Mercy Housing, a national nonprofit affordable housing organization based in Denver, appointed L. Steven Spears as CFO. The appointment comes after an extensive national search to fill the position left available by the departure of Brian Shuman.  

“Steve is an exceptional addition to the Mercy Housing leadership team,” said Mercy Housing President and Chief Executive Officer Sister Lillian Murphy. “He has a proven track record in housing finance and executive level experience that we feel will add significant value to our organization. Given his considerable finance acumen and experience, Steve will play a lead role in setting the overall strategic direction for the organization and assuring the long-term financial sustainability and growth of Mercy Housing.”

Spears will be responsible for ensuring the integrity of financial reporting and strategic financial planning for the organization as a whole. Spears comes to Mercy Housing with more than 30 years of experience in financial services.  Most recently, Spears served as Chief Deputy of the California Housing Finance Agency. There, Spears played an integral role in the Agency’s ability to secure $5 billion of federal assistance during the country’s economic crisis. As a result, the Agency stabilized its financial position and returned to lending activity the same year.

Prior to joining the California Housing Finance Agency, Spears was managing director with The SAER Group at KP Advocates and MetWest Financial and Strategic Services with a financial consulting practice that focused on strategic solutions to a variety of problems facing state and local government.  He also served as Deputy State Treasurer for Public Finance under California State Treasurer Matt Fong and served as Fong’s Legal Counsel at the Board of Equalization.