SENIOR LEADERSHIP




















DEPARTMENTAL STAFF

Tom Merkel
President/ Executive Director
With over 30 years of experience in the mortgage, financial, and banking sectors, Tom has served as The IMPACT! Group's President since 2008. Prior to his work at IMPACT!, Tom was Area Manager for Countrywide Home Loans and was Senior Vice President of Sales for G.E. Money Bank for almost 10 years. His work experience has included serving as President/CEO of Pinnacle Credit Union in Atlanta and serving on the Norcross Planning and Zoning Board. Tom is a Board of Director on both The Georgia Real Estate Fraud Prevention and Awareness Coalition and The Gwinnett Coalition for Health and Human Services. He has given priority to developing permanent solutions to our community's housing challenges through the creation of sustainable private and public partnerships with the nonprofit housing assistance sector. 

Michael Maston
Chief Financial Officer/ Real Estate Director
In this position, Michael plays a joint role in leading the IMPACT! Group. As CFO, he oversees the daily accounting and oversight of IMPACT!'s finances. Moreover, as IMPACT!'s Real Estate Director, Michael has worked to help develop and renovate affordable housing in Gwinnett County for working families, including the revitalization of Beaver Springs Lane town homes near the heart of Norcross. Prior to IMPACT!, Michael served as Affordable Housing Administrator with Athens-Clarke County Government as well as Vice President of Real Estate at Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise, where he oversaw the agency's affordable housing programs. Through his work, Michael is helping to make basic, quality housing within the reach of all Georgia's residents.


Anthony Mitchell
IMPACT! HomeOwnership Center Director
Anthony oversees all homeowner, homebuyer, and foreclosure prevention services offered by IMPACT!. Under his leadership, IMPACT!'s HomeOwnership Center has become one of Atlanta's most prominent foreclosure prevention and homebuyer education providers, receiving both local and national media attention. Moreover, Anthony has successfully grown IMPACT!'s home counseling programs at a time of stressed donor giving. He has previously served as Director of Community Development for Panama City, Florida and was Housing Program Supervisor for DeKalb County, Georgia. While at IMPACT!, Anthony has helped pioneer a number of novel private-public-nonprofit initiatives to better improve the lives of all Georgia homeowners.


Alice Ramsey
IMPACT! Transitional Housing Director
With over 15 years of promoting client achievement at IMPACT!, Alice has overseen the massive growth and success of IMPACT!'s direct assistance work with homeless families. During the last two decades, Alice has expanded IMPACT!'s work from providing temporary emergency shelter for families to providing longer-term transitional housing with intensive case management, giving families the tools to better address the underlying causes of their homelessness. Today, Alice's key understanding of local community resources and client psyche have allowed her program to achieve a 92 percent success rate in keeping clients in sustainable housing solutions after they leave the program.



IMPACT! HomeOwnership Center
Anthony Mitchell, Director
Alexandra Caballero, Administrative Assistant
Jannette Heron, Housing Counselor
Soundarya Soma, Housing Counselor
David Casas, Housing Counselor
Joselyn Torres, Education Coordinator


IMPACT! Transitional Housing
Alice Ramsey, Director
Phoebe Buckley-McNair, MSW, Senior Case Manager
Avis Lucas, Case Manager
Chip Franzen, Intern


IMPACT! Real Estate
Michael Maston, Director
Peggy Henry, Development Coordinator


Operations                                     Marketing & Grants
Sandy Burns, Operations Manager        Tom Enright, MSW, Marketing/Grants Manager