Our People

Before founding Hearth Homes Community Building in 1997, Sue Siegel was the founder, creative director and CEO of Joan Walters, a national women's clothing manufacturing company headquartered in the Bay Area. Her husband's struggle with a progressive disabling decease sensitized her to the difficulties of disabled individuals and their families with housing that was not accessible to wheelchairs. This experience led her to conduct a feasibility study followed by a focus group on the need for accessible, affordable housing in the Bay Area that was inclusive of families. Subsequently, she founded Hearth Homes with the help of former business associates, and continues today in her role as visionary leader of the organization.

Michael Hoeffel is a Vice President at MacFarlane Partners, a real estate private equity firm that invests in urban development projects. Michael has over 11 years of real estate investment, development and management experience.

Michael holds a master’s degree in business administration from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Georgetown University. He is an associate member of the Urban Land Institute and a member of Berkeley Real Estate Associates.

Michael has been active in the not-for-profit affordable housing industry since his time at Cal and has been on the Board of Directors of Hearth Homes since 2000.

As Bilingual Assessment Social Worker for the Golden Gate Regional Center (a non-profit agency serving the developmentally disabled), Katherine Martinez conducts intakes and social assessments for Spanish-speaking clients, facilitates eligibility meetings, and provides case management services.  She advocates for clients with schools, medical professionals, and other social service agencies.  She implemented a Spanish-speaking parent support group and is planning a series of oral hygiene workshops for clients and families with whom she works.  She is currently president of the board of the Independent Living Resource Center, San Francisco.

Past experiences include work as a Congressional Intern for Speaker Nancy Pelosi, working with diverse constituents with housing concerns.

Katherine holds a Masters Degree in Social Work and a Bachelor’s Degree in La Raza Studies from San Francisco State University.

Ellen D. Chan received her undergraduate degree in Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley.  She focused her studies in business application and design of computer software.  After three years as a system engineer at Electronic Data Systems, working with their insurance clients and banking clients, she joined Worldco Company, Ltd., a real estate investment and development firm in 1977.

Upon joining Worldco, Ellen implemented property management and accounting software systems to manage the financial operation of the company’s development and management functions.  Throughout the past 30 years, Worldco’s portfolio has included commercial offices, shopping centers and urban residential real estate, totaling in excess on 1 million square feet, located in Houston, Texas; Bellevue, Washington; and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Ellen has also served as president for the Peninsula Youth Ballet in San Mateo, CA, and director for St. Catherine of Siena School in Burlingame, CA.  She is a member of the San Francisco Advisory Board for The Hope Project.

Skye DeLano received her undergraduate degree in Politics from Princeton, and her Master's in Public Administration from the University of Canberra, where she focused her study on corporate philanthropy and public-private partnerships. Currently the Director of Development at Presidio Hill School, a progressive K-8 school in San Francisco, Skye is stepping down in June 2006. She plans to leverage ten years' experience in fundraising, communication, creative problem-solving, relationship-building, and project management with an organization committed to social change.

As the Deputy Director of Community and Economic Development – Housing for the City of Richmond, Lisa Hamburger oversees the development of all affordable housing related policy and the implementation of programs and residential developments supported by the City and its Redevelopment Agency. Before joining the City of Richmond in June 2003, she previously she served in a similar capacity for the City of East Palo Alto (EPA) for three years.

Lisa’s work has been honored by the American Planning Association for EPA’s Housing Element and Inclusionary Housing Program, San Mateo County housing practitioners who selected EPA as the winner of the 2002 Housing Leadership Award for “Exemplary pursuit of the vision: a good home for everyone,” the Nonprofit Housing Association of Northern California that awarded EPA Honor Roll Status for its 2002-2007 Housing Element, and by the National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials who chose the EPA for the 2002 City Cultural Diversity Award based on its housing program achievements.

As a housing advocate for the past 20 years, Lisa has focused on developing housing models that serve as a resource environment, not just shelter. She has spent considerable time involved in issues related to universal design, rent stabilization and just cause for eviction, converting underutilized land for housing development and working with residents to gain ownership of their rental property. She has worked on behalf of poor urban households, homeless, farm workers, rural residents, and senior citizens.

Lisa holds a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning and a Masters in Gerontology, both from the University of Southern California.

Her specialty is journalistic practices, both practical, historical and theoretical, with emphasis primarily on newspapers and magazines. 

Previous to joining academia she was a practicing journalist with various newspapers and TIME INC. for 25 years.  As an academic, she won teaching awards from Stanford University and from the California Newspaper Publishers Association. She has served on boards of the California Newspaper Editors Association, Embarcadero Publishing Inc., Foothill College Multicultural Board, and the Palo Alto YWCA. Her published work includes two co-authored books, one a text on journalistic practice, and the other on women in business.

Michael Johnson has over 15 years experience in construction, development and finance of affordable housing. He began his career with his family's construction and development company in New York State. Today he works for the National Development Council (NDC) as a director on the West Coast. NDC is a national not for profit specializing in housing development finance. Michael's focus is on improving senior housing in the areas of affordability, green design and co-generational living.

Michael is a lover of the arts, the environment and is actively involved with several non profits. He serves on the Mill Valley Art Commission, founded a renewable energy advocacy group, supports Bill T. Jones Modern Dance and StreetSquash, an after-school youth-enrichment program. He received his undergraduate degree from Alfred University and his master's degree from New York University.

As a neighborhood outreach consultant for over six years, Jane Winslow has worked in a variety of San Francisco neighborhoods meeting with neighborhood, environmental, and merchant groups.

Jane has been an activist and urban environmentalist in San Francisco for many years. She has been an elementary school teacher and administrator, a corporate personnel administrator, and executive director of a nonprofit. She currently she has her own community outreach consulting firm, working with developers and neighbors to insure that projects contribute to the neighborhood in which they are built.

Jane has been a member of and served on boards of many organizations including the Recreation and Parks Department’s Open Space Advisory Committee, San Francisco Neighborhood Beautification Committee, San Francisco Parking Authority, San Francisco Film Advisory Committee, Telegraph Hill Dwellers, Telegraph Hill Neighborhood Center, SPUR, and the Independent Living Resource Center San Francisco. She is a trained mediator and volunteers with Community Boards of San Francisco on a regular basis.