Who We Are

HIPOLITO (PAUL) ROLDAN, has been Chief Executive Officer of Hispanic Housing Development Corporation since its inception in 1975.

In 1988, Mr. Roldan was awarded a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship for his work in Community Development. He committed $100,000 of his Fellowship award for the establishment of the Teresa & Hipolito Roldan Community Development Scholarship Fund, which seeks to attract Latinos into the community development field.

Mr. Roldan serves on boards and committees for organizations including the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, National Puerto Rican Coalition, Division Street Business Development Association, Chicago United, Latinos United, MB Financial, N.A., The Retail Initiative (TRI), Chicago Transit Authority Citizens Advisory Board, Housing Partnership Network, The Human Relations Foundation of Chicago, and The Institute of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture.  He is an “Inner-City Advisor” and National Trustee of the Urban Land Institute, and on the National Advisory Council of Fannie Mae.

A “Bronze Star” recipient for combat duty in Vietnam, Mr. Roldan holds a Bachelor's degree in Social Studies from St. Francis College, and a Master's degree in Urban Studies from Long Island University in New York.


ERICA PASCAL, Vice President, is an attorney with more than 30 years of experience in community development, including positions with the National Commission on Neighborhoods, ShoreBank, the Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing and the Chicago Rehab Network, and a solo law practice. She has overseen residential homeownership developments for HHDC since 1998.

Ms. Pascal has an undergraduate degree in Urban Affairs from Boston University, and received her J.D. from Northwestern University Law School, where she was an Urban Law Fellow at the Center for Urban Affairs. She sits on the Advisory Board of the Community Economic Development Law Project and is an adjunct lecturer at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Masters of Urban Planning and Policy Program.


MARK E. KRUSE, Vice President, has over 15 years experience in community development, specializing in finance and real estate development. Mr. Kruse is responsible for developments including new construction and renovation of residential and commercial properties. He joined Hispanic Housing in 1990 after working for Harris Trust and Savings Bank's Metropolitan Banking Division and for the City of Chicago's Department of Economic Development.

Mr. Kruse graduated from the University of Arizona, where he studied Business and Regional Development.


LALO EDERY, Chief Operating Officer of Tropic Construction, has more than 20 years of experience in projects both in the U.S. and overseas. He has developed projects ranging from $10 million to $500 million, with a portfolio that includes the Wyndham Chicago Hotel, 600 N. Michigan (Chicago), 201 N. Wells (Chicago), the Ritz-Carlton Hotel (Barcelona, Spain), the Hyatt Resort (Murcia, Spain), the Wyndham Hotel (San Juan, Puerto Rico) and Torre Mayor, a 60-story office building in Mexico City.

Mr. Edery holds an MBA from the University of Chicago, with emphasis in Finance and Marketing, and a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from George Washington University, as well as a Master in Real Estate Development from University of Catalunya, Spain.


GUILLERMO ALVARADO, Marketing Director, has worked for Hispanic Housing for more than 14 years in Property Management and Sales. A Chicago native, he served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War before working in industrial sales. He has been a real estate broker for more than 20 years, and manages HHDC’s homeownership sales center.


ROSA Y. ORTIZ, Development Manager, has worked in both the private and the non-profit sectors by means of community development corporations, architecture and planning firms.  Her work includes design, planning and development of residential, retail and institutional projects.  Ms. Ortiz has earned a Bachelor’s degree in Art in the Study of Architecture and a Master’s degree in Urban Planning and Policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago.  She is the current president of Arquitectos, The Society of Hispanic Professional Architects, an  Latina Leadership Advisory Council member for the Chicago Foundation for Women and a member of the Urban Land Institute.