Staff

Robert Pigott is Vice President and General Counsel of Phipps Houses, New York City’s oldest and largest nonprofit developer of low-income and affordable housing.   He previously spent nearly 11 years as a Section Chief and Bureau Chief in the New York Attorney General’s Charities Bureau.  He is an adjunct professor at Fordham Law School, teaching Nonprofit Law. Mr. Pigott is the author of New York’s Legal Landmarks , a historical guidebook to New York City for lawyers.  He received a B.A. from Hamilton College and his J.D from Columbia University Law School.

David S. Chao serves as the Vice President and Chief Investment Officer of Phipps Houses, the largest owner, developer and manager of affordable housing in New York City. David had been a long time Board member of Phipps, chairing the Investment Committee as well as being a member of the Executive Committee of Phipps Houses.

In 2009, David came out of retirement and was a part of the Sanders, Morris, Harris Group, which later spun out its division and became the Concept Capital Group of Companies. A high-level senior advisor for the Group, David oversaw various projects of the companies ranging from implementation of compliance processes/procedures, internal auditing functions, payroll & benefits systems and personnel review.

Prior to joining Sanders, Morris, Harris/Concept Capital Companies, David agreed to help a friend as senior advisor of a $200M hedge fund, where roles and responsibilities included: investment and trading, personnel evaluation/hiring, and maintaining Wall Street relationships (2003).

David was a Co-Founder, Partner, Chief Operating Officer, & Head Trader of his own equity long/short, market-neutral hedge fund, TM Capital Management, from 1996-2002, with Assets Under Management (AUM) ranging from $500M to $1B. TM Capital Management returned investor capital at the end of 2002. During that period, the S&P 500 gained 63% while TM Capital Management gained 104% (69% net of fees). His responsibilities included: trading the equity portfolio, managing relationships with Wall Street, and running the management company.

David had prior hedge fund experience at Hamilton Partners (a Division of Commodities Corporation) from 1993-1996 where he and his TM Capital partner ran a long-short, market-neutral equity fund specializing in electric utilities; and Steinhardt Partners 1992-1993, where David was the deputy head equity trader of the $3Billion hedge fund.

His Wall Street experience includes running the institutional equity trading desk at County NatWest Securities from 1990-1992; and institutional block trading, convertible bond trading, index options trading, program trading and options arbitrage experience at Drexel, Burnham, Lambert, Inc. from 1984-1990.

David has been a part of many civic and charitable causes, most notably being a 12+ year member of the Edgemont Union Free School District Board of Education (including two separate terms as its President and Vice President). He also was a longtime football coach, running the Edgemont Youth Football program for 6 years and then continuing to coach football for the Edgemont Modified Football program, and then as an assistant for the Varsity Football program from 2014-18.

David is a graduate of Dartmouth College. He received an AB in 1984 and double majored in History and Asian Studies.

Colleen A. McAuliffe is Vice President of Human Resources at Phipps and has worked there for over 26 years. Colleen joined Phipps in 1993 as Director of Human Resources and was promoted to Assistant Vice President in 1995 and in 1999 she was promoted to Vice President. After a briefly relocating to Louisiana in the spring of 2005, Colleen rejoined Phipps as Vice President of Human Resources in the fall of 2007. She currently oversees all Human Resources and Payroll functions for Phipps as well as client entities in the affordable housing industry.  Colleen’s expertise includes Benefits Administration, Human Resources Information System software, Payroll, Recruitment, Employee Relations and Labor Relations servicing more than 600 union and non-union employees. 

During her tenure at Phipps, Colleen has successfully worked on negotiations for several independent union contracts for both the Phipps organization as well as clients and the organization services.  She has developed a strong working relationship with local union representatives and continuously strives to serve the best interests of both the organization and union employees.  

Colleen is a graduate of the College of Insurance which merged with St. John's University in 2001.  She earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree with honors.   

When not in the throes of union contract negotiations and corporate expansion, Colleen shifts her focus and devotion to her four-legged furry family members which consist of a Golden Retriever, a German Shepherd and a rescue Labradoodle.  During her hiatus from Phipps between 2005 and 2007, she opened a natural pet supply store in Louisiana with a focus on educating animal lovers on good pet nutrition and holistic means of treating and caring for our four-legged family members.   

Lukeman Ogunyinka serves as the Chief Financial Officer of Phipps Houses. He is responsible for the oversight of all Accounting, Finance and Treasury functions of the Phipps Houses Group and its subsidiaries. Lukeman brings over 20 years of real estate experience in accounting and finance related to commercial, residential and development projects. 

Before joining Phipps Houses, Lukeman was the Director/Controller of the Corporate and Development Accounting Groups at Jonathan Rose Companies. 

Previously, Lukeman was responsible for a mix of development accounting and budgeting and forecasting for the NY Real Estate Portfolio of Forest City Ratner Companies. Additionally, he’s spent 11 years in various public accounting firms responsible for providing audit, accounting, due diligence, and advisory services to real estate clients. He has experience in dealing with real estate investment trusts, real estate joint ventures, real estate investment funds and family-owned projects investing in commercial, residential and hotel properties. 

Lukeman began his career in the real estate group of PricewaterhouseCoopers, holds a BBA in Accounting from Baruch College CUNY and is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of New York. 

Cathy Pennington joined Phipps in August 2019 and is the Senior Vice President and General Manager. She has extensive experience in managing affordable housing programs spanning almost 30 years. Prior to working at Phipps, she served as Executive Vice President at New York City Housing Authority overseeing the Section 8 program.  In her property management role at Phipps, Cathy oversees strategic business initiatives which will enhance operations with a focus on efficiency, cost controls, and compliance with multiple regulatory agencies. As General Manager, Cathy works closely with the Area Managers and Department Directors to improve business process and customer service by adding online services for tenants and performance management oversight of property management operations.  

Cathy received her BS in Social Work from Cleveland State University and a Master of Social Science Administration from Case Western Reserve University. She formerly served as the President of the National Leased Housing Association in Washington, D.C.  

Matthew S. Washington is Vice President & Chief of Staff of Phipps Houses. He is responsible for external affairs, government relations, communications and office operations. Matthew also helps coordinate all land use projects and integration of services between Phipps Houses and its social service affiliate, Phipps Neighborhoods. 

Prior to joining Phipps, Matthew served as Deputy Manhattan Borough President in the office of Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer. In that role, he oversaw the distribution of over $150 million in funding to enhance parks, theaters, hospitals, museums, affordable housing developments, community centers and public schools. He was appointed by the Borough President to be on the board of more than 15 organizations, including Business Improvement Districts, Park Conservancies, the NYC Economic Development Corporation, the NYS Regional Economic Development Council for NYC and as a trustee of the New York City Employees’ Retirement System which is the pension fund for over 350,000 active and retired NYC workers. Matthew was named to the 2018 New York City 40 Under 40 Rising Stars list published by City & State New York.  

Matthew has a diverse professional background in real estate and non-profit organizational management. He was Deputy Director of External Affairs at The Durst Organization where he managed public affairs for a new development in Queens, worked with the construction and external relations teams on One World Trade Center and worked on other projects including supporting the operation of New York Water Taxi. Matthew was previously the Executive Director of Friends of the High School for Environmental Studies where he built relationships with other organizations to help students gain experiential learning opportunities across 26 different states in the summer while students were on break. He was also Deputy Director of Friends of Hudson River Park where he was a part of the team that successfully advocated for the funding to build Hudson River Park on Manhattan’s West Side. 

Matthew was a member of the board of numerous organizations over the years and he is particularly proud of the 10 and a half years he was on Manhattan’s Community Board 11 which represents East Harlem where he was born and raised. He was elected as Chair of the board at 26 and served in that role for 6 years as the youngest community board chair in New York City. 

Today, Matthew is a volunteer at Times Square Church and serves as a member of the Board of Directors for Waterfront Alliance, Green City Force, Randall’s Island Park Alliance and the Association for a Better New York (ABNY) Foundation. Matthew is also a member of the Board of Trustees at Alfred University where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Comparative Cultures. 

Adam Weinstein is President and CEO of Phipps Houses and Chairman of Phipps Neighborhoods. Together with its constituent entity boards, he guides Phipps’ overall vision, strategy, culture, growth, operations, and performance to build thriving communities. Adam’s day-to-day focus is on Phipps’ affordable housing development and operations, as well as integration of its affordable housing model with its extensive resident and community service programs. He joined the organization in 1989, becoming Vice President of Real Estate Development in 1992, Chief Operating Officer in 1995, assuming his current role in 2001. At various times in his service at Phipps, while recruiting more knowledgeable professionals, he has had temporary responsibility to head Phipps’ property management and community service affiliates. It’s safe to say that Adam has devoted his professional life to Phipps, an organization he truly loves.

Eons ago, early in his career Adam was Special Assistant to the Commissioner of Business Development in the administration of Mayor Ed Koch. He also worked in public finance investment banking at Goldman Sachs and was a management consultant at APM, Inc. He earned a BA in history from Yale College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Adam is a board member of the Citizens Housing and Planning Council, the New York Housing Conference, the NYS Association for Affordable Housing, and Target Margin Theater. He has taught affordable housing courses at both of his alma maters and at City College, and has been an Adjunct Professor at Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture and Planning. He is an avid reader, hiker, chef, and DIYer. A proud New Yorker, Adam lives with his wife Holly in the beautiful Bronx.