AMERICAN SUNRISE COMMUNITIES - KEY STAFF

• David Grunwald, President and Chief Executive Officer
• Angela Adriatico, Executive Assistant
• Jemahl Ämen, Consultant
• Janeen J. Cameron, Program Director
• Y.K. Karen Leung, Program Director

David Grunwald, President and Chief Executive Officer

As President of American Sunrise Communities, Mr. Grunwald will lead the creation of a national organization that will link thousands of working families to affordable homes.

Since January 2000, Mr. Grunwald served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the community-based organization Los Angeles Family Housing (LAFH). At LAFH David oversaw the provision of emergency, transitional and permanent housing and social services to more than 17,000 individuals annually at 21 facilities located throughout Los Angeles. Mr. Grunwald also served on the Mayor of Los Angeles's Housing Trust Fund Task Force, currently serves on the executive committee of the Los Angeles Business Council, and is a founding organizer and program chair of the annual Los Angeles Mayoral Affordable Housing Summit at the University of California, Los Angeles, which will be conducting its 6th event this year.

Prior to his public service positions, Mr. Grunwald worked as lawyer specializing in litigation and labor and employment law. He has received numerous community accolades including Special Recognition from the Mayor and City Council of Los Angeles for his Commitment to Housing and Homelessness, the California Bar Association's Wiley S. Manual Outstanding Public Service Award, United Cerebral Palsy's Outstanding Community Service Award, Outstanding Community Service Award from Big Brothers of Los Angeles, where he served as a big brother, and Outstanding Community Service Recognition from Duke University. Mr. Grunwald received a law degree from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, a Masters degree in Public Policy from Duke University, North Carolina and a Bachelors degree in Economics from Denver University, Colorado.

Mr. Grunwald lives in Los Angeles with his wife Tiffany, a plastics and reconstructive surgeon and educator at the University of Southern California Medical Center, and their son Samson and daughter Sidney.

 

Jemahl Ämen, Consultant

Jemahl Ämen is American Sunrise Communities' Northern California Consultant/Program Director. He focuses on economic development, employer-assisted housing programs, and affordable housing/mixed use projects, with the goal of creating sustainable homes and communities. He works on establishing multi-tiered outreach efforts and coalition-building with public, private and non-profit developers, as well as financial institutions.

Prior to consulting with American Sunrise Communities, Jemahl Ämen worked with California State Assembly Speakers Wesson and Nuñez in Sacramento, beginning in 1998. He began as a legislative staffer covering multiple issue areas for then Assemblyman Herb J. Wesson Jr., including jobs and economics, housing, consumer protection, public safety, health & welfare, as well as agriculture. He moved on to serve briefly as committee consultant to the Assembly Committee on Governmental Organization, in addition to directing various legislative projects.

When Assemblyman Wesson made his transition into the position of Speaker of the House, Jemahl became his Special Advisor on housing and consumer protection issues, overseeing all legislation in the Assembly associated with these two topic areas, as well as directing various legislative commissions, work groups and research projects. Speaker Wesson left office as Speaker in 2003 due to term limits, and Jemahl transferred his position to Los Angeles with the incoming Speaker, Fabian Nuñez. Jemahl Ämen worked in the new Speaker's Office of Member Services (SOMS – L.A.), working on redistricting, as well as housing and real estate development issues, while studying urban planning and community development in graduate school. He holds a B.S. in Administration of Justice from San Jose State University, an M.S. in Urban Planning – Community Development from UCLA and is a 1998 Coro Fellow Public Affairs Program graduate – San Francisco. Jemahl currently resides in Northern California (Oakland) with his daughter.