Our Team

Rebecca Foster

Rebecca (she/her) is the founding CEO of the San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund, a public private partnership that provides powerful new tools to improve the delivery of affordable housing. Since 2017, the Fund has invested over $300 million in housing preservation and development projects throughout San Francisco, supporting over 1,500 permanently affordable homes for more than 2,600 residents vulnerable to displacement and homelessness. Previously, Rebecca served as Director of Social Impact Investment under the late Mayor of San Francisco Ed Lee, and before that was a Vice President in Public Sector & Infrastructure investment banking at Goldman Sachs, where she raised capital for local governments, universities, non-profits, and utilities around the country. She received her BA. from Brown University and her MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Rebecca was appointed to the Board of Directors of the California Housing Partnership Corporation by Governor Newsom, and also serves on the boards of the San Francisco Friends School and ARTA, a whitewater rafting organization. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and three boys.

Tamar Dorfman

Tamar (she/her) joined the Housing Accelerator Fund as Chief Financial Officer. Most recently, she served as CFO of the Public Health Institute, one of the largest and most comprehensive public health organizations in the nation, where she oversaw the finance & accounting, grants & contracts, and audit & compliance teams. Tamar brings more than two decades of experience at non-profit and public sector organizations that promote equitable and just communities through economic development, public health, and affordable housing. Her career has focused on developing strong financial strategies and efficient operations so that organizations can maximize impact while ensuring compliance with funder and regulatory requirements. Prior to PHI & HAF, Dorfman was the Chief Financial Officer for PolicyLink, and the Mayor’s Offices of Community Investment and Housing in San Francisco (a precursor to the current Mayor’s Office of Housing & Community Development). She also served as the Fiscal Manager for the Corporation for Supportive Housing and was a Principal Budget Analyst for the City of Chicago. She holds a Masters in Public Policy from the University of Chicago and a Bachelor’s degree from Stanford University. Tamar lives in Oakland, where she was raised.

Justin Chen

Justin (he/him) serves as Senior Vice President of Lending and Capital at the San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund. Prior to joining SFHAF, he was Senior Loan Officer at Enterprise Community Loan Fund, where he closed on over $150 million in loans for affordable housing developments and community facilities in the Bay Area and nationally. Previously, Justin directed Nonprofit Finance Fund’s California lending program and was a Social Investments Analyst for the Annie E. Casey Foundation in Baltimore. At the start of his career, Justin served in various lending and credit roles at Barclays Capital in New York and City First Bank of D.C. He has a Masters in City and Regional Planning from the University of California at Berkeley and received his BA from Northwestern University. Justin lives in San Francisco with his family, and is a proud parent of two students in the San Francisco Unified School District.

Cindy La

Cindy (she/her) joined the Housing Accelerator Fund as Senior Associate, Portfolio and Impact in May 2022. Prior to joining SFHAF, she worked at Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco on the Affordable Housing Program (AHP) and WISH first-time homebuyer program. She is a proud graduate of the California Coalition for Rural Housing Internship Program where she worked in the Lending and Housing Department at Rural Community Assistance Corporation. She received her B.S. in Community and Regional Development from UC Davis.

Devon Neary

Devon (she/her) joined the Housing Accelerator Fund as the Vice President of Lending in May 2022. Prior to joining the HAF team, Devon was a Project Manager on the MidPen Housing development team where she oversaw two new construction projects in Santa Rosa. Prior to moving to the Bay Area in 2020, Devon served four years at the New York City Housing Preservation and Development Agency, where she was the Director of the LIHTC Year 15 Preservation Program. As Director, she oversaw a lending pipeline of approximately $50 million annually to preserve New York City’s critical affordable housing assets. Devon received her Masters in City Planning from MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning and a Bachelor’s Degree from New York University.

Kati Vastola

Born and raised in the Bay Area, Kati (she/her) is proud to be preserving its vibrancy and livability through her work at the San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund. She joined in January 2020 to support operations, communications, and special projects. Before coming on board at SFHAF, Kati served as the Regional Affairs Manager at KIPP Bay Area Public Schools, a high-performing public charter school network. She holds a BA with Honors from Brown University and an MA from UC Berkeley, both in U.S. History. When she’s not in the office, she enjoys biking and running around Oakland in search of new fruit trees.