About Us
John Settles,
President
Making Your Vision a Reality
John Settles is a proven leader known for crafting innovative strategic plans that advance organizational objectives and capabilities. John offers a unique blend of leadership, strategic thinking, team building, and creativity. He is an expert in the areas of real estate finance, real
estate development, construction management, sustainability, and community/economic development. Over the past years, Mr. Settles has been instrumental in creating new lending strategies for prime and underserved markets, influencing public policy initiatives, developing numerous adaptive reuse strategies for properties, and fusing real estate transactions into broader community development programs. Additionally, he has pioneered the revitalization of blocks in several underserved neighborhoods. His unique experience working as a developer and financier, coupled with his understanding of program and policy development at the federal government level, equips him with the unique ability to design innovative solutions and strategies.
As an entrepreneur, he has successfully built companies in several arenas such as Construction, Real Estate Development, and Real Estate Finance. Additionally, he has written several white papers and created innovative programs addressing Community Economic Development.
He began his career at the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, working in the areas of Public and Indian Housing, Community Planning and Development, and FHA. At the age of 30, Mr. Settles became A Vice President for Fleet Bank in charge of Sales and Operations for their Emerging Markets division. Prior to joining Fleet, Mr. Settles was a Sales Manager for Wells Fargo. As a developer he has completed over 100 projects spanning single family, multifamily, mixed use, commercial and land development.
John Settles is effective in high-profile executive roles. He acts with decisiveness in stressful situations, develops creative solutions to complex challenges, and is respected for his work ethic, integrity, and dedication to continued learning. Moreover, he is skilled in Operations and Finance. He understands financial processes, prepares and administers program budgets, manages facilities, technology and performs personnel appraisals while also developing performance improvement plans. His experience includes Start-Up, Turn Around, Growth, and Change Management. Further, he is experienced with Funding and Capitalization Strategies, Risk Management, Property and Asset Management, and Customer Relations. Mr. Settles received his B.A. in Finance from Howard University. In addition to governmental experience, Mr. Settles has held several management positions in the Mortgage Banking Industry. He currently serves on the board of S.E. Children's Fund, is the President of the Benjamin Banneker PTO, and Vice President of the Eagles Club of Washington, DC.
Landen McCall,
SVP Construction Mgmt and Public Finance
Making Your Vision a Reality
Landen has several decades of experience working in real estate development, public Finance,
and construction. As Construction Administration Manager, Landen McCall has both the experience and capacity to manage this program and the necessary relationships with the stakeholders both in the government and in the private sector who will be beneficiaries of the administration of these programs. Landen McCall is a Past Deputy Director of the District of Columbia Department of the Housing and Community Development (DC-DHCD) and served this agency in two other capacities, including Special Assistant to the Director and Deputy of the Neighborhood Improvement Administration. He completed the Department's first sale of its single-family loan portfolio to Fannie Mae. Managing a one hundred fifty (150) million-dollar mortgage loan portfolio, Landen became adept at creating regulations, managing, and
implementing the District's Homestead Program, managing both DHCD's single and multifamily housing rehabilitation loan programs, and reorganizing the city's Public Housing Advisory Council. Mr. McCall also, through an interagency agreement, instituted the relationship between the Department of Housing and community development and the University of the District of Columbia's Architecture Research Institute (ARI.). As a result of this program, DHCD, through the ARI, provided single-family homestead and multifamily nonprofit property recipients with plans and specifications pursuant to the rehabilitation of their properties by students and
professionals at the University of the District of Columbia. In addition, Mr. McCall is a certified HUD 203 K, an FHA single and multifamily home renovation consultant since October 2000,
and has provided a multitude of individual single-family one to four-unit and multifamily scopes of work.
While serving as the vice-chairman of the Benjamin Banneker Development Corporation, Landen McCall, in cooperation with Robert Moore, then President of the Columbia Heights
Development Corporation, formed a cooperative group of nonprofits to respond to the District of Columbia governments sale of a number of properties in the 14th street corridor of Northwest Washington. This group won the RFP to develop the properties, then named the Nehemiah project, which included multifamily, single-family homes, and the first commercial shopping center in the 14th St quarter of the District of Columbia. As a result of these efforts, the
Nehemiah project received in 1997 the 6th annual Maxwell Award of Excellence issued by the Fannie Mae Foundation, including a $5,000 award to the Benjamin Banneker Development
Corporation.
