Cynthia Parker
The third president and CEO of BRIDGE Housing, Cynthia Parker continues to build on the nonprofit powerhouse’s more than three-decade foundation in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Clark James Mishler
Cynthia Parker
At the helm for six years, she’s brought to the company her 30-plus years of affordable housing experience on the development, finance, and public-sector sides.
Parker’s interest in housing began during an urban studies class when she was a student at Portland [Ore.] State University, where she led a group to save about 700 units of housing nearby. As general manager and CEO of the group, Portland Student Services, she headed up the rehab and operation of the units.
At BRIDGE, Parker has helped expand the firm’s development activities into Southern California and the Pacific Northwest and has implemented a five-year strategic plan to help the company double in size from 2013 to 2017. Now, more than halfway through that plan, BRIDGE is on track to meet—and, in some cases, has already exceeded—its goals.
The firm has completed or has under construction 2,486 units, or 65% of its goal of 3,800, and has acquired or has under letter of intent 2,246 units, which is 60% of its goal of 3,750.
As of Jan. 1, BRIDGE owns 109 developments comprising 11,409 units. This past fall, BRIDGE launched a new community development initiative that will integrate holistic practices into the planning, implementation, and management of affordable housing to help improve residents’ outcomes.
“We’re thinking about how to do more meaningful work with our residents,” Parker says. “The community development initiative is aimed at [being] more thoughtful and providing the tools to residents so mixed-income communities can thrive. We are very serious about getting this mixed-income model right.”
