Staff & Board of Directors

Luis Oyola

Executive Director

Luis has been a community organizer and advocate in the Charlottesville area since he arrived from Puerto Rico in 2008. His experience has taken him from advocating for a living wage at the University of Virginia, to solidarity with Black Lives Matter, responding to white supremacist violence in the summer of 2017, advancing immigrant rights policy, and more. Affordable housing has always been a common thread in his years of organizing, namely in his volunteer support of the Public Housing Association of Residents (PHAR) and the predominantly immigrant community of Southwood.

It was during his years of supporting PHAR that a community elder once told him “land is the key,” which has proven true with the correlation of increasing land value in the Charlottesville area and increased cost of living. This sent Luis down a long path of research on land ownership models that preserve affordability and put development in the hands of the community. Chief among these models is the community land trust, which became a source of ideas and inspiration, and is now a reality as he joins the PCLT and Piedmont Housing as a new leader.

Luis also brings years of project management, organizational leadership, developing race equity initiatives, and supervision from his Development Coordinator role at CustomInk and his Director of Organizing role at Legal Aid Justice Center. In his role as PCLT’s Director, he will use this mix of grassroots organizing and formal organizational leadership to create and preserve a permanent supply of affordable homes in the Charlottesville and develop the community’s understanding of land trusts as one crucial tool among many in placemaking for low-income communities.

Keith Smith

Chair

Keith Smith is a Realtor with Roy Wheeler Realty in the Charlottesville area. He has over 32 years of experience in General Real Estate, Land Development, Land Planning, as well and General Contracting and Business Management. He co-founded YES Business Management LLC and serves as a coach and mentor for agents at Roy Wheeler Realty Inc. He is currently serving on the boards of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission and Corporation, the Piedmont Community Land Trust, and the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors. He currently serves on and chairs the Regional Housing Partnership.

Greg Slater

Vice Chair

Greg Slater is an Associate Broker with Nest Realty in the Charlottesville area. He was introduced to the conversation on affordable housing when he helped sell the first proffered affordable housing in Albemarle County in the 2007. Greg served as CAAR President in 2010 and currently chairs the board of the Piedmont Community Land Trust. He is also currently serving as a Board Director for the Blue Ridge Home Builders Association. He is passionate about working to develop opportunities for affordable home ownership in Charlottesville and the surrounding area. 

Joshua Batman

Treasurer

Joshua Batman has a lifetime of experience in the Architecture, Development and Construction industries. His career began in development and construction in his family business, where he completed $20MM in single family and multi-family projects. After graduate studies, he co-founded a design/build firm with internationally recognized architect Joseph Wheeler. He joined Stony Point Design/Build in 2016 and was instrumental in executing on $100MM in direct real estate investment. Outside of Virginia, Joshua interned at SOM with the team responsible for the Burj Khalifa tower on a prototype for industrialized large-scale mixed-use development. Joshua holds an undergraduate Architecture degree from the University of Virginia, and a Masters in Architecture from Virginia Tech, where he is a key collaborator in the Virginia Tech FutureHaus program that won the 2018 Solar Decathlon Middle East. Joshua has received several state and local AIA awards and was nominated as the NAHB Young Building Professional of the Year for Region A two years running. Joshua is on the board of the Piedmont Community Land Trust, an active member of the ULI, the AIA, the Virginia ELA, and BRHBA. 

Julia Monteith

Secretary

As a professional planner, Julia Monteith, specializes in the planning and stewardship of campus environments. Trained as both an architect and a landscape architect, her focus is on integrated planning and design, particularly in the realm of sustainability. She is skilled in collaborating with project teams and leading decision-making among diverse client groups and stakeholders. Julia has extensive experience in developing complex strategies for land use, urban design, and precinct level plans addressing major institutions across the United States and is currently the Senior Land Use Planner for the Office of the Architect. She previously worked as a private consultant with Sasaki Associates and as a campus planner at UC Berkeley. 

Frank Stoner

Frank Stoner has lived in the Charlottesville area since 1984 and has worked in real estate development for nearly all that time. Currently, Frank is a principal at Milestone Partners, a development management firm. 

Frank’s commitment to affordable housing solutions dates back to a 1989 trip to India with former fellow-board member Satyendra Huja, who was then Charlottesville’s director of Planning and Community Development. Frank credits this trip with “opening [his] eyes and heart.” As a housing provider, Frank says he feels “a sense of responsibility to find sustainable solutions for the affordable housing challenge.” His longstanding professional involvement in producing market-rate housing has equipped him to understand and assist with many of the issues and challenges around safe, affordable housing. As a former board member of Piedmont Housing Alliance, Frank has appreciated the opportunity to connect with others who care deeply about the organization’s mission. 

In addition to his work with Piedmont Housing, in the past Frank has served on the board at the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Albemarle Housing Improvement Program, the Jefferson Area Board for Aging, and as a deacon at First Presbyterian Church. He currently serves on the board of the Free Enterprise Forum and as a member of the Jefferson School Community Partnership. Frank is a graduate of Southern Methodist University. 

Roxanne Carter-Johnston

Roxanne Carter-Johnston is a Charlottesville City native who has served the area as a Real Estate Professional for over a decade. Roxanne demonstrates her commitment to community through active participation in various initiatives, including her leadership role as Board Chair for Piedmont Housing Alliance, serving on the PCLT Board, and she is also a member of the Tandem Friends School Board of Trustees.

Shaka Sydnor

Shaka J. Sydnor has over 10 years of experience in higher education including time at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, the University of Cincinnati, and the University of Virginia. Shaka currently serves as an Assistant Dean of Students at the UVA focusing on promoting access and affordability for low-income and first-generation college students on Grounds. Shaka also brings several years of non-profit community development experience having worked and volunteered for several organizations in Western Pennsylvania, Western North Carolina, here in Charlottesville. Shaka earned both his Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Masters of Arts in Higher Education at Geneva College. Shaka and his family recently moved into a Piedmont Community Land Trust home and he is looking forward to creating more opportunities for affordable homeownership in our area.

Oliver Platts-Mills

Oliver grew up in the Charlottesville area, attending Albemarle County public schools. After college, he returned to pursue a master’s degree at the University of Virginia. Oliver currently works in various aspects of real estate — development, renovation, and property management.  When Oliver was in graduate school, he and his wife renovated their first house together, which grew into his current business. 

Developing and managing rental properties in the city has exposed Oliver to the lack of affordable housing options in Charlottesville, as well as the intense pressure being placed upon existing options. He believes that, as a community, “we ought to be unsatisfied until all of our fellow residents are able to thrive.  Housing security is often the bedrock of how struggling families find ways to regain their footing.” His previous term in the Piedmont Housing Alliance’s board and current term with the PCLT has enabled Oliver to support the provision of these essential services. 

Oliver enjoys that his work on Piedmont Housing’s board informs his daily work in real estate, and vice-versa. He is a graduate of Western Albemarle High School, and earned a bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University, and a master’s degree, in Systems Engineering, from the University of Virginia.