AJ Jackson

Executive Vice President, Social Impact Investing JBG SMITH

Brian Allan Jackson (AJ) heads social impact investing for JBG SMITH (NYSE: JBGS), a S&P 400 Real Estate Investment Trust, where he serves as an Executive Vice President.  AJ leads the Washington Housing Initiative, an innovative, market-driven approach to preserve and create affordable workforce housing.  He led the formation of the Impact Pool, JBG SMITH’s affordable housing investment platform.

Prior to joining JBG SMITH, AJ was a partner with EYA, LLC, a Washington, DC area urban infill development company. He led EYA’s participation in more than one billion dollars of double and triple bottom line social impact projects, including: Capitol Quarter, an eight block mixed income community created in partnership with the D.C. Housing Authority; Old Town Commons – a partnership with the Alexandria Virginia Redevelopment and Housing Authority to create more than 500 units of mixed-income housing; and Shady Grove Station, a 90-acre mixed-use/mixed-income/transit-oriented redevelopment partnership with Montgomery County, Maryland. AJ served on the investment committee and executive committee at EYA and lead strategic planning for the firm.

In addition to his development expertise, AJ has extensive experience in the formation of programs and policies to support the creation of mixed-income housing.  He played a key role in the formation of a nationally recognized workforce housing program and has been called on to advise local governments, public institutions, and the National Association of Homebuilders on mixed-income housing policy.

AJ serves on the Affordable Housing Advisory Council for Fannie Mae and is a member of the Advisory Council at the Center for Washington Area Studies at the George Washington University.  He is a Global Governing Trustee of the Urban Land Institute, a member of the Advisory Board of ULI’s Center for Sustainability and Economic Performance, a member of the ULI Diversity and Inclusion Council, former Chairman of the Public Private Partnerships Council, and a member of ULI Washington’s Advisory Council.  In 2020 AJ was honored as a Minority Business Leader by the Washington Business Journal. He is also a Trustee of the Federal City Council and a past president and Life Director of the Maryland Building Industry Association.  AJ received a B.A. with honors from the University of Alabama and an M.B.A. with distinction from Harvard Business School.

Jennifer McElyea

Senior Managing Partner, Watt Investment Partners

Jennifer is a Senior Managing Partner with Watt Investment Partners, the commercial real estate acquisition arm of the Watt Companies, a 70 year-old development company based in Los Angeles.  Jennifer’s responsibilities include sourcing and executing real estate investment opportunities on behalf of Watt and its equity partners. Within that mandate, she lends her extensive expertise in land use and public policy and leads Watt’s Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing preservation platform. 

Prior to joining Watt, Jennifer was a Vice President at OneWestBank where she managed a portfolio of distressed commercial real estate debt in partnership with the FDIC. From 2006 through 2009, Jennifer was a Vice President at Apollo Real Estate Advisors where she was responsible for West Coast acquisitions. Previously, Jennifer held positions at Arch Street Capital Advisors, an international real estate investment advisory firm, and at Deutsche Bank Securities in the Real Estate Investment Banking Group.

Jennifer holds a Master of Real Estate Development from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and German Literature from the University of Virginia. She is a Vice Chair of the Urban Land Institute Public Private Partnership Council, a graduate of the Coro Southern California Women in Leadership program, and is a member ofthe BizFed Institute Board of Directors. Jennifer was recently appointed by the California State Insurance Commissioner to serve on the California Organized Investment Network (COIN) Advisory Board as an expert practitioner in the affordable housing space. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two sons.

Jenny Schuetz

Fellow, Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program and the Future of the Middle Class Initiative

Jenny Schuetz is a fellow with Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program and the Future of the Middle Class Initiative. Dr. Schuetz is an expert in urban economics and housing policy, focusing particularly on housing affordability. She has written extensively on land use regulation, housing prices, urban amenities, and neighborhood change. She has appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, PBS NewsHour, Washington Post, CNN, Economist, and Vox.

Before joining Brookings, Dr. Schuetz served as a Principal Economist at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. She was also an assistant professor at the University of Southern California and a post-doctoral fellow at New York University’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy. She is a non-resident Senior Fellow at GWU’s Center for Washington Area Studies and teaches in Georgetown’s urban planning program.

 Dr. Schuetz earned her PhD in Public Policy from Harvard University, a Master’s in City Planning from M.I.T., and a B.A. with Highest Distinction in Economics and Political and Social Thought from the University of Virginia.

Ruby Bolaria-Shifrin

Director, Housing Affordability Program, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI)

Ruby Bolaria Shifrin manages the housing affordability program at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI). Prior to CZI, she worked in real estate development managing multifamily mixed income development projects in San Francisco most recently at Fivepoint. She also worked internationally at the Housing Department in Johannesburg, South Africa where she managed an in-situ upgrading pilot project. She started her career as an organizer for environmental and social justice organizations like Earthjustice, Corporate Accountability International. Ruby has a strong commitment to equity and social justice and brings her unique mix of advocacy and technical experience to CZI's housing work. She holds a BA in Politics from the University of California, Santa Cruz and a Master of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of California, Los Angeles.