Leslye began her professional career at the State Department of Housing and Community Development, where she held several positions before taking on the challenge of overseeing the day-to-day activities of the State’s housing loan and grant programs. In that capacity, she worked to pass and then implement the first affordable housing bond initiatives, which made $550 million available for the construction and rehabilitation of affordable housing throughout the State.

Leslye joined the City of San Jose as the Department of Housing’s first Assistant Director in 1991, and then served for 14 years as the Director. While with the City, she oversaw a program that developed and improved 21,000 affordable housing units, leveraging the City’s funds with more than $2.7 billion from public and private sources.

Leslye has served on a number of federal, State, and regional boards and is currently the Co-Chair of CASA, a newly formed task force charged with developing a housing strategy for the nine- county Bay Area . She is a dedicated housing wonk, loves policy and research, and is excited to lead SV@Home.

David is a former U.S. diplomat with experience working across eastern Europe, the Western Balkans, and the former Soviet Union. He’s excited to be applying his background in coalition-building, policy making, and advocacy to SV@Home’s mission of making affordable housing accessible to all.

As Director of Strategic Initiatives, David spearheads SV@Home’s strategies for achieving high levels of affordable housing through major planning areas and projects. This means collaborating closely with community advocates, local elected officials, city staff, and developers, both non-profit and for profit, to craft land use proposals that respond to our shared affordability crisis.

When he’s not at work, you can find David enjoying a hike with his wife in the Bay Area’s incredible parks, training for the next triathlon, or maybe just reading a good book at a local coffee shop.

David holds an MSc in comparative politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science as well as a BA in International Affairs from George Washington University. He speaks French and some Russian.

Gina has been a member of the SV@Home team since 2015. In her role, she oversees the organization’s daily operations and membership programs and is a key member of the events and fundraising teams.

Gina is a native of Santa Clara County and current resident of West San Jose. She cares deeply about promoting equity, inclusion, and compassion for others in her community and enjoys working for an organization that is committed to meeting one of the most basic needs of all Silicon Valley residents – a home.

Prior to joining SV@Home, Gina got her start in affordable housing working for the Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern CA (NPH) in San Francisco. She served on the steering committee of the Emerging Leaders Peer Network, a cohort of young professionals dedicated to strengthening the affordable housing field by fostering professional development and connections among young leaders in the community. Gina received her B.A. in Psychology from UC Santa Cruz.

Mathew has a decades long commitment to affordable housing development, preservation and policy. Beginning as a tenant organizer in New Jersey in the 1990s, he has worked to bring community interests to housing policy discussions and to insure that affordable housing is a part of our understanding of inequality and our movements for social justice.

In the Bay Area, he has worked in the public, non-profit, and the private sectors as a housing demographer, a social policy evaluator, and an organizer. Most recently, Mathew was with Sacred Heart Community Service as a community organizer and housing analyst, where he worked on homeless prevention, renters’ rights, and efforts to expand affordable housing funding and development.

Mathew holds a PhD in Urban Sociology and Social Policy from Northwestern University.

For nearly three years, Huascar Castro served as a policy aide to Vice Mayor Magdalena Carrasco. Throughout his time with Vice Mayor Carrasco, Huascar worked extensively on Housing and Land Use policy for the Vice Mayor. Huascar also addressed issues pertaining to the small business community of East San Jose. With increased development and transportation projects taking place in East San Jose, Huascar has worked to ensure that community and business concerns were addressed as these projects have taken place.

Prior to working with Vice Mayor Carrasco, Huascar interned with San Francisco Supervisor Malia Cohen who represents Southeast San Francisco including the Bayview and Hunters Point. Huascar worked on public safety issues and assisted in research over several policy issues affecting neighborhoods throughout San Francisco. With his experience in public policy and community outreach, Huascar looks forward to contributing to the Silicon Valley@Home right away.

Huascar also enjoys spending time with friends and family, as well as volunteering as a youth basketball coach. Huascar holds a Bachelors of Arts in Political Science from San Francisco State University.

Anna is excited to join the SV@Home team as a Planning Associate. Anna is a California native from the Central Valley, who moved to San Jose in 2017. She previously served with City Year San Jose/Silicon Valley as a Site Office Associate, where she acted as a project manager and systems builder. Anna received a Master of International Development from the University of Pittsburgh. During her graduate work, she focused on regional governance and affordable housing at local, national, and international scales. She has previously worked with local governments in California in a planning capacity, and is looking forward to engaging the local community on topics related to housing. Anna also enjoys attempting to play sports and eating breakfast for dinner.

A San Francisco native and San Jose resident, Mitch is passionate about combating inequality in the Bay Area and insuring access to high quality affordable housing for all. As Outreach Associate, he manages SV@Home’s project endorsement process and monitors public meetings countywide.

Prior to joining SV@Home, Mitch worked at a variety of Bay Area nonprofits, including Benetech, Global Citizen Year, and Clinic by the Bay, as well as working as an organizer on ballot proposition campaigns in San Francisco. He holds a BA in Economics and International and Global Studies from Brandeis University, with a minor in Social Justice and Social Policy. He is fluent in Spanish

Tom is an avid traveler who worked for the City of San Jose’s housing department for many years. He retired in 2016 and now provides statistical analysis and research for Silicon Valley at Home.