’s in Urban Planning at Hunter College, where she is concentrating on Housing. She also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California with double minors in Music Industry and Communication Design. In her free time, Colleen enjoys live music, picnics in the park, and tracking down the best tacos in NYC.
Senior Project Manager
Abaye Steinmetz-Silber
Abaye Steinmetz-Silber is a Senior Project Manager in Strada’s Asset Management practice. He has over ten years of experience in New York City real estate, having held roles in leasing, property management, construction management, and most recently, as a Senior Project Manager at Fifth Avenue Committee, Inc. (FAC) in the Affordable Housing Development department. While at FAC, Abaye directly managed over $200m of new deeply affordable housing in all stages of development, with an emphasis on construction period management and project closeout.
Abaye holds a Bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University.