Mathew Wambua

Mathew Wambua joined the company in 2013 and serves as Vice Chairman of Merchants Capital. In March 2011, Mr. Wambua was appointed Commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), the nation’s largest municipal housing agency. During his tenure, Mr. Wambua oversaw the financing of approximately 47,000 housing units, representing a $6 billion investment.From 2008 through 2011, Mr. Wambua served as Executive Vice President of the New York City Housing Development Corporation (HDC), the most prolific multifamily bond issuing entity in the nation. From 2004 through 2008, Mr. Wambua was Senior Policy Advisor for the New York City Deputy Mayor for Economic Development, Daniel Doctoroff, where he coordinated and oversaw a citywide portfolio of economic development agencies, boards and commissions, as well as oversaw all economic development initiatives within the Bronx and Upper Manhattan.

Previously, Mr. Wambua held positions as the Vice President for Special Projects at the New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC), and as a Senior Investment Officer for General Electric Capital Commercial Real Estate.

Over the course of the last decade, Mr. Wambua has served on numerous boards including, the Metropolitan Museum of New York (the MET), Merchants Capital, The Osborne Association, New York Housing Conference, New York City Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC), Samaritan Village, The Procurement Policy Board of NYC, Settlement Housing Fund, Mid Bronx Desperados Development Corporation, NYU’s Furman Institute, Placeful, NYC HDC, NYC Residential Mortgage Insurance Company, the Center for New York City Neighborhoods (CNYCN), Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation, the New York City Housing Partnership, the NYC Empowerment Zone Corporation (proxy for Deputy Mayor Doctoroff), NYC Economic Development Corporation (proxy for DM Doctoroff), and the NYC Industrial Development Corporation (proxy for DM Doctoroff).

Mr. Wambua earned a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley and a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He has taught real estate finance at NYU’s Graduate School of Public Service and managerial economics at the New School’s Graduate School of Public Policy.