At APAH’s Q1 Board of Directors meeting, four leaders were unanimously appointed to the Board. Currently, APAH’s Board of Directors is comprised of 25 professionals representing diverse industries and residents from APAH communities. APAH welcomes:

Whytni Kernodle, Arlington Independent Media CEO and APAH resident

Whytni Kernodle is the new CEO of Arlington Independent Media where she was hired to reimagine Arlington’s 40-year-old community media organization. The overarching mission at AIM is to make media more accessible. AIM believes that it takes independent voices to build community and is committed to amplifying the voices of the most marginalized in Arlington and our surrounding areas.

In addition to being AIM’s current CEO, Whytni Kernodle is an attorney, political strategist, co-founder and president of Black Parents of Arlington, and co-founder and steering committee member of Arlington for Justice. In that role, Whytni has co-hosted a weekly Facebook live show, Let’s Talk Tuesday, that discusses racial and social justice issues with community leaders and advocates for policy reform and systemic change. She currently serves on Arlington’s Human Rights Commission, Arlington Civic Federation Task Force in Governance and Election Reform, Arlington County Council of PTAs, and APS Advisory Council on Teaching and Learning. She has served on Arlington’s Logo Committee, Police Practices Work Group, and numerous other committees and task forces for Arlington County and Arlington Public Schools.

Whytni earned her B.A. from Temple University and her J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania where she was an Editor on the Journal of International Law. Whytni is multilingual and multiliterate and uses her experience and understanding of language and the law, cultural competency and human rights to better the lives of those who live, work and commute in Arlington.

Colette Porter, Fannie Mae, Senior Director, Chief of Staff to Executive Vice President Multifamily Division Leader

Colette currently serves as Senior Director, Chief of Staff to the EVP, Multifamily Division Leader, a role she has held since June 2021. Previously, she was the Director of Single-Family Business Solutions, where she supported customer co-development and go-to-market activities relating to customer facing technology and product innovations. Colette joined Fannie Mae 29 years ago, and has held various positions relating to affordable lending, corporate investments and customer management within the single family and multifamily divisions in Washington D.C. and Pasadena, CA.

Prior to joining Fannie Mae, Colette developed affordable rental housing properties in the Mid-Atlantic states and Texas. She holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Mary Washington and a MA degree in Urban Planning from the University of Maryland.

 

Kevin Yam, Iron Point Partners, Partner

Kevin is a Partner at Iron Point and serves on the Valuation Committee, ESG Committee, and the Investment Committee of each of the Iron Point funds. Kevin joined Iron Point in 2009 and has responsibility for originating and structuring investment opportunities, acquisition due diligence, transaction execution, and asset management.

Prior to joining Iron Point, Kevin was a Vice President at the J.E. Robert Companies (“JER”) from 2004 to 2009. As part of the Acquisitions and Asset Management Group at JER, Kevin was responsible for pursuing and evaluating investment opportunities across JER’s opportunistic fund platforms. While at JER, Kevin successfully closed acquisitions totaling $2.9 billion in transaction value. Prior to this, Kevin was an investment banking Associate at Banc of America Securities serving as a corporate finance and M&A generalist.

Kevin is a returning APAH board member, having previously served from 2009 to 2021. He currently serves as Co-chair of APAH’s Celebrate Home! Committee and a member of the Finance Committee. Kevin also serves as Vice Chair of Arlington County’s Economic Development Commission.