BOARD OF DIRECTORS & STAFF

Board of Directors

Our board drives the mission of South County Housing.  They’re a model for our commitment to economically diverse neighborhoods and they are partners in working with the communities we serve.

Douglas Kuerschner, CHAIRPERSON
Business Owner, Realtor

Joseph M. Postigo, VICE CHAIRPERSON  
Principal, JMP Construction Services

Julia Starling, BOARD SECRETARY
Eligibility Worker, Retired

J. Allen Hayes, TREASURER
Insurance Agent / Broker

Augie Bertao
Principal, Bertao Real Estate Group

Joseph DiConza, DIRECTOR
Developer, J.J. DiConza Enterprise

Barbara Mendoza, DIRECTOR
Retired Manager, State of California, EDD

Andy Payne, DIRECTOR
Real Estate Broker, Manzanita Mortgage

Maria Skoczylas, DIRECTOR                      
Retired School Teacher, Gilroy Unified School District        

Roger Wong, DIRECTOR
City Manager, City of Greenfield, CA

Leadership Team

Dennis Lalor, President / CEO
Dennis Lalor has been with South County Housing since 1986 and has served as Chief Executive Officer since 1997.  In his current position, he has overseen the expansion of the corporation’s California service area from south Santa Clara County into San Benito, Monterey, and Santa Cruz counties serving urban and rural communities in some of the least affordable and difficult to develop areas of the country.  He began his career in community development at South County Housing as Housing Rehab Program Manager, and later served as Single-Family Program Director and Housing Development Director.  He holds a Bachelor’s degree from San Jose State University.  Mr. Lalor sits on the boards and advisory committees of several organizations, including the California Coalition for Rural Housing, National Rural Housing Coalition, Neighborhood Capital Corporation, and the Rural Advisory Committee of LISC.

Matt Huerta, Director of Housing Development
Matt Huerta was hired by South County Housing in 2005 as a Project Manager overseeing the demolition and rebuild of a 63-unit apartment complex and community center for very low income families in the farmworker community of Pajaro.  The project, Nuevo Amanecer (New Dawn), was a 2009 finalist for the prestigious Terner Prize for affordable housing.  Mr. Huerta was promoted to Senior Project Manager in 2007 and lead a team of three project managers, two associate developers and an intern. He became Director of Housing Development in 2009.  Prior to joining South County Housing, he worked as Project Manager for Community Housing Opportunities Corp. (CHOC) in Davis, CA where he closed permanent financing for a 56-unit rehabilitation project in the City of Fairfield and re-designed and implemented CHOC’s CalHome Mobile Home Repair and Replacement program.  He managed construction loans and permanent financing for 30 units of new senior housing in the City of Davis and for a new, 140-unit multifamily project.  Mr. Huerta received a BS in Community and Regional Development from UC Davis where he was elected President of the Associated Student body representing over 20,000 students.  He has served as a Planning Commissioner for the City of Salinas since 2006. 

John Cesare, Chief Financial Officer
John Cesare became Chief Financial Officer in May 2007.  He began his career as an international tax lawyer in New York City, after which he was Director of International Tax at Seagate Technology, Scotts Valley, and later Assistant Treasurer at McAfee Inc., Santa Clara.  John holds a B.S. Degree in Finance from Pennsylvania State University, combined Juris Doctor/Master of Business Administration degrees from Syracuse University, and a Master of Laws degree in taxation from New York University’s School of Law.

Dianne Dudek. Corporate Secretary / Director of Human Resources
Dianne Dudek joined South County Housing in 1990 and serves as Director of Human Resources.  She brings more than 17 years of experience in personnel management to the organization, and is responsible for all of South County Housing’s Human Resources activities.  Her core belief is that the strongest asset of SCH is its employees, and the culture, development and morale of the staff are what make a successful organization.  Ms. Dudek’s background includes experience as a teacher and legal analyst.

Laura Ellenberger, Assistant Corporate Secretary / Director of Property Management
Laura Ellenberger joined South County Housing in 2005 bringing with her 20 years experience in the property management field.  For 13 years, she worked for the Housing Authority of the County of Santa Clara where she was responsible for affordable housing program compliance for more than 2000 units.  Laura, who holds a real estate broker’s license, is responsible for all South County Property Management (SCPM) functions.  SCPM is a separate tax-exempt corporation that provides management for South County Housing’s 36 rental properties.   SCPM, which shares back-office services with South County Housing, currently manages 1347 rental units serving very low- and low-income individuals in Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Benito and Monterey Counties. 

Aida Zaldivar-Perez, Director of Neighborhood Development
Ms. Zaldivar Perez has over 20 years of experience in the affordable housing field with a depth of knowledge in property management and resident services. She joined South County Housing in 1989 working in, and later serving as Director of the Property Management Division until 2003 when she became the Director of Neighborhood Development. In this capacity, Ms. Zaldivar-Perez has spearheaded the development of South County Housing’s resident services activities, including programs in Financial Fitness, Homeownership and Post-Occupancy Counseling, Individual Development Accounts (IDA), and Resident Leadership Development. Prior to joining South County Housing, she worked for the Housing Authority of the County of Santa Clara in their housing administration.   

Nestor Nuñez . Director of Finance
Nestor Nuñez, who joined SCH in 2005, brings more than 30 years of experience in finance and accounting including public accounting and management consulting in the U.S., Malaysia, and the Philippines.   He worked in a senior financial management position for BRIDGE Housing Corporation where he was involved in the development, property and asset management, and corporate aspects of the operations. Nestor is a California Certified Public Accountant, and received his Master of Business Administration degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

Robyn Van Ekelenburg, Homebuyer Program Manager
Robyn Van Ekelenburg, an experienced new home sales and marketing professional, joined South County Housing in 2007.  She has represented some of California's largest national, regional, and local home builders.  In her role as Sales Director for Reiser Group, Robyn managed numerous community sales managers and was responsible for real estate sales, onsite staffing, account administration and sales training at multiple Bay Area residential communities.  She has expertise in single-family detached residential developments in suburban markets, condominium-town home projects and high-density urban housing.  Prior to working at Reiser Group, Robyn was with Pleasanton-based Signature Properties as Assistant Sales Manager.  Robyn began her career at Greystone Homes/Lennar in San Ramon where she managed a variety of duties including organizing sales and closing documents with lenders, sales, construction and escrow departments, preparing commission schedules for division sales associates, sales releases and pricing strategies, and supervising all  Department of Real Estate public report submittals.