Our greatest asset is our team.
In order to best serve the schools we work with, our team is comprised of charter experts with decades of development experience across the nation, and a passion for education and the betterment of the communities our schools are serving.
Meet the team.
LEE CHAFFIN
Lee Chaffin has more than 15 years of experience in project construction management within the public charter school industry. In addition to serving as an owner’s representative, he has developed and executed facility capital plans for numerous organizations. He has provided project management technical assistance for clients in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, and Washington DC.
He most recently managed the client service division of LISC: SchoolPrint’s 2- year pilot program funded by the Walton Family foundation which was created to provide a smooth path for schools in their facility development process.
Prior to working with LISC:Schoolprint, he has served as Vice President of Facilities Operations for a facility-management company in Washington DC. In this role, he was responsible for the facilities operations of over 22 public charter schools.
Before changing careers to facilities management, he worked in the media and entertainment industry for Viacom’s BET Division, where he served as the SVP of Affiliate Distribution and Marketing. He was responsible for developing and executing the distribution and marketing strategy. Lee has always been a strong advocate for supporting BIPOC communities in his roles with both BET and charter schools.
Lee holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing from Hampton University. He has also enrolled in many executive management courses at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and the University of North Carolina, Kenan Flagler Business School. In his leisure time, Lee enjoys bicycling, rowing, traveling, golf, and hiking.
SAJAN PHILIP
Sajan has had a 15-year career in finance, in which he deployed over $600 million in capital to a variety of real estate community-based projects. These projects include affordable housing, school facilities, early childhood education facilities, health centers, and supermarkets. He has experience with a broad range of financial resources available to community development projects, including foundations, government programs, banks, CDFIs, tax exempt bonds, NMTC, and LIHTC.
In his time at Civic Builders, Sajan built a philanthropic-backed lending platform that delivered low-cost flexible loans to high performing nonprofit charter schools. This platform is on track to grow loan production from $20 million in 2018 to over $125 million in 2020. Prior to joining Civic, Sajan was Market Director of the Mid-Atlantic and Central Regions at the Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF). In this role, he was responsible for lending production in DC as well as for LIIF’s expansion in the Southeast. At LIIF, Sajan lent over $300 million in capital for community development projects, including a $30 million fund dedicated to increasing healthy food access in food deserts. Before joining LIIF, he was a small business loan underwriter at Seedco Financial in New York City.
JOANNA DIAZ
Joanna works with project management at FRC and guides clients through the real estate process.
She has over a decade of experience in customer service and retail management. Her work has taught her to take an empathetic approach to understanding the needs of clients. She is passionate about helping others and regularly does volunteer work.
Joanna holds a real estate license in the state of Tennessee and is currently working toward a bachelor’s degree in Political Science. Joanna speaks Spanish and Portuguese and she is currently learning French.
ANNE JUSTINE VARHAUG
Anne Justine works on the FRC team's systems and data operations so that the FRC can best assist new and existing schools in reaching their aims. Having attended charter schools from grades K-12, she believes these schools are an important educational alternative.
Prior to joining the Facility Resource Center, she has worked as a Middle and High School teacher and has worked in school administration with responsibility for regulatory compliance.
Anne Justine has a bachelor's degree in International Relations and in Spanish, and a post-graduate certification in pedagogy. When she isn't working, she enjoys spending time outdoors and making ceramics.
HOLLY DENNISTON-CHASE
Holly has a broad background developing and financing affordable housing, early childhood education centers, charter schools, and community facilities. Many of her projects are integrated supportive housing - a mix of affordable and supportive housing with rental subsidies and services to ensure tenants stay housed. Her work includes developing and lending to affordable housing and community facilities projects dedicated to people with disabilities. In her 20-year career working with Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), Holly deployed almost $100 million, leveraging over $500 million in capital, creating 1,500 affordable and supportive housing units and 500,000 square feet of community space, including schools, early childhood education centers, health food markets, and youth centers.
She has worked with school leaders to finance new construction, rehabilitation, and debt repayment to allow the school to expand facilities, improve existing space, and secure long term, affordable debt executions. She has a deep understanding of Low Income Housing Tax Credits, New Market Tax Credits, Bond Guarantee Program, Capital Magnet Fund, CDFI lending products, and bank financing.
Holly earned a masters degree in Public Administration from Rutgers University and a bachelor’s degree in International Development from Mount Holyoke College. She is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer from the Dominican Republic.
JEFFREY HOUSER
Jeffrey brings to Facility Resource Center a unique professional background including education leadership, not-for-profit management, financial consulting, general contracting, and commercial real estate brokering. Jeffrey is a dynamic and energetic individual who knows what it means to serve. He has a rock-solid work ethic and a commitment to producing results.
Jeffrey was the Vice President of Financial and Corporate Services at BASIS.ed, the education-management company responsible for starting and operating award-winning charter, private, and international schools. While with BASIS.ed, Jeffrey also acted as Founding Head of School for BASIS Peoria and BASIS Phoenix. Most recently Jeffrey served Georgetown Day School as its CFO, where, in addition to attending to financial and operational demands, he worked with a team who unified its campus by designing, financing, and building its new Lower/Middle School facility.
Jeffrey has a master’s in international business from the Norwegian School of Economics and a bachelor’s in economics from Wheaton College (Illinois). His CRE and GC licenses are from Arizona. Jeffrey likes to cook, hike, bike, golf, ski, travel, and learn new languages. Perhaps most of all he loves doing these things together with his wife, children, and friends when he is with them in Norway.
BEN HENRY
Ben serves FRC through the creation and implementation of systems which are all used to track and deliver various outputs to the varying stakeholders. He is excited about creating new opportunities for kids through FRC'S work with charter schools.
Prior to joining the FRC, Ben spent 15 years in the commercial real estate field. During that time, he integrated and standardized criteria manuals to ensure quality standards were met and handled the financial aspects of tenant allowance reimbursements for over 80 properties throughout the county. He also was responsible for responding to any liens filed against those 80 plus properties. He created Estoppel Certificates for new leases and as needed and Managed Tenant Access Agreements for telecom companies requesting service to mall properties.
He is constantly trying to feed the starving children. Specifically, the four boys who live at his house. He also pretends to know how to coach his sons in soccer and basketball. In all his spare time he attempts to read the many leather-bound books in his library. His most brilliant achievement was his ability to be able to persuade his wife to marry him (borrowed from Churchill).
DAVE MASON
Dave has worked in project and operations management for over 15 years, and oversees all marketing and operations for Facility Resource Center.
He is a skilled marketer and natural networker with a proven track record of building and growing relationships - bringing social science and business analysis to marketing; stemming from research experience, business development, project and vendor management, and emerging social media exposure.
Working with research-based marketing and strategy consultancy, Kelton Global, for the last 10+ years, and cofounder of purchasing consortium, Together Unified, Dave's roots are in marketing and business operations.
A Scottsdale, AZ, native, he now resides in Santa Monica, CA, and is involved with local and national philanthropic groups such as LA Women’s Housing Center and Young Life, where he spent 6 years mentoring high school kids in the Phoenix area. Dave enjoys running, impromptu road trips, and DYI projects around the house.
CAMERON QUICK
Cameron, the founder of Facility Resource Center, has expertise working with charter and private schools across the country with facilities and real estate development. He is also contracted for roles and positions at charter school support organizations including: Chief Operating Officer at the Tennessee Charter School Center, team member for the Charter School Facility Center (a project of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools), founder and developer of the Georgia Charter School Association Facility Resource Center, and developer of The Lending Project (a free online loan matching platform for charter schools).
In the past five years he has brought over $600 million in facility resources to charter schools across the country, and continues to be a lead facility expert for national programs and federal grants designed to support charter schools navigating the real estate process.
Cameron specializes in creating systems and platforms for businesses and organizations so they can strategically grow while reducing overhead costs; previously overseeing procurement for the Arizona Charter School Association for over 5 years.
Cameron received his B.A. in Communications and a Master’s degree in Curriculum & Instruction from Arizona State University. In his leisure, Cameron is surfing, rock climbing, traveling, cooking, exploring, and learning to fly a plane.
Apply to join our team...
We're always on the lookout for bright, curious thinkers with diverse backgrounds to join our growing team. If you're interested in working with Facility Resource Center, please send a cover letter and resume to talent@facilityresourcecenter.com.