SCCHA Mission

Preston Prince joined the Santa Clara County Housing Authority in 2021. As Executive Director, Prince runs one of the largest public housing authorities in the nation. He came to SCCHA following 14 years as CEO and executive director of the Fresno Housing Authority, that county’s largest affordable housing developer and landlord, where he oversaw a diverse housing portfolio serving 50,000 low-income residents through 13,000 housing choice vouchers and 5,000 public and affordable units, of which 2,400 new units were added during his tenure. Prior to Fresno Housing, Prince was executive director of the Aurora Housing Authority in Aurora, Colo. His early professional career focused on the creation and financing of affordable housing for both nonprofits and public housing agencies throughout Washington state, where he developed thousands of housing units for people with special needs, families, seniors and homeowners. Prince has long been involved in creating affordable housing policy at the national level as well as local and statewide efforts to prevent homelessness and improve economic mobility for low-income families. He serves on the boards of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO), California Housing Finance Agency and National Public Housing Museum. He is a past board member of the National Organization of African-Americans in Housing. Prince holds a master’s degree in urban affairs and policy analysis and a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts from New School University in New York City.

Deputy Executive Director Angie Garcia-Nguyen joined SCCHA in 2022, bringing 25 years of experience in the nonprofit/public sector. Over the last 12 years, Nguyen served in several leadership capacities within Fresno Housing and most recently served as Chief Program Officer to ensure agency alignment of efforts, policies, and partnerships with local and national best practices that promote quality housing, engaged residents, and vibrant communities. Nguyen engages in the community and at the national level and looks forward to ensuring SCCHA is influential at the partnership table. She serves on the national NAHRO Housing Committee where she serves as Chair of the Housing Choice Voucher Subcommittee. Nguyen is a Latina born and raised in Stockton, CA to immigrant parents. As a first-generation college student, she attended Fresno State where she received a bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Criminology and bachelor’s degree in Chicano Studies. She and her husband are loving dog parents.

Deputy Executive Director Tracewell Hanrahan joined SCCHA in 2022 and is a proven executive leader across a broad range of public and private sectors. She provides strategic leadership and day-to-day operational oversight to a diverse, multi-functional management team that collaborates to ensure the operations of the housing authority support the mission of providing safe and quality affordable housing and programming that empowers residents and helps to create vibrant communities. Her management style revolves around being accessible and involved with agency employees, offering personalized support and professional development opportunities so that employees are equipped to provide exceptional service to stakeholders, residents, families, and community members. She is directly involved in the production of quality affordable housing, partnerships with landlords, jurisdictions and philanthropic organizations, and the development of equitable housing policy, and believes affordable housing is the foundation that enables families to create pathways to generational prosperity. Hanrahan is the mother of five children and dedicates some of her time to participating on committees and boards at her children’s schools.

Russell Brunson brings more than 20 years of experience in managing both nonprofit and public sector operations, fund development, information technology (IT), human resources and mediation services to the executive team. In his role as Director of Administrative Services, he oversees the agency’s human resources, labor relations, information technology, procurement, operations, facilities and customer services functions.

Prior to joining SCCHA in 2018, Director Brunson was Administrative Services Director for the City of Half Moon Bay, where he streamlined the city’s recruiting and staffing practices, led labor negotiations, and managed emergency services including disaster recovery for full IT operations. Prior to that he was Human Resources Manager and Interim Rent Stabilization Administrator for the City of East Palo Alto, where he coordinated the appeals process for landlords and tenants seeking relief from the program’s hearing officer and rent stabilization board. An expert on mediation practices, Director Brunson also held operations, finance and deputy director positions with the nonprofit Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center in San Mateo.

Director Brunson serves as a member of the NOVAworks workforce board. He holds a Juris Doctor degree from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia College at Columbia University. Director Brunson is a member of the California, New Jersey and New York Bar Associations.

Flaherty Ward oversees all aspects of affordable housing development and asset management, including land acquisition, deal structuring, financing, design and construction; revitalization and maintenance; asset and property management; resident services; and all compliance matters for SCCHA's growing portfolio of more than 2,500 affordable units in approximately 30 communities. Previously SCCHA's Assistant Director of Housing Development, Ward brings nearly two decades of affordable housing policy, finance and development experience to her position. Prior to joining SCCHA in 2014, she was a senior project manager with Charities Housing Development Corporation in San José, where she negotiated complex real estate financing and managed the development of housing projects, from land acquisition to permanent financing. Raised in San José, Ward is active in the community and serves on the Board of the School of Art and Culture at the Mexican Heritage Plaza and the boards of the Jeanne D'Arc Manor and Giovanni Center, two affordable housing developments for seniors in San José. She earned a bachelor's degree in urban and environmental policy from Occidental College.

Emily De La Guerra joined the Santa Clara County Housing Authority in 2022 as a Senior Strategic Advisor. As part of the Executive Leadership team, Emily provides strategic and operational support and leadership capacity for our existing team across all functions of the agency, acting as an internal consultant to ensure departmental strategies are aligned with operational and financial goals. Emily’s focus on supporting internal change and growing our portfolio that supports our residents. She comes to us with a strong background in PHA administration including IT and procurement, public agency finance, and real estate development finance, particularly RAD transactions. She most recently served as the Chief Business Officer for Fresno Housing, she where she was responsible for the financial stewardship and overall efficiency and effectiveness of the organization. Prior to her work in affordable housing, De La Guerra owned and managed a consulting firm focused on small business operations and marketing

Nathan joined the Santa Clara County Housing Authority in 2022. As Senior Strategic Advisor, Nathan focuses on developing and sustaining strong partnerships with public, private, community, and other external stakeholders. He oversees and drives special projects that supports our residents, real estate development efforts, and community engagement.

Nathan’s background is in affordable housing, land use policy, strategic communications, and state and local housing policy and legislation. Prior to joining the Housing Authority, he was a senior policy advisor for Mayor Sam Liccardo in the City of San Jose, leading citywide housing and homelessness efforts. Under the Mayor, Nathan was instrumental in San Jose’s Measure E passage in 2020, resulting in $140 million generated in its first two years in local affordable housing and homelessness prevention funds. Prior to the Mayor’s Office, Nathan led housing policy for the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, where he co-led the statewide Propositions 1 & 2 campaign in 2016, resulting in $6 billion in state affordable housing funds. He got his start in housing at Eden Housing, a well-established affordable housing developer and owner-operator in California. Nathan previously served on the Boards of Housing Trust Silicon Valley and SV@Home.

Prior to housing, Nathan spent a decade in nonprofit administration for several health and education organizations in Boston.

He got his Bachelors degree at UCLA in history and communication studies and completed graduate studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston in dispute and conflict resolution.