Paula Ryan Email & Phone Number

West Palm Beach, Florida

After 4 years of serving as an elected representative of the City of West Palm Beach City Commission I have decided to take this experience along with my 20 plus years in the fields of Finance, Economics, Development and Community Organizing and help others find their voice. I began by helping an organization that provides for the most vulnerable and works to bring meaning and purpose in the lives of children, their families and community. I want to help develop solutions and strategies that will make a meaningful contribution that allows them achieve their goals.

United States

Developer Director - Managed day-to-day operations and business development specializing in the acquisition, financing, construction and management of affordable housing communities nationwide. Recognized expert in working with local, state and federal government agencies, expert in the use of tax-exempt bonds and the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program, conventional bank financing

United States

Elected to serve the residents of District 3, the most diverse and dynamic district, representing a growing Downtown, the poorer communities located within the City, as well as some of the City's most affluent neighborhoods. It was my responsibility, along with my fellow Commissioners to work with the Mayor to develop policies and ordinances for the City. Serving as President of the Commission as well the following advisory boards, Palm Beach County Transportation Planning Agency, Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council, the Business and Merchant Liaison, the City's Educational Committee, the Mayor's Sustainability Council, The Salvation Army liaison. As President of the Commission I was head of the Auditing Department and led Audit Review Meetings.

United States

Consultant to high net worth individuals or companies to analyze and research how they are appearing on the Web. Upon a thorough analysis and evaluation we established clear data points that helped the Client understand the rising need to develop digital strategies in order to grow their business and protect their market share. We established the appropriate social media accounts and built content and developed an online branding campaigns unique for each Client. The cross functional teams were made up of the clients organization and IBSD's team members. Establishing an on-line footprint is imperative for every individual or group or company in order 1) protect their reputation 2) build an informative platform unique to their needs, and 3) Optimize all Digital Content through Search Engine Optimization. In 2010 2011 and 2012 Social Media began to become important, by 2015 this little known tool would become the dominant force for communication and commerce. IBSD helped develop strategies for their internal systems, and establish procedures to be implemented on an going forward basis. Upon joining the City Commission of West Palm Beach, IBSD became in active in order for me to pursue a full time political career, without the perception or actual conflict of interest that might arise during my term.

West Palm Beach, Florida Area

Contracted to build foundational support for a new start up SEO, and Digital Marketing Firm. Brought company from 7 employees to 25, instituted policies and procedures for long term stability. Disciplines included Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Website Design, Digital production, SEO, Reputation Management and marketing strategies to support each effort.

United States

Directed and Managed the day to day development responsibilities for three large projects located in West Palm Beach, St. John, V.I. and Lack Placid N.Y. The collapse of Lehman Brothers turned these projects into work outs and principal ownership was responsible for negotiating out of Foreclosure.

United States

The initial contract anticipated a short one purpose focus, develop policies and procedures for the City's Housing and Economic Development Department specifically focused on the inclusion of affordable housing in the City's land use and zoning policies and procedures. The rising real estate costs and values began to squeeze out housing opportunities for the more moderately priced housing type for the City's growing workforce . Within 4 months the contract expanded; added responsibility to include managing the Departments' budget and staffings' organizational chart, which had been approved by the City Commission. I was responsible for the hiring of an additional 12 staff positions ranging in skills from financial analyst, compliance management, federal and state funding programs' administration, credit underwriting for review and analysis of regulatory standards. Established an affordable housing trust fund for the City and helped develop a 5 year strategic finance plan for the City to expand opportunities for more affordable housing solutions and used federal funding sources, in danger of being recalled by HUD, to help preserve existing workforce housing that had been negatively impacted by 2 years of back to back hurricanes.

United States

Directed and managed the day-to-day development and acquisition strategies of a National Real Estate Investment Trust in South Florida. I directly interfaced with all major subcontractors, architects, planners, engineers and landscape architects to bring previously developed plans, working through Project Systems to track complex components and insure the projects were completed on time without any delays or change orders.

United States

I joined The Richman Group of Companies in 1993, an integrated firm active in all aspects of real estate industry including investment and mortgage banking, development, property management and asset management. In 1992 Hurricane Andrew made landfall in Miami-Dade County Florida and shortly after acquired two multifamily complexes that had been destroyed by the impact. I became the Company’s liaison to the Florida Housing Finance Corporation and lead coordinator for a redevelopment plan. In 1995 I became the President of the Richman Group of Florida.Duties and responsibilities: Establish a physical presence in the state, build a real estate portfolio that specializes in affordable housing through investment banking, syndication, and property management. Negotiate purchase and sales contracts, feasibility studies, prepare financial projections, retain legal counsel to conduct title searches and engineers to survey and evaluate related issues, prepare comprehensive plans for development incorporating all municipal land use zoning and site plan approval processes. Prepare developer agreements and make arrange for all financing, including preparation of Applications for Submission to the Florida Housing Finance Corp, arranging payment and performance bonds, general contractor negotiations, work with architects to design and permit each project in each location. Prepare critical path schedules that met the Federal regulatory requirements for Placed in Service Dates. Engaged in value engineering to find creative solutions for better built projects, coordinated all credit underwriting for conventional financing, investor equity and State Credit and Housing Agencies. Politics and policies in each jurisdiction were different requiring close engagement with elected officials. By 1998 The Richman Group of Florida, completed over 5000 units, established itself as a dominant player in Florida and continues to work on Market Rate and Affordable Housing Projects.

United States

As an Work-Out Specialist at Boston Capital Partners in Boston, MA, is became involved with Florida Affordable Housing, Inc. After working as an analyst, asset manager and work-out specialist for 5 years, Florida Affordable Housing Inc, offered me the opportunity to learn the development and execution of a project, from start to finish, This opportunity launched my career as an Affordable Housing Developer with expertise in government regulations, land use and zoning, and creative housing solutions for a variety of situations, locations, and tenant population. During my tenure we produced 1,000 units of housing utilizing the Low Income Housing Tax Credit as provided in Section 42 of the IRS Code and several federal and state funding programs such as CDBG, HOME, and Federal Disaster funds as provided in relief to the State, and their State Housing Incentive Programs such as SAIL and Tax Exempt Bonds.

United States

Boston Capital is a multi-family housing investment company focused on providing equity and debt financing for the development, acquisition and preservation of rental housing nationwide. Boston Capital was part of the team the created the federal tax credit program in the late 80's and has consistently kept pace with regulatory changes and fluctuations in both market and financing conditions. Boston Capital has a strong commitment to providing direct social and economic benefits to its investments, the communities in which the invest, and the lives of the residents living in a community. As a financial analyst with a small boutique Investment Banking firm from Washington, D.C. I was able to pivot my professional career after the Real Estate and Financial Crisis of the the late 80's. My responsibilities grew in both technical and analytical ways when I was put on a team to work on distressed real estate assets throughout a 15 state territory. This included 290 individual real estate assets. My responsibilities we to prepare strategies detail potential cash flow, tax and future benefits for assets, including redydications and sales proposals for non-performing assets.