SCCHA Mission

For nearly four decades, Preston Prince has taken on housing challenges that others considered too complex, too costly, or too difficult to solve. His work began in community-based housing development, where he helped create housing for people too often left out of conventional development, and he grew to lead large organizations driving substantial change.

As Executive Director of the Santa Clara County Housing Authority, Preston leads work in one of the nation’s most challenging housing markets. Silicon Valley is a region defined by wealth disparity and housing insecurity. SCCHA provides rental assistance serving 22,000 households and owns more than 3,500 affordable units, with close to 1,300 additional units in its development pipeline.

Since joining SCCHA in 2021, he has challenged the agency to take on a larger role in the community beyond rental assistance. This includes building and preserving affordable homes, preventing homelessness, and creating meaningful community partnerships, while helping residents find greater stability.

Before joining SCCHA, Preston served for 14 years as CEO of the Fresno Housing Authority. During his tenure, Fresno Housing grew to serve 50,000 residents and added 2,400 affordable homes. He helped the agency attract new capital into both housing and resident services.

Preston builds agencies to last, investing heavily in the people around him. He has coached new housing leaders through mentorship across the nation and given his own staff opportunities to lead work that stretches their skills. He believes a leader’s job includes seeing potential early and making sure people have the support to act on it.

Preston has influenced affordable-housing policy at the local, state, and national levels. He worked to prevent homelessness and expand economic opportunities for low-income families. Today, he extends that work through board and civic service with organizations advancing affordable housing, public finance, and regional solutions to homelessness, including the California Housing Finance Agency, California Association of Housing Authorities, Non-Profit Housing Association, Destination: Home Silicon Valley, Santa Clara Continuum of Care, and All Home.

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.

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

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.

Chandrika Karur is a seasoned finance executive with over 20 years of experience leading financial operations in the public sector. She joined the Santa Clara County Housing Authority in 2015 as Controller and currently serves as the Director of Finance/Controller. In this role, Chandrika oversees the agency’s budgeting, forecasting, and financial reporting functions, driving operational efficiency and supporting sustainable growth.

Known for her data-driven approach and strong leadership, Chandrika has led cross-functional teams, implemented financial systems, and provided strategic insights to executive leadership. She is a licensed CPA, bringing both technical expertise and strategic vision to her work.

Prior to her time at the Housing Authority, Chandrika served as Director of Financial Reporting for a large county in Michigan and worked as a finance consultant, supporting local government entities with financial operations and strategy.

Juan Lopez joined the Santa Clara County Housing Authority in 2023. As part of the Executive Leadership team, Juan provides strategic and operational support across multiple functions of the agency, acting as an internal advisor to monitor the long-term financial health of the agency and advance the growth of our real estate portfolio and housing programs to support our residents.

Juan has over a dozen years of experience in public finance, including affordable housing, local government and federal funding sources. He most recently served as the Finance Director for the City of Marina where he was responsible for the financial stewardship of a fast-growing local government which also owned the largest stock of affordable housing units within the city. During his tenure Juan developed structurally balanced budgets that helped fund the development of over 100 affordable housing units, establish a Below Market Rate (BMR) homeownership program and support the city's much-needed infrastructure programs to protect water supplies and complete major road repairs.

Juan has previous PHA experience in the areas of finance, asset management, and housing choice voucher program administration. During his tenure with Fresno Housing he oversaw a housing portfolio of over 2,000 tax credit units and monitored a high-performing housing choice voucher program that consistently leased over 99% of its voucher allocation.

As a first-generation college student, he attended Fresno State where he received a bachelor’s degree in finance and an MBA.

Rebecca Garcia is a dedicated and accomplished housing leader with over 20 years of public sector experience. She joined the Santa Clara County Housing Authority in 2024 as Director of Housing, where she oversees the Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) Program and leads initiatives to enhance customer service and resident-focused support. Prior to this role, she served for nearly a decade as the Director of Housing for the City of Morgan Hill.

Rebecca has built a strong reputation throughout her career for developing effective, community-focused housing solutions across multiple jurisdictions, including San José, the County of Santa Clara, and Morgan Hill. Her broad regional experience gives her a deep understanding of local housing systems, as well as the challenges and opportunities unique to Silicon Valley.

In Morgan Hill, Rebecca led efforts that exceeded the city’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) targets across all income levels. Under her leadership, the city implemented innovative programs addressing homelessness and farmworker housing, fundamentally transforming the community’s approach to housing equity and support. She was also instrumental in launching HouseKeys, a regional initiative that modernized Below Market Rate (BMR) housing services across 15 cities—highlighting her commitment to collaboration and forward-thinking leadership.

Driven by a passion for housing justice and a belief in the power of partnerships, Rebecca has consistently advanced strategies that build stronger, more inclusive communities. Throughout her work on housing issues across various communities, she has driven systems change and elevated the role of community voices in shaping local solutions.

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.