Our continued success rests on the vision, talent, and dedication of our management and staff.

Joseph F. Reilly has served as the President and CEO of The Community Development Trust since 2007. Under his 15 years of leadership, CDT successfully navigated the challenges of the 2008 financial crisis, the 2020 pandemic, and tripled in size.

Mr. Reilly’s career in the field of community development and affordable housing finance spans 45 years. He began his career in the field of community development in 1978 with the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition. In 1983, he moved on to the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development. In 1989, he joined JPMorgan Chase where he spent 18 years and became JPMC’s National Manager for Community Development Real Estate, a position where he was responsible for managing a staff of 70 professionals who financed affordable housing and community development projects across the United States.

In November of 2023, Mr. Reilly was inducted into the Affordable Housing Finance Hall of Fame in recognition of his career-long commitment to financing affordable housing and the positive impact his work has had in communities across the country and on the lives of tens of thousands of families and individuals.

Mr. Reilly received a BBA from Iona College in 1981 and completed The General Manager Program at Harvard Business School in 2003. Mr. Reilly also served as an Adjunct Professor for real estate finance at New York University from 2007 – 2014.

Christopher Blair, CFA, CAIA is Chief Product Officer and Treasurer. In his position, Mr. Blair oversees Structured Financed, Securitizations and Loan Underwriting for the Company. Mr. Blair plays a key role in the Company’s Corporate Planning and Strategic Initiatives, both on an investment and Company-wide basis. Specifically, Mr. Blair develops and structures new products and business lines, directs corporate financings and investment syndications, evaluates the allocation of capital across business lines, performs the Company net asset valuation, leads annual business planning, and chairs the Asset and Liability Committee (ALCO) that manages pricing policies, asset allocation and financial risks of the Company.

Prior to CDT, Mr. Blair was a Senior Analyst at Apartment Realty Advisors where he was responsible for underwriting, market research, and capital markets analysis for multifamily communities. He also worked at Duke Realty, a public REIT, where he was primarily responsible for performing credit analysis on existing and potential tenants. Mr. Blair has a Masters of Real Estate from New York University’s Schack Institute of Real Estate and a Bachelors of Finance from the University of Georgia. Mr. Blair is a CFA Charterholder, Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) and Certified Commercial Investment Member.

Grace W. Cheng is CDT’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer. Ms. Cheng is a key member of the management team that evaluates strategic initiatives for the Company. She is responsible for the accounting, tax and financial reporting, finance, treasury activities, investor relations, human resources and reporting to the Board of directors and its committees.

Prior to joining CDT, Ms. Cheng was the Chief Financial Officer at Cain International and GTIS Partners, both global real estate private equity firms with investments in the US, London and Brazil. Ms. Cheng oversaw both fund and management company accounting, finance and operations. Earlier in her career, Ms. Cheng worked at Morgan Stanley in the Investment Management practice, overseeing the global accounting and operations of their flagship fund, the Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds.

Ms. Cheng began her professional career as an auditor at Ernst & Young with a focus in the financial services and real estate industries. Ms. Cheng holds a B.S. in Accounting from Binghamton University, an M.B.A in Finance from NYU University and is a Certified Public Accountant in New York.

Michael Lear is CDT’s Chief Business Development Officer. Mr. Lear is a key member of the management team and manages all aspects of CDT’s equity investment activities. He and his team identify and execute CDT’s investment in acquisitions of affordable housing properties throughout the country.

Mr. Lear is also responsible for growing the equity business through new strategic initiatives and programs. He identifies and executes new partnerships and structures to broaden CDT’s investments in affordable housing and develops external relationships to support CDT’s growth.

Mr. Lear has been with CDT since 2011 with experience in both the Asset Management and Equity departments. He has spent his entire career in the field of affordable housing policy, development, and finance.

Prior to joining CDT, Mr. Lear served as Deputy Director of Housing Policy Research at the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Mr. Lear holds a Master’s in Urban Planning from NYU Wagner and a Bachelor of Science and Engineering in Materials Science Engineering from the University of Michigan. He previously taught Real Estate Finance at NYU Wagner.

Roumen Gadelev is Senior Vice President – Director of Accounting and Reporting. Mr. Gadelev joined CDT in 2020 with over 20 years of experience predominantly in the real estate and affordable housing industry.

Previously, he has held controller positions at Fairstead, a New York-based, privately owned, fully integrated real estate investor and manager specializing in multifamily property, owning approximately $2.5 billion worth of real estate comprised of over 11,500 market-rate, workforce, and affordable rental units in 14 states, where he oversaw all of the accounting and reporting for the company’s affordable housing arm; BRIDGE Housing Corporation, one of California’s leading affordable housing nonprofits, where he lead the property management accounting team in charge of accounting and reporting for over 80 properties; First Capital Real Estate Investment Trust, a non-traded public REIT; and a Napa Valley winery. He has also worked at Deloitte and Touché as an auditor in their San Francisco Bay Area practice with a focus on the real estate and investment management industries. Mr. Gadelev is an active Certified Public Accountant and a Chartered Global Management Accountant.

Michelle Militello is CDT’s Senior Vice President of Equity Asset Management. Ms. Militello heads up all asset management responsibilities for the company’s national multifamily equity portfolio, which totals more than 22,000 units. 

Prior to joining CDT in August 2023, Ms. Militello served as Senior Director of Affordable Asset Management at Fairstead. In her role at Fairstead, she built an asset management team that oversaw the company’s national portfolio of more than 20,000 affordable units. Prior to joining Fairstead, Ms. Militello served as Vice President of Asset Management at Pennrose, where she was charged with maximizing the financial performance and value of the company’s portfolio. 

With over 25 years in the housing and financial services industry, Ms. Militello has also held senior management positions within the tax credit groups at Bank of America and Merrill Lynch, responsible for managing hundreds of multi-investor, proprietary, and direct tax credit investments and other roles in community development and portfolio management. 

Ms. Militello holds a Master of Business Administration from Fordham University and a Bachelor of Business Administration from James Madison University. 

Mr. Perry joined CDT’s equity originations group in August 2022, responsible for identifying development opportunities within the current portfolio, as well as potential new investment opportunities.  Prior to CDT, Mr. Perry was a Senior Vice President at Bank of America in its affordable housing development subsidiary, Banc of America Community Development Company, LLC (BACDC).

During his 16-year tenure at BACDC, Mr. Perry was responsible for the development and rehabilitation of affordable and mixed-income housing communities in the Mid-Atlantic, New England and Southeast regions. In this role, he Identified joint venture opportunities in key markets with existing and new clients of the bank, leading development projects from initial conceptions through stabilization. 

Prior to joining the Bank of America’s community development team, he worked for East of the River CDC, as Vice President of Real Estate Development where he oversaw the acquisition and development of affordable rental, condominium and single-family projects in southeast Washington, DC. Prior to East of the River CDC, Mr. Perry was Senior Development Manager with Simpson Housing Solutions, LLC (SHS) in Long Beach, California, which was one of the nation’s largest real estate investment and development firms at the time. While at SHS, he was responsible for the development of more than 800 units of affordable housing. 

Mr. Perry holds a BA in Business Communications from Loyola University of Chicago and an MBA in Real Estate Finance and Marketing from UCLA The Anderson School of Management.