For over 20 years, Penny Brown has served as the Executive Assistant to the President of CityWide Development Corporation. She is responsible for the day to day scheduling and management for many CityWide functions including the Board, Committees, and office operations.

Penny has a passion for her community and has served as a volunteer or advisor for numerous organizations.

Ms. Brown has a degree of Applied Business in Human Resource Management, is a Licensed Managing Aesthetician, Makeup Artist, Certified Teacher’s Aid and a Certified Image Consultant.

Donna Burnett joined CityWide Development in 2012 as Controller. She has over 25 years of accounting experience, joining CityWide after working for Miller Valentine Group and Phillips Edison & Company. Donna holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville and has her CPA designation, inactive. Outside the office, she is a bicycling enthusiast and is the Secretary of the Wilmington Bicycle Club.

Karen DeMasi is the Director of Community Development for CityWide. Karen leads a professional staff of six individuals who bring a wide array of skills to work on community development initiatives throughout the Dayton area. Karen has over 25 years of experience working with government, business and nonprofit organizations. Her expertise is in program design, strategic planning, fundraising, community development and administration.

Prior to her employment with CityWide, Karen was Vice-President of Programs for the Consensus Organizing Institute (COI), a national community building training and development organization located in San Diego, CA where she led the organization’s national consulting division. In this role, Karen worked directly with organizations to design and implement comprehensive community development plans which included community engagement strategies, housing development and job and economic development plans.

Karen and colleague Mary Ohmer authored a book about their community organizing experiences. Consensus Organizing: A Comprehensive Guide to Designing, Implementing and Evaluating Community Change Initiatives, which was published by Sage Publications in October 2008.

Tom has been involved in public service for over 40 years. After attending Wright State University, he started his career with the City of Xenia as an Electrical Safety Inspector. Within a few years he was promoted to Chief Building Official, responsible for implementing the enforcement of building development standards within the city. Tom became directly involved in the examination and approval of residential and commercial building plans from the planning stages through development. In 1984, he moved on to the City of Springfield as the Director of Inspection Services. His primary function was to manage the daily operations of inspection services by supervising 35 employees, and overseeing the enforcement of various building and development codes within the city, including housing rehab and historic preservation.

In 1988 Tom accepted a position for Montgomery County as the Chief Building Inspector, responsible for the daily operation of the Building Department. One of Tom’s major accomplishments was the establishment and implementation of the decentralized building inspection permit application and review process, by setting up satellite offices throughout the community and becoming more accessible to the public. While at Montgomery County Tom became interested in the functions of the Port Authority and was able to assist in overseeing Port construction projects.

After retiring from the County in August 2001, the Port Authority approached Tom, because of his extensive construction and code knowledge, for the position of Construction Manager and Project Financial Oversight for Port construction projects. During the past 11 years with the Port Tom has gained an extensive knowledge of Prevailing Wage Reguirements (State of Ohio and Davis Bacon) and has successively monitored numerous projects. Also, Tom has taken numerous large developments from pre-construction, design/development, construction and construction closeout to occupancy. Some of these projects include Relizon (WorkFlow) Headquarters, Patterson Parking Garage, MCSI World Headquarters in Kettering, Burrows Paper in Franklin, Renegade Composite in Springboro, DHL Wilmington Air Park, the Main Street Parking Garage and the CareSource Office Building in downtown Dayton.

Rosalie serves as Chief Financial Officer at CityWide. Rosalie has the responsibility for leadership in providing for the overall financial vision and financial health of the organization. Direct responsibilities include the oversight and direction of financial reporting, budgeting and long range forecasting, audit, tax, accounting, insurance and risk management, employee benefits, and, computer and information systems.

Rosalie has knowledge and experience with federally funded programs including, Community Development Block Grant, HOME Investment Partnership Program, Neighborhood Stabilization Program, New Market Tax Credit financing, and Low Income Housing Tax Credits.

Rosalie also serves the Dayton region as a Finance Committee Member of the United Way of Greater Dayton.

John Gower currently serves as Urban Design Director for CityWide, a role he took on in 2016.
With a background in architecture and urban design, John served as Downtown Planner for the City of Dayton from 1977 to 2001 and later promoted to Community Development Director for the City from 2001 until 2011. In 2011, he retired as Director and returned to work in the Office of the City Manager as the Urban Design Coordinator and Reimaging Strategist.

His areas of expertise have included urban design and development planning, visioning and implementation, historic preservation and adaptive reuse planning and place and asset-based strategic planning and implementation for the Greater Downtown and the city as a whole.

His work continues at CityWide with crossing over the fields of place-making, strategic economic planning and adaptive reuse on downtown projects as well as community place-based collaboratives.

Erica Hubler is a Community Development Specialist with CityWide. Erica has been with CityWide for over 20 years and held numerous positions including, Neighborhood Stabilization Project Coordinator & Housing Loan Officer. She’s currently working as the Business and Property Manager for Wright Dunbar, Inc. where CityWide, Wright Dunbar, Inc. & the City of Dayton are collaborating to bring development to the Wright Dunbar Historic District.

Caitlin Jacob is a Community Development Associate for CityWide. Caitlin’s work is primarily focused in West Dayton neighborhoods and includes community engagement, data analysis, and land use planning.

Caitlin has Masters degrees in Public Policy and Urban Planning from the University of Michigan, and she earned her Bachelors degree in Human Rights Studies and English from the University of Dayton.

Dan Kane is President of CityWide, a position he has held since May 2022. Prior to his position as President, Dan was Senior Vice President of Development at CityWide. Dan's focus was on establishing and expanding developer relationships for projects centered in the Dayton region. He was also involved with CityWide's lending teams that are responsible for business and community loan development and the deployment of capital through the organization's program offerings. Dan also assisted CityWide clients, business partners, and staff on financial analysis and loan structuring, guiding an opportunity to a successful outcome.
Before joining CityWide in late 2017, Dan held multiple leadership positions in the Dayton Banking community spanning 31 years, most recently as the Dayton Market President of First Financial Bank. Throughout his banking career, Dan specialized in commercial banking and commercial real estate loan and relationship production and growth.

A native of Cleveland, Ohio, and a graduate of Bowling Green State University with a degree in Finance, Dan has served on numerous boards and committees throughout his career including The Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce, where he is currently Chair of the Chamber's Board of Trustees and Executive Committee. Prior community involvement includes various committee roles with CityWide Development (during his banking career), and Board positions with The Dayton Business Committee, Miami Valley Boy Scouts of America, and the Epilepsy Foundation of Western Ohio.

Katie Lunne serves as a Community Development Specialist at CityWide. Over the last 12 years, Katie’s role has included long-term strategic planning for both economic and community development efforts, neighborhood engagement, and land use planning and design standard development within project areas.

Katie’s received her degree in Historic Preservation and a concentration in Planning from Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, VA. She currently serves on the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery Associate Board.

Amy Mitchell is a Community Development Specialist at CityWide. She is responsible for developing resident leadership, and creating strategic partnership that further neighborhood development efforts in the Genesis and Phoenix redevelopment areas and the Westwood Neighborhood. Amy has over 30 years of experience with local non-profit organizations including Unified Health Solutions, and most recently Family Service Association where she led their neighborhood development programming. Amy’s strong connections to nonprofit social service agencies and excellent community organizing skills make her a valuable member of the Community Development Team.

Steve Nutt has more than 25 years of Economic and Community Development experience with specific expertise in the areas of Technology Development, Strategic Planning, Downtown Planning/Development, Retail District Development, and Real Estate Development. Steve currently manages Tech Town, a campus consisting of 45 technology businesses and more than 400 technology workers. Steve has a BA in Business Administration/Marketing and a MCP City Planning/Economic Development from the University of Cincinnati.

Justin works as a Community Planner for CityWide. His work is primarily focused on land use planning, development, and management of community plans and projects, which includes building relationships with residents, businesses, and institutions within the Dayton community.

Prior to his hiring in 2022, Justin graduated from Miami University with bachelor’s degrees in Urban Planning and Environmental Science. He also previously worked for Montgomery County within their Engineering and Planning departments.

Nicole Steele is a Community Development Project Manager for CityWide specializing in planning, design, contract management and technical detail resolutions associated with all facets of real estate re-development and community stabilization.

Primarily, Nicole works on the Phoenix Project, a comprehensive community development project near Good Samaritan Hospital. She has led much of the real estate development on this project, where she provides technical management on strategic acquisition of distressed properties and the redevelopment of community spaces, including constructing a Gateway at the intersections of Salem at Catalpa; a community spray park and playground at Fairview Commons; and the adaptive reuse of historic commercial structures.

Nicole joined CityWide in 2003 after working for various local and national architecture design firms. She has a Masters of Architecture Degree from the University of Michigan and earned her Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Design from Miami University.

Jessica Troll joined CityWide in July of 2002 as a Staff Accountant. She received her Bachelor of Science degree from Wright State University in Accounting. She has a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Dayton. Jessica’s primary responsibilities include payroll, employee benefits and accounts payable.

Alexis is a Community Organizer and the Marketing Coordinator for CityWide. Prior to her hiring in 2021, Alexis worked with CityWide through the AmeriCorps VISTA program for two years. Her work includes supporting resident engagement and building partnerships to further neighborhood goals. Alexis is also responsible for CityWide’s marketing efforts including defining and managing our brand, producing marketing and promotional materials, managing social media, and coordinating with staff to bolster outreach efforts.

Alexis earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Dayton in Political Science and Communication with a focus in Public Relations.

Janet White is CityWide’s Vice President of Housing & Economic Development Services. Janet joined CityWide in January 1996 and has served as a Commercial Loan Officer, Manager of Enterprise Ohio Investment Company, and Director of Minority Business Development.

Janet earned her Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance and Banking from Wright State University and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Dayton. She has 19 years of banking experience at Key Bank, previously holding positions of Regional Accounting Officer, Commercial Real Estate Coordinator, and Small Business Loan Underwriter.

Shane Wilken joined CityWide in August of 2022 as a Sr. Business Development Officer. Shane’s focus is on establishing and expanding developer and bank relationships for projects centered in the Dayton Region.

Prior to CityWide, Shane worked in the banking industry for over 28 years most recently as a Region President for First Financial Bank. Shane is a member of the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce Audit and Finance Committee as well as Treasurer for the NAIOP Dayton Chapter. Shane is also involved in many other community organizations.