Senior Staff
Colleen Hernandez
President and Executive Director
Colleen Hernandez comes to the Foundation with wide-ranging experience in affordable housing, community development and grass roots community organizing. For 18 years, she served as Executive Director of the Kansas City Neighborhood Alliance (KCNA). Prior to joining the Foundation, Ms. Hernandez was the principal of Hernandez Consulting LLC, a firm specializing in affordable housing and community development. She served six years on the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, chairing its Audit Committee for two years. Ms. Hernandez served on the Consumer Advisory Council to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, as well as on the board of the National Equity Fund. She also serves on the Board of Directors for Kansas City-based Douglass National Bank, a certified Community Development Financial Institution. She is the 1995 recipient of the Charles Kimball Award from the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation.
Barb Wendt
Vice President of Operations
Barb Wendt brings more than 20 years of operations and financial management experience focused in financial services. Throughout her career, Ms. Wendt has held several senior-level management positions in finance, operations, strategic planning and master servicing. She has become adept at identifying and successfully implementing new business models with complex regulatory and compliance issues. Ms. Wendt enjoys developing high-performing, results driven teams and has been recognized for fostering a highly engaged work environment. Ms. Wendt holds her BS in Business Administration from the University of Minnesota.
Josh Fuhrman
Director of Counseling
Josh Fuhrman has been in the credit and housing counseling industry for over 12 years assisting consumers in financial crisis. Fuhrman has spent the last 10 years serving as the Director of Counseling for Auriton Solutions a national, non-profit crisis-counseling agency and one of the original counseling partners for The Homeownership Preservation Foundation. He has an extensive background in business development and has strong community involvement in housing and financial assistance. Mr. Fuhrman earned his BA in Communications and Philosophy from the University of Minnesota.
Diane Gubran
Director of Quality Control
Diane comes to the Foundation with over 20 years in the primary and secondary mortgage markets. During her tenure at Freddie Mac, Diane held positions in the areas of Loan Administration, Compliance, and Institutional Audit. While at GMAC-ResCap, she worked in Servicer Management, Information Technology, and Project Management. With her work in audit and management systems, Diane understands the importance of setting and meeting high standards for quality programs and the discipline associated with their implementation. Throughout her career, Diane has enjoyed productive relationships with Regulators, borrowers and industry constituents while successfully understanding and managing customer expectations.
Ghazi Akailvi
Director of Finance
Ghazi Akailvi has more than 20 years of nonprofit experience in Financial and Information Technology management positions. For 15 years, he was the CFO/CIO at a multi-state family social services agency, where he led business development initiatives, outcome measurement, continuous quality improvement efforts, and helped create the agency’s Finance and Information Technology infrastructure. Mr. Akailvi later served at the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation as the Director of Financial & Regulatory Affairs for the Housing Division. He earned his BA in Economics and BS in Business/MIS degrees from the University of Minnesota and his MBA from Metropolitan State University.
