True Ground's New Board Members - 2025
At True Ground’s final Board of Directors meeting of 2024, two leaders were unanimously appointed to the Board. Currently, True Ground’s Board is comprised of 23 professionals representing diverse industries and residents from True Ground’s communities. True Ground welcomes:
Chris Hanessian, President and CEO, Snell Construction Corporation
Christopher R. Hanessian is the President and CEO of Snell Construction Corporation. Chris is responsible for company performance and assets, including: multi-family, office, hotel, development, and public and private market investments.
Chris has extensive real estate experience, including asset management, property acquisitions, financing, construction, entitlements, master plan design, strategic planning, and development of office, retail, multi-family residential, and student housing products. Chris has secured over $2 billion in construction and financing loans. Chris led efforts to secure public bond financing for multiple Maryland housing and mixed-use projects. He has participated in real estate development throughout Maryland and Virginia including: management of 6,200 multi-family units, construction of 2.3 million s.f. of office and retail, development of 4,400 residential and commercial lots, 5,600 structured parking spaces, as well as infrastructure construction. Chris received a Bachelor’s in Architecture and Environmental Design from Miami University and a Master’s in Real Estate from The Johns Hopkins University School of Business. As an adjunct professor, Chris taught asset management to Master’s candidates at the University of Maryland’s Colvin Institute of Real Estate Development. He currently serves on multiple private and quasi-public boards.
Latasha Edwards, Vice President, LivCor
Latasha Edwards is currently a Vice President at LivCor, Blackstone’s multi-family asset management firm. She leads asset management for investments in the Mid-West, Northeast, and Mid-Atlantic regions. Prior to joining LivCor, she led asset management for the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions at AvalonBay. In addition, during her tenure at AvalonBay, she served on the Black Associate Group Executive Leadership Committee and served as the Executive Sponsor for the company’s partnership with A Wider Circle. Latasha previously led all asset & portfolio management for RSE Capital Partners (an affiliate of Fundrise). Her work has included acquisitions, dispositions, and portfolio management primarily in the investment management and private equity sectors working for other firms such as MacFarlane Partners, Hudson Realty Capital, and ASB Capital Management. She began her real estate career at Jones Lang LaSalle. Latasha received her B.A. from Harvard University and her M.B.A. from The Wharton School. She is currently a member of ULI and the Real Estate Executive Council.
True Ground also bids farewell to two stalwart board members, Matt Birenbaum and Randy Anderson. With nearly 30 years of combined service on the board, both have made a lasting impact on True Ground and affordable housing across the region. Thank you for your service, Matt and Randy.
Matt Birenbaum, True Ground Board from 2015-2024
Matt has direct experience creating affordable housing during his career as a developer. As Chief Investment Officer at AvalonBay Communities, he is responsible for AvalonBay’s investment strategy and oversees the Investments, West Coast Development, National Construction, Design, Asset Management and Market Research functions.
He got to know True Ground (then APAH) better through the sale of AvalonBay’s Arna Valley View, while he was CIO. Matt was active in the capital campaign for Terwilliger Place which closed a funding gap and made the project possible. He was key in the leadership transition in 2021 when Carmen Romero became President and CEO after the retirement of Nina Janopaul. He was also central to the successful construction closing of the Exchange at Spring Hill Station, True Ground’s largest project to date. Matt will continue to support the True Ground real estate committee.
Randy Anderson, True Ground Board from 2001-2017; 2019-2024
Randy’s banking career spanned over 45 years in the Washington, DC area. For the last seven years of his career, Randy served as the President and CEO of The National Capital Bank of Washington prior to his retirement in December 2022. He remains on the Bank’s board as Vice Chair and as President and CEO of its holding company National Capital Bancorp, Inc.
Randy has been a trusted advisor for the True Ground staff on many financing and banking considerations and often served on the Executive Committee during his service. He pushed for several critical tools True Ground uses today including the finance and operations dashboards and strategies around loan refinancing. He also evaluated banking proposals for acquisitions of critical assets and was part of the board team that hired key staff leadership positions. Randy will continue to support True Ground by participating in the new Philanthropy Task Force.
