a culture of professional integrity and shared values
Principals
John Clawson
John combines his training as an architect with his 25 years of experience in real estate development to contribute to ECB a broad range of expertise in all phases of the development process. John has particularly strong skills in complex financing structures combining conventional financing, investor equity and funding secured through New Markets and Historic Tax Credits. John’s work in communities throughout Northern California has garnered ECB recognition for its expertise in delivering well-designed, complex projects that make an important contribution to their community.
Prior to ECB, John was a regional vice president of a national development advisory firm specializing in urban mixed use and redevelopment. John earned a Master’s Degree from the MIT Center for Real Estate Development in 1985 and a Bachelor of Architecture from Arizona State University in 1981. John serves on the Board of Trustees for the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts and Lick-Wilmerding High School and formerly served on the boards of Marin Country Day School and The Bay School of San Francisco. John is a longtime resident of San Francisco with his family and occasionally they escape the city to enjoy skiing and travel.
Suzanne Brown
Suzanne joined our team in 2005 as a Project Manager and became a Principal in 2014. Suzanne’s energy and passion for the community is evident in her work and personal life. She brings comprehensive knowledge of the development process, design and project management, construction management, and sustainable building practices. As an advocate for sustainable design and construction, she has managed numerous LEED projects including two LEED Platinum buildings.
Suzanne received her B.S in Civil Engineering with a minor in Architecture in 1992 from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York and her Masters in Structural Engineering in 1997 from Georgia Tech in Atlanta. She holds both Professional Engineer and Structural Engineer licenses in California.
Ted Lieser
Ted joined our team as Project Manager in 2001 and became a Principal in 2014. His commitment and passion for the environment and community fuel his focus on environmental sustainability and historic rehabilitation. Ted’s responsibilities include business development, development management, and finance consulting, in San Francisco and Marin.
Ted earned his J.D. in 1995 from Golden Gate University School of Law, specializing in environmental law and policy, and his B.A. from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He serves on the board of San Francisco Heritage, an architectural preservation organization, and is a member of SPUR, ULI and Lambda Alpha International. Ted’s interests include music, the arts, and the environment. He lives in Marin County.
Tracy Hanna
Tracy joined our team in 2014 to fulfill a dream of working within the real estate development world. She came to this field having managed two construction projects and multiple facility negotiations for large nonprofits, including the YMCA, and several charter school management organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Prior to joining ECB, Tracy worked in the education and nonprofit sector for 13 years, where she held several key management roles, including Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, and sat on several nonprofit and charter school Boards. Throughout her nonprofit career she managed operations, finance, human resources, facilities, technology, marketing, and new program development.
As an ECB Project Manager, she has managed multiple tenant improvements for community organizations in San Francisco, Alameda and Marin Counties such as the SF LGBT Center, the SF-Marin Food Bank, and Lao Family Community Development CARE Center; and has overseen the design and construction of several new school facilities in Marin County. She also assisted in the close of financing for New Markets Tax Credits for the SF LGBT Center, Lao Family Community Development CARE Center, and Pantages Theater in Tacoma, WA. Tracy is also a member of SPUR and CREW.
Associates and Staff
Cindy Rancatore
Cindy joined our team in 2022 as a Project Manager, with many years of experience in all aspects of project management and development. Affordable and equitable housing opportunities are a passion of hers, as is the process of transforming properties into thriving community assets.
Prior to joining ECB, Cindy was a Development Manager at FivePoint, a master-plan community developer, where she worked on the planning process for several large-scale community developments in the Bay Area. Cindy has served as a project manager and construction manager for several Bay Area affordable housing developers including Abode, Housing Consortium of the East Bay, TNDC, and Citizen’s Housing Corporation. She especially enjoyed working on the adaptive reuse of a church into a 4-story, 40-unit affordable senior housing community in San Francisco.
Cindy received her Master’s Degree in Real Estate Development and Design (MREDD) from UC Berkeley in 2019 as part of the first cohort of the program, and her BA in Architectural Studies at UC Santa Cruz. She has since served as a teaching assistant for the MREDD program.
Cindy is a San Francisco native, and her interests include hiking with her dog, virtual workouts with long distance friends, and exploring all the bakeries the Bay Area has to offer.
Corinne Ingrassia
Corinne joined our team in July 2018, as Project Manager bringing in-depth New Markets Tax Credit finance experience.
Corinne was previously with JP Morgan Chase where she structured investments in community development. Prior to Chase, she worked at the community development entities, Volunteers of America and National Trust Community Investment Corporation managing the NMTC allocation and compliance programs.
Corinne completed her undergraduate degree in Economics from California State University, Sacramento and received her master's degree in Historic Preservation from the University of Sydney in Australia.
Jim Coyle
LEED AP
Jim joined our team in February 2017 as Construction Manager bringing with him deep experience in construction and sustainability, as well as experience in residential and infrastructure development. As a senior manager with a large commercial construction company, Jim has managed many LEED Platinum projects, and three Net Zero Energy Projects including a Living Building Challenge NZE certified project. He has been involved with many innovative delivery methods, including the first multi-story modular residential project in San Francisco. Prior to ECB, he managed a team with a developer working on the largest entitled residential project in California.
Jim has served on the boards of Construction Specifications Institute SF, the USGBC Northern California, and most recently, the Health Product Declaration. He is a LEED AP, and CSI CDT. He received a B.S. in Construction Management from California State University at Chico. Jim calls Lafayette home and shares a passion for the outdoors and natural world with his family, and enjoys running, biking, camping and climbing.
Joseph Mutter
Joseph joined our team in 2022 as an Assistant Project Manager. As someone passionate about the built environment, he prioritizes the centering of communities in the design and development process, and strongly believes in the power of collective decision making.
Prior to joining ECB, Joseph was a Project Coordinator at Marx|Okubo, an AEC consulting firm, where he became well versed in owner representation, construction loan management, accessibility reviews and property condition assessments. He was also a member of the in-house resilience and sustainability team, focused on researching regional wind code and green building certification compliance. Additionally, he has extensive experience with construction management, technical preservation and rehabilitation planning, facilities management, and community engagement.
Joseph holds a Master's in Real Estate Development and Design (MREDD) from UC Berkeley, where he was an ARCUS Social Justice Corps Fellow and a finalist in the 2022 HUD Innovation in Affordable Housing competition. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Architectural Studies from the Middlebury College.
Originally from San Antonio, Texas, Joseph is a master community gardener, loves mountain running and biking, backcountry skiing, music and volunteering. He lives in Berkeley.
Kelly Ehrenfeld
Kelly joined our team in 2022 as a Project Manager, bringing over 15 years experience in real estate and community development finance.
Prior to joining ECB, Kelly was a Managing Real Estate Consultant at Community Vision Capital and Consulting (formerly known as the Northern CA Community Loan Fund), a San Francisco-based Community Development Financial Institution. Kelly held a variety of roles at Community Vision, including those related to loan underwriting, closing, monitoring and real estate consulting. Most recently, she managed Community Vision’s New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) consulting practice, as well as providing real estate advisory and technical assistance services to nonprofits. Kelly has coordinated the closing and funding of over $100 million in commercial and/or NMTC loans to affordable housing, community facility and economic development projects.
Kelly received a BS in Biology from the University of San Francisco, has volunteered with several nonprofits in the Bay Area and currently serves on the Board of Directors of Mission Neighborhood Centers. Kelly was born and raised in San Francisco and loves working in the same communities where she grew up. She currently resides in the Peninsula and spends her free time keeping up with her twins.
Melissa McMahon
Melissa joined our team in 2002. Currently, the Controller and Operations Manager, she manages the day-to-day operations of the organization which include bookkeeping, insurance, human resources, and technology management.
As a San Francisco native, Melissa likes to give back to her community. She has delivered meals to homebound seniors, was a licensed foster care provider, a teen mentor, and has served as an Advisory Board Member of Oasis For Girls. Other interests include traveling, cooking, writing, and experiencing San Francisco’s diverse and ever changing restaurant scene.
Micah Press
Micah joined our team in 2017 as a Project Manager. Before joining ECB, Micah was a construction manager at CBRE, a real estate services firm. He focused on commercial office build-outs for large tech and Fortune-500 companies such as Paypal, Genentech, and Airbnb. Prior to CBRE, Micah worked at UC Berkeley at the Haas School of Business helping lead the planning and design of a new 90,000 SF academic building.
Micah earned his degree in Landscape Architecture with a focus in Urban Design from UC Davis, and his MBA in Sustainable Business from Dominican University. His interest in design, business, and sustainability made real estate development and the projects at ECB an exciting match. Micah is a ULI and SPUR member and he spends as much of his free time as he can outside, hiking, biking, and snowboarding.
Serena Callaway
Serena joined our team in 2021 with over 20 years of experience in affordable housing development and real estate finance, with a specialization in supportive housing. Her current projects include collaborating with The Salvation Army on their new 250-bed transitional housing and job training project.
Prior to joining ECB, Serena was the Director of Real Estate Development at HomeRise (fka Community Housing Partnership) where she was responsible for overseeing a development team and multifamily pipeline of over 700 permanent supportive housing units, encompassing both new construction and acquisition rehabilitation projects in San Francisco. Serena was also a Senior Project Manager for Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation where she managed the development of multifamily housing projects for low-income families, transitional aged youth, seniors and the unhoused. Serena has extensive experience completing due diligence and procurement services for historic buildings in the Tenderloin neighborhood,
Serena received her Master of City and Regional Planning from UC Berkeley and a Bachelor of Arts from Mount Holyoke College. She currently resides in the Presidio with her family and enjoys the surrounding nature in her free time.
Founders
Ben Golvin
Ben possesses decades of experience in managing all aspects of residential and mixed-use developments. His work in affordable housing includes leadership in rebuilding public housing projects critical to neighborhood revitalization. Ben’s capacity for community and team building is evident in his long-standing relationships and his reputation for integrity across public, private and non-profit sectors.
Ben has served on the Boards of the Northern California Association for Non-Profit Housing, Chinatown Community Development Center, and San Francisco Housing Development Corporation. He received a Bachelor of Arts from UC Santa Cruz and his Masters degree in City and Regional Planning from UC Berkeley.
Tom Sargent
Tom is a developer and planner who has spent three decades working on innovative community-oriented projects that bring to life underutilized urban areas. As a Founding Partner of ECB, he helped build the firm from its conception, utilizing his skills in project management and development learned at Project for Public Spaces, Halcyon, and ROMA Design Group. He led the development and ongoing management of such projects as the Thoreau Center for Sustainability, Building 38 in the Presidio, Cavallo Point Lodge, and the Historic Central Building. Tom was instrumental in the development of the Ed Roberts Campus, the conversion of the historic Shriners Hospital into an assisted care facility, and the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market.
Tom participates actively as an advisor to the non-profit sector and believes that an integrated capital approach often provides the best opportunity for solving significant problems. He is on the board of many non-profits working domestically and internationally including the New Field Foundation, (which supports rural African women and sustainable agriculture initiatives), Tamalpais Trust, which works globally with Indigenous-led organizations, Commonweal, Point Reyes National Seashore Association, and Environmental Defenders Legal Center.