Leadership

Gretchen Edinburgh, Chief Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary, has been with Gulf Coast Housing Partnership since March 2007. Before joining GCHP, Ms. Edinburgh worked for Freddie Mac as Expanding Markets Manager for the southeast region, responsible for developing new public-private opportunities for Freddie Mac customers in the Gulf Opportunity Zone. Prior to her work with Freddie Mac, Ms. Edinburgh served as the director of operations and compliance for The Finance Authority of New Orleans where she oversaw the origination of $350,000,000 in mortgage revenue bond programs that resulted in the purchase of over 5,000 affordable homes in New Orleans. Prior to her 10-year tenure at F.A.N.O., she worked in the banking industry in California and Louisiana.

Ms. Edinburgh has a degree in business management from Northwood University. She is also a graduate of the Residential Underwriting University and the School of Mortgage Banking – professional coursework operated by the Mortgage Bankers Association – and has real estate professional designations.

Kathleen(“Kathy”)F. LabordeAs Gulf Coast Housing Partnership’s President and CEO Kathy Laborde provides overall leadership to GCHP, overseeing the organization’s project pipeline, financing, construction, asset management, and property management activities. Over the course of her career, Ms. Laborde has developed more than 7,000 affordable and market-rate homes and commercial and community facilities both directly and in partnership with local non-profits, city and state government, and the private sector. Prior to joining Gulf Coast Housing Partnership in 2006, Ms. Laborde operated Kaliope, LLC, a real estate development and consulting company that she established in 1999. Previously, she was founder and executive director of the first bank-owned community development corporation in Louisiana. Before settling in Louisiana, Ms. Laborde held a variety of management positions with private-sector real estate developers in Missouri and North Carolina. Ms. Laborde holds a Bachelor of Science in economics from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School and an MBA from Tulane University. She currently serves on the board of directors of the Housing Partnership Network, Louisiana Land Trust, Regional Community Finance, Mississippi Association of Affordable Housing Providers, the Louisiana Association of Affordable Housing Providers, and the Home Builders Association of Greater Baton Rouge. She is a 2018 recipient of JPMorgan Chase & Co’s 300 for 300 New Orleans Tricentennial “12 Icons for New Orleans” Award and a past recipient of the YWCA’s Role Model Award.