Senior Staff

Colleen Hernandez

President and Chief Executive Officer

Colleen Hernandez comes to the Foundation with wide-ranging experience in affordable housing, community development and grass roots community organizing. For 18 years, she served as Executive Director of the Kansas City Neighborhood Alliance (KCNA). Prior to joining the Foundation, Ms. Hernandez was the principal of Hernandez Consulting LLC, a firm specializing in affordable housing and community development. She served six years on the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, chairing its Audit Committee for two years. Ms. Hernandez served on the Consumer Advisory Council to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, as well as on the board of the National Equity Fund. She is the 1995 recipient of the Charles Kimball Award from the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation.

Julie Steinhagen

Chief Operating Officer

Julie Steinhagen joined the Foundation in September 2010. Ms Steinhagen held a management position at the National Community Stabilization Trust, a start-up, non-profit focused on facilitating the transfer of foreclosed and abandoned properties from financial institutions nationwide to local housing organizations to promote productive property reuse and neighborhood stability. Prior to her work at the NCST, Ms. Steinhagen worked for 15 years in financial services holding senior-level positions in both investor relations and capital markets and an earlier position at the accounting firm, Deloitte. Ms. Steinhagen brings with her a deep knowledge of the secondary mortgage market and she holds a BS in Accounting from St. Cloud State University in MN and held a CPA license during her time at Deloitte.

Bill Acheson

Chief Financial Officer

Bill Acheson is a financial services professional with over 20 years of experience across a spectrum of disciplines including accounting, finance, capital markets, risk management, investment banking and business leadership. Mr. Acheson has held senior level positions with global financial institutions and has worked in the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe and Latin America. Mr. Acheson has a passion for providing unbiased and affordable financial services to individuals typically not targeted by traditional financial planners and providers of financial services. Mr. Acheson holds a BA degree in Accounting from the University of St. Thomas, and held a CPA license during his time at Ernst & Young.

Gene Spencer

Senior Vice President, Financial Services

Gene Spencer joined the Foundation in January 2010. He is responsible for stakeholder relations, business strategy and research initiatives. Mr. Spencer is an experienced marketing, communications, relationship management, strategy development and corporate planning executive and a 30-year veteran of the mortgage financial services industry. He retired after a 28-year career at Fannie Mae, as vice president of investor relations, where he was responsible for investor communications strategy and managing relationships with the global institutional equity investment community. He also worked as the vice president for mortgage-backed securities marketing, where he led the marketing of Fannie Mae's MBS products to Wall Street and institutional fixed income investors worldwide. Mr. Spencer holds an Executive Masters in Leadership from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University and BS from the College of William and Mary. Mr. Spencer serves on the Board of Trustees of The Studio Theatre and advises the board of The Community of Hope, both of which are in Washington, DC.

Josh Fuhrman

Senior Vice President, Policy and Programs

Josh Fuhrman has been in the credit and housing counseling industry for over 12 years, assisting consumers in financial crisis. Mr. Fuhrman has spent the last 10 years serving as the Director of Counseling for Auriton Solutions, a national nonprofit crisis-counseling agency and one of the original counseling partners for the Homeownership Preservation Foundation. He has an extensive background in business development and has a strong community involvement in housing and financial assistance. Mr. Fuhrman holds a BA in Communications and Philosophy from the University of Minnesota.

Ghazi Akailvi

Director of Finance

Ghazi Akailvi has more than 20 years of nonprofit experience in financial and information technology management positions. For 15 years, he was the CFO/CIO at a multi-state family social services agency, where he led business development initiatives, outcome measurement, and continuous quality improvement efforts, as well as creating the agency’s finance and information technology infrastructure. Mr. Akailvi later served at the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation as the Director of Financial & Regulatory Affairs for the Housing Division. He holds a BA in Economics and BS in Business/MIS from the University of Minnesota and an MBA from Metropolitan State University.

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