JCHE Senior Management Staff
Amy Schectman, President and CEO
Amy Schectman brings to JCHE 30 years of professional experience in the urban planning field, with a focus on affordable housing in both the non-profit and public sectors. Prior to joining JCHE, Amy Schectman served as the Associate Director for Public Housing & Rental Assistance for the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). In this capacity, Amy led the state's effort to leverage and attract new funding to preserve and restore public housing units for thousands of low-income families. She also created a sustainability program to install renewable and high efficiency energy systems and launched the first phase of a major water conservation effort expected to save the state $2 million each year, beginning in 2012. Before coming to DHCD, Amy served as Vice President of Real Estate Development at Hebrew SeniorLife where she managed the permitting and design processes that paved the way for the development of NewBridge. As Economic Development officer for the Town of Brookline, Amy helped negotiate the Town's first friendly 40B affordable housing development to create 50 units of mixed-income affordable housing. Amy has also held positions at the Boston Housing Authority, M.I.T. Department of Urban Studies and Planning, and the Massachusetts Division of Capital Planning/Budgeting.
Amy received her B.A. from Johns Hopkins University and a Masters in Urban Planning from M.I.T.
Karen Edlund, Chief Financial Officer
Karen Edlund brings over 20 years of experience in the housing tax credit and real estate industries to her position as JCHE's Chief Financial Officer. Karen has significant experience in affordable housing finance, including property and investment fund financing, investment valuation and due diligence. Previously, Karen was CFO for International Housing Solutions, S.a.r.l, a private equity real estate company where she helped establish a $240 million fund investing in affordable housing in South Africa. She was previously the CFO for Leggat McCall Properties and a Senior Vice President of Finance for MMA Financial and the Boston Financial Group in Boston. She serves on the board of the Boston Chapter of Financial Executives International and the Women's Institute for Housing and Economic Development.
Karen received her M.S. in Finance at Boston College and her B.A. at Middlebury College.
Carl Zack, Chief Operations Officer
Carl Zack brings a wealth of experience to JCHE. For over 35 years, he has served in leadership positions in respected health care and social service agencies. Most recently, Carl was President of the Hebrew Rehabilitation Center in Roslindale. Prior to that he was Chief Operating Officer at Jewish Family & Children’s Service of Boston. He has also been President of two community hospitals during his career.
As Executive Director of Shillman House, Carl is responsible for the overall operation of a building that has 150-units of independent housing for seniors of mixed-income levels. He oversees the dyanmic team that provides services and support throughout the building. Carl is committed to ensuring that Shillman House is an engaging, inclusive, warm, welcoming and active environment for each Shillman resident.
Carl has a Masters in Public Health from Yale University School of Medicine. He earned his bachelor’s degree at Brandeis University.
Jessica Boatright, Chief of Staff
Jessica Boatright draws on her diverse experience in low-income housing, community planning, process management and training for her role as JCHE's Chief of Staff. Before joining the JCHE team, she was Special Assistant to the Associate Director of Public Housing and Rental Assistance for the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DCHD), where she managed a variety of initiatives, including the Commonwealth's $18.4 M federal stimulus funded homelessness program. Jessica worked as a Senior Planner for Concordia, LLC and the Director of Community & Donor Relations for Coro Southern California where she was a member of the leadership training staff.
Jessica has a Masters of City Planning from MIT.
