KANSAS CITY, Mo. (July 17, 2019) – Emmet Pierson, Jr., Community Builders of Kansas City (CBKC) president and CEO, announced today that the organization has brought on Steve Weatherford as chief financial officer and Elizabeth Schultz as director of strategic initiatives and community development. 

Weatherford brings more than 40 years of housing policy and affordable housing finance experience to the position and replaces Robert Pearson, who is retiring. 

“Steve is a powerhouse addition to CBKC,” Pierson said. “His extensive background in finance and housing policy will be invaluable in helping us advance our vision of strengthening families and transforming communities in the urban core.” 

Weatherford was most recently senior lending officer at Kansas City-based Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC) where he oversaw all capital investments in support of real estate projects in low- to moderate-income areas throughout Kansas City. Additionally, he oversaw the marketing of LISC’s affiliate products and services, including New Market Tax Credits and Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, and led the development of LISC’s overall strategies to increase the impact of local community development investment through policy changes at the local and state level. 

Prior to LISC, Steve spent a majority of his career in housing finance policy and affordable housing. He started his career in the mortgage industry and housing development. He completed his law degree while serving as the executive director of the Oklahoma Housing Finance Authority. He was appointed by President Clinton to the position of regional administrator of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and then moved to Kansas City to work in the private sector in public finance as an investment banker for George K. Baum & Co. He left investment banking to join Governor Kathleen Sibelius’s administration as president of the Kansas Development Finance Authority and the Kansas Housing Resources Corporation. Weatherford served in the Obama administration for three years as senior advisor in the office of chief financial officer for the U.S. Department of Labor. 

“CBKC is a great place to continue my work in housing finance,” said Weatherford. “It’s the region’s largest urban core developer. CBKC is already attracting resources for its community development projects from national and regional partners.” 

Pierson said Schultz’s master planning, urban core design and architecture experience will accelerate the pace of CBKC’s development projects. 

“Elizabeth’s years in neighborhood revitalization, corridor redevelopment feasibility, innovative place making and architecture gives her a kind of shorthand to quickly translate ideas to concrete concepts,” said Pierson. “She will have a big role in initiatives that transform the urban core and increase our outreach to the communities we serve.” 

Previously, Schultz was senior associate at DRAW Architecture and Urban Design in Kansas City where she led feasibility studies for neighborhood redevelopment initiatives and served as project manager for three multi-family projects. Before that she held architect and urban planner positions at Miller Hull Partnership in Seattle, Wash., and ZGF Architects in Washington, D.C. and Seattle, Wash. 

Active in the community, Schultz is particularly engaged in the Swope Parkway/Blue Parkway, Brush Creek Corridor and Kansas City Design Center’s Neighborhood Prospects Advisory committees. 

“This is an exciting time for CBKC and I’m ready to pour myself into the new role of strategic initiatives and community development director,” said Schultz.