Board Members
RISE Housing Board Members have a strong capacity and expertise in the affordable housing sector.
Stephani Baker
Stephani fosters community and industry partnerships in all facets of housing delivery to mitigate costs, expand opportunities, and amplify the delivery of housing, with a fundamental belief that we are all responsible for working together to solve the housing crisis. Her work and contributions were recognized in her 2022 YWCA Women of Distinction Nomination. She is thrilled to be able to leverage decades of skills, experience and a robust network and work alongside a collection of power-house women to build a differentiator in the non-profit housing sector.
Chair, Rise Housing & Community Land Trust
Stephani is a multi-faceted professional with 35 years in the community building sector who views stable and affordable housing as a basic human right. She has served on numerous municipal committees and has a deep knowledge of issues facing the Metro Vancouver regions. With an extensive career at Habitat for Humanity Greater Vancouver, Stephani served as the Vice President of Real Estate Development and Construction, Interim CEO and Director of Philanthropy, where she managed real estate development, financing and operations and grew the asset base from zero to over $30 million.
Her active involvement with provincial and municipal governments and developers demonstrated her innovative approaches to affordable housing strategies and delivery. Through this work, she expanded housing access multi-generationally, to hundreds of families on the housing continuum within the housing crisis facing so many in BC.
Carla Guerrera
Board Member, Rise Housing & Community Land Trust
Carla is the Founder and CEO of Purpose Driven Development, a company that brings a proven approach to unlocking successful development in our complex urban environments for developers, public sector and First Nations clients to create communities where we can all thrive. Her TED talk, delivered at the largest TEDx event in Canada, focused on addressing the Canadian Housing crisis.
Carla was appointed as a Board Member to the Thames Estuary Growth Board in 2020, helping to lead the revitalization of the world-famous Thames River and the largest growth opportunity in the UK. Locally she also serves on several boards including the British Columbia Pavilion Corporation. Carla is an international thought leader and speaker on innovative approaches to development, housing, and city building.
Carla Guerrera is a globally recognized real estate and urban development professional. Carla combines the fields of real estate development and urban planning and is a respected advisor, business consultant and speaker on topics pertaining to urban design, people, architecture and city policy. She has delivered over $1B of complex, mixed-use real estate development across Canada's top markets over the past 25 years. Notable projects include leading the West Don Lands waterfront revitalization on Toronto’s waterfront, one of the world’s most advanced waterfront revitalization initiatives.
Carla has been awarded the prestigious Urban Land Institutes Top 40 Under 40 Global Land Use Professionals Award, as well as Business in Vancouver's Top 40 Under 40 Award, and has been recently nominated two years running for BIV 500 most influential business leaders in British Columbia.
Karey Brooks
Board Member, Rise Housing & Community Land Trust
Karey is an owner and a member of the management team at JFK Law, a specialized law firm that provides legal services to First Nations and other organizations or individuals seeking a more just society. Karey is a senior litigator who is actively involved in the legal profession. She was elected to the Canadian Bar Association Provincial Council in 2016 to represent Vancouver County. She is co-chair of the CBA Truth and Reconciliation Subcommittee. She is also a member of the Advisory Board for the BC Advocates Society.
Karey graduated from law school at UBC in 2001 and holds a master's of law from Osgoode Hall Law School. She has been recognized as a Leading Practitioner in Aboriginal Law by Lexpert since 2016 and is recognized by her peers in the Best Lawyers in Canada publication in the field of Aboriginal Law.
Karey is an experienced Board member who also serves as a Board member of the Collingwood School.
Karey has been Lexpert® ranked as a Leading Lawyer in Aboriginal Law since 2016 and as one of the Best Lawyers in Aboriginal Law in Best Lawyers in Canada since 2017. In 2016, Karey was awarded the UBC Law School Outstanding Young Alumnus Award and in 2015, Karey Brooks was recognized as one of Canada’s Legal Rising Stars by Lexpert.
