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Bio
As Director of Amazon’s Housing Equity Fund, Catherine Buell is responsible for long-term and innovative programs that address civic priorities in the communities where Amazon employees live and work. Catherine helped launch and oversees Amazon’s Housing Equity Fund, a more than $2 billion commitment to preserve and create over 20,000 affordable housing units in Washington State’s Puget Sound region; Arlington, Virginia region; and Nashville, Tennessee. Amazon’s Housing Equity Fund will help preserve existing housing and help create inclusive housing developments through below-market loans and grants to housing partners, traditional and non-traditional public agencies, and minority-led organizations.
Catherine previously served as the President and CEO of the Atlanta Housing Authority (d/b/a “Atlanta Housing” or “AH”) where she led the agency’s strategic, financial and operational efforts by providing housing to more than 23,000 of Atlanta’s low-and extremely low-income households. While at Atlanta Housing, Catherine led the development of the agency’s five year plan, called “Vision 2022” (Live, Work, Thrive), aimed at increasing the number of households served, increasing investments in family self-sufficiency efforts and agency fiscal responsibility. During her tenure, she advanced major real estate efforts including partnerships with the Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. to develop affordable housing near the popular BeltLine and also work with Invest Atlanta to purchase the 19-acre Civic Center site in downtown Atlanta. She also served as Vice President of Policy and Programs for the Greater Washington Partnership, a first-of-its-kind civic alliance of CEOs in the Washington D.C. region, where she focused on a range of issues include regional housing policy issues.
Prior to her time in Atlanta, Catherine served as the executive director of St. Elizabeth’s East, one of the District of Columbia’s largest mixed-use redevelopment projects. As a result of her tenure, St. Elizabeths East became home to the District’s Entertainment and Sports Arena which hosts the Washington Mystic’s performance arena and Wizards practice facility, the Residences at St. Elizabeths (a mixed-income multi-family housing development), the R.I.S.E. Demonstration Center and Gateway D.C. Ms. Buell also served as the Chair of the Washington D.C. Historic Preservation Review Board and earned a number of awards for her revitalization efforts – the Built by Women DC Award and Historic Preservation Review Board Chair’s Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation among them.
Catherine also serves on a number of boards, including Venture Philanthropy Partners, Community of Hope (DC), Women of Color in Community Development and the Anacostia Coordinating Council. She started her career as an attorney with Patton Boggs LLP where she counseled institutional investors on real estate assets and private equity funds in the United States, South America, and Europe. She is a cum laude graduate of Spelman College and the Georgetown University Law Center.
Show Notes
Current Role
- She leads a 2+ Billion fund created by Amazon to invest in Affordable housing in Washington, DC area, Nashville, TN area, and Seattle, WA areas to build or invest in 20,000 units where Amazon has its largest concentration of employees (6:30)
Origin Story & Education
- Grew up in Silver Spring, MD in a rural area near Burtonsville, MD in a diverse suburban community (7:10)
- Attended Burtonsville ES and Briggs Chaney MS then Paint Branch HS in Montgomery County
- Dad had his own business yet passed away when she was 10 yrs. old (8:30)
- Mom worked at HUD and was from a large family and was from Ahoskie, NC originally (9:28)
- Other grandmother was from Camden, NJ (9:40)
- Youth influences (10:30)
- Jack and Jill– Organization for African American Mothers (10:45)
- Opportunities for other children of color can interact and socially engage
- Became an officer in the area’s Jack and Jill
- “Buell has the Tools” (11:45)
- Legacy with deep history for Black families (12:00)
- Jack and Jill– Organization for African American Mothers (10:45)
- Went to Spelman College, a Women’s Historically Black College (12:40)
- She wanted to NYU, but her Mother guided her to Spelman (13:00)
- Followed her brother who was attending Morehouse College (brother school) (14:40)
- Titan, Ron Chernow– Story about John D. Rockefeller contributing to the founding of Spelman (15:40)
- Bonner Scholar– Volunteer in community (16:20)
- She developed an arts program in a local elementary school
- Walked through low income housing area to the schools didn’t have doors on classroom. (17:50)
- When did she know she was a Black woman in America (18:15)
- Story about going to a grocery store with her Mom and noticed discrimination at 6 yrs. old (18:20)
- Had a tight group of friends to bond with to help her (19:00)
- Majored in Economics at Spelman (19:45)
- Business and community development interested her (20:00)
- Worked at Capital One at “Inroads“- Internship and found it very boring (20:30)
- Stayed curious
- Worked at Gilette at another internship and learned considerably about a corporate environment (21:30)
- Inspired by a woman (Bonnie Webb?) at Gilette who recruited Black students to Boston for this internship (23:00)
- Attended Georgetown Law School (24:15)
- Instead of Policy school, decided to apply to one law school and was accepted (24:40)
- Was accepted to Syracuse Policy School (25:00)
- Worked to Georgia Law Center for the Homeless and then the Georgia General Assembly while at Spelman prior to going to Georgetown Law (26:00)
- Georgia State Flag change from the Confederate theme was being voted on and she was shocked to see the protests (28:00)
- Volunteered to help Mayor Franklin to be elected (28:20)
- Was attracted to corporate law yet was also attracted to Property Law- Professor Ernst (29:10)
- Interned at a courthouse her first year and then at Patton Boggs her second year
- Inspired by Florence Prioleau, a poised Black attorney there who was “authentic” (29:45)
Patton Boggs- Lawyer
- First two years she was involved in several different disciplines (30:45)
- Fell into Private Equity practice there after two years (31:00)
- Worked on Middle Eastern Sovereign Wealth Funds needs for investment (31:50)
- Worked on several deals from several countries in the Middle East
- Worked in their Abu Dhabi office (32:00)
- Many of the Sovereign Wealth Fund Advisors had women as attorneys in house (33:45)
- When showing up as a Black Woman there she “fit in” (35:00)
- Enjoys travel and learning about other cultures (35:20)
- Negotiating $100MM transactions (36:00)
- Associate that would need to read 500+ page documents and negotiate all the tedious documents (36:30)
- Yearned for the “local touch”
- Left Patton Boggs to join Venable for a stint (37:30)
- Returned to Patton Boggs around the time of the GFE
- Worked on “workout” deals on projects that went sour (38:20)
- Joined DC Historic Preservation Review Board while at Patton Boggs after buying a house in Anacostia (39:20)
- Attended ANC meetings and was appalled to see the issues that her neighbors were dealing with (40:20)
- Joined the Adrian Fenty team at the time (41:15)
- Advised by Kathryn Allen (41:45)
- Opened up grant allocation for Historic Anacostia (42:30)
- Grants to help restore housing
- She stepped in to help with Anacostia (43:50)
- Reached out the former Mayor Marion Barry to help with advocacy in Anacostia (44:00)
- Became close to him to help with improving Anacostia neighborhoods (44:45)
- Became Chair of HPRB and was then appointed to St. Elizabeth’s East Campus Redevelopment (47:00)
St. Elizabeth’s East Redevelopment (DMPED)
- Herb Miller recruited her to be the leader of the St. Elizabeth’s Redevelopment and was appointed by Victor Hoskins (DMPED) (47:15)
- Wasn’t what she expected when she joined and had to cancel the RFP and restart it (49:15)
- Gateway DC breaking ground within 9 months of starting (50:00)
- Microsoft Innovation Campus was an idea that did not get off the ground (51:30)
- Self investment- RISE Demonstration Center (52:00)
- Connect community for innovation- 9 months from idea to completion
- 3 Years there
- Redbrick became the lead developer to take on the redevelopment
- An arena was needed as part of the Olympics bid- Ted Leonsis helped build a 5,000 seat sports arena there (55:00)
Atlanta Housing
- Was recruited to be COO of the Atlanta Housing Authority (56:00)
- Appeal in the Atlanta University Center- Near her alma mater (58:30)
- 3 years there and eventually became CEO (1:00:15)
- Financial situation was strong (1:00:45)
- Challenge was to serve more households there (1:01:00)
- All properties privately managed and mixed income
- Private staff without unions
- Sites for redevelopment- Bought Atlanta Civic Center to redevelop it for housing (1:03:30)
Greater Washington Partnership
- Joined them to help the housing issues from the private sector perspectives (1:08:00)
- Bring people up to speed about housing needs (1:09:00)
- Work with Urban Institute to learn about affordable housing challenges (1:09:20)
- Address Amazon’s concerns about affordable housing needs
- Talent attraction was a challenge a certain pay levels required long commutes from lower housing cost markets (1:11:30)
- Met Alice Shobe of Amazon who had begun making small investments (1:12:20)
- Was recruited to lead Amazon’s Community Development initiatives (1:13:00)
Amazon
- Amazon 6 page documents– Used for advocating and initiating efforts internally (1:14:20)
- She wrote a document to advocate a fund for $10B, but was told to look at $2B in affordable housing (1:14:50)
- Two months into her tenure she pitched the idea to Jay Carney (former Obama Communications Director) (1:15:45)
- Amazon Housing Equity Fund– Inspiration was to come in as a subordinate lender (1:17:20)
- Transit infrastructure ideas inspired her (1:18:00)
- Focus on existing housing (1:18:15)
- Received all of the $2B in funding up front when fund was approved (1:19:00)
- Treasurer at Amazon understood how low interest rate capital could impact housing (1:19:30)
- John Schoettler (Real Estate Head) built out 200 bed homeless shelter in Seattle near Amazon campus there (1:19:50)
- First proposal in Arlington, VA- Washington Housing Conservancy– a $381MM investment (Crystal House) in housing near the HQ2 campus- AJ Jackson at JBG Smith was their partner (1:22:40)
- King County Housing Authority– Amazon invested in housing in Bellevue, WA- 1,000 units there (1:24:00)
- Decided to start in headquarter locations where they could make an impact (1:26:15)
- 5 year fund with 3 years to deploy capital into 20,000 units- Jan. 2021 was the deployment and unfortunately the Jan. 6th insurrection at the Capitol affected them (1:27:30)
- Sound Transit in Seattle approached them to co-invest with housing developments (1:28:30)
- WMATA was approached to provide support for housing development simultaneously with Seattle (1:29:30)
- Barcroft deal in Arlington was a game changer and triggered a plethora of deals (1:30:50)
- Jair Lynch and Dantes Partners (Buwa Binitie) were first two developer partners (1:31:20)
- Emerging Developer cohort (1:32:30)
- $160M investment in new projects with relatively new developers (1:32:45)
- Most developers have a track record- rich development partner base (1:33:30)
- Capacity here in DC expanding by an accelerator program- Mentorship (1:34:30)
- Project Destined– Cedric Bobo (1:35:15)
- Partnership initiatives- Understand issues (1:36:00)
- COG- Chuck Bean advocated affordable housing resolution- $500M investment (1:37:00)
- ULI- Support affordable housing advocacy (1:38:00)
- Definition of Affordable Housing (1:39:00)
- Housing Authorities have funding for very low income housing (1:39:20)
- Market fills need on market rate units (1:39:50)
- Above low income and can’t afford market rate- Stuck in the middle (1:40:15)
- People moving way out of the urban core to find housing
- Focus on low to medium housing needs
- Organization is 12 team members for all three markets (1:41:20)
- Relying on third party underwriters (1:42:00)
- Internal team are industry experts who review applications and applying good underwriting disciplines (1:42:20)
- Over 40 closings in 2022 (1:42:30)
- Amazon hires well and recruits people that have worked on a national level and have a commitment to community issues (1:43:20)
- Internal Amazon employees
- Affordable housing is complex and often how many Black people enter real estate (1:44:50)
- Important for them to simplify the process (1:46:40)
- Two step application process (1:47:00)
- Initial screening
- Full underwriting
- Two step application process (1:47:00)
- Deal structure (1:48:00)
- No more than 25% and is primarily a debt vehicle at a fixed interest rate (1:48:40)
- Interest can be deferred so expectation may be to only collect principal back (1:49:00)
- Simpler than Tax Credit program (1:49:45)
- No more than 25% and is primarily a debt vehicle at a fixed interest rate (1:48:40)
- Considering other tools (1:50:20)
- Amazon went direct to markets and didn’t rely on governments or brokers to find deals (1:50:50)
- On track to reach 20,000 unit goal (1:51:30)
- Mix between preservation and new construction- Crystal House- 619 units & Barcroft at 1,300 units (1:52:00)
- Amazon is in the news all the time and affordable housing issues are “tough” and is willing to jump into issues that other companies won’t take on the risk (1:54:00)
- Groundwork in the region has helped Amazon make impact (1:57:00)
- Preparation and opportunity
- New Carrollton, College Park, Capitol Heights, West Hyattsville are Prince Georges County, MD investments for them (2:02:00)
- Vicki Davis, Urban Atlantic is developer at New Carrollton (2:05:00)
Leadership
- Young person with legal skills that worked hard and took advantage of being the “different person in the room” (2:05:45)
- Now she feels obligated to push awareness about diversity (2:06:15)
- She is pushing hard in markets where there are needs for affordable housing like Tysons, Bethesda and more affluent areas of DC (2:07:00)
- Lives in Anacostia still and believes to share her voice to needs (2:07:30)
- Wants to advocate for Black needs (2:07:50)
- Push advocacy for DEI- Not just people of color, but women and disabled people should be recognized (2:09:30)
- Earning respect and diversity (2:10:30)
- Authority Gap by Mary Ann Seighart between men and women (2:11:30)
- Focuses on all the good that can happen- wants to find a collaborate with white men and women (2:13:00)
Personal
- Wins
- Amazon Housing Equity Fund (2:13:45)
- St. Elizabeth’s project (2:14:00)
- Losses
- Political attacks and how to address them- She does not want to pursue political office (2:14:40)
- Disappointment with some relationships regarding political interests (2:15:20)
- Surprising event (2:17:10)
- That I am still here in this community development field (2:17:15)
- Reflect back at all her accomplishments at St. Elizabeths, Atlanta Housing and Amazon (2:17:50)
- Advice to 25 yr. old self- “Be Patient” (2:18:50)
- Hard work paid off (2:19:30)
- Billboard Statement- “This Region Cares” (2:21:10)
Postscript
- Ally Sherman thought since Amazon developed HQ2- 25,000 new team members and thinking about housing needs
- Catherine’s project is for both Amazon employees and DC region and the programs are instrumental in building housing
- Pioneering effort for corporate investment in real estate affordability
- Government is the industry in this market and housing is a major need
- Ally mentions Bay Area projects with tech firms there
- Private Equity programs setting up programs (JP Morgan Chase is an example)
- Workforce housing is the biggest challenge
- Catherine’s background is so impressive- participating in inclusive internship programs
- Her legal career helped her to drive her toward other opportunities- pivoting to community development was an interesting move
- Jack & Jill group inspired her
- Citations of CREW, WLI, & WCCD to be places to network for women and minorities
- Creativity was key to her- writes business plan to invest $2B in affordable housing
- Impressed with the Amazon developments in both economic impact and housing
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