Deidre Schmidt

Deidre Schmidt is the President & CEO of CommonBond Communities, a nationally-recognized leader and innovator in the affordable housing industry. Active since 1971, CommonBond owns, manages and provides Advantages Services for approximately 5,700 units in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. The organization serves a diverse population including families, seniors, people living with disabilities and the formerly homeless.

Ms. Schmidt’s prior positions included Principal at One Roof Global Consulting and Executive Director of the Affordable Housing Institute, a Boston-based non-profit that works exclusively outside of the United States, with a focus on the global south. She was also Vice President of Development at Brighton Development, Acquisition Manager at the National Equity Fund and Director of National Consulting at ArtSpace Projects.

Ms. Schmidt was a Loeb Fellow at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University and a Marshall Memorial Fellow for the German Marshall Fund. She was the John T. Dunlop Lecturer at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design where she taught Housing and Urbanization in Global Cities. She also teaches Affordable Multifamily Rental Housing Finance at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs.