Scott Michael Dunn

HCCP (National HCCP of the Year 2019)

CEO & President | Costello Compliance & Director of Policy | Costello Companies

With almost three decades of experience in all phases of affordable housing, Scott Michael enjoys both training others and designing systems to ensure regulatory compliance.

He has overseen teams that monitored compliance with HUD, RD, tax credit, and HOME rules for federal, state, and private owner entities.

He has a particular passion for the Low Income Housing Tax Credit and has enjoyed working directly with over two-thirds of the state tax credit housing finance agencies to provide consulting, compliance monitoring, or training services.

After 11 years of growing the consulting firm Zeffert & Associates in St. Louis, Scott Michael returned to his roots in the upper Midwest to join the executive team of Costello Property Management (CPM) as their Director of Policy. In 2017, he was privileged to join the ownership team of the company he helped found 16 years prior, Costello Compliance. While continuing his responsibilities with CPM, he looks forward, as CEO of Costello Compliance, to growing our offerings of unique and quality compliance services.

Scott Michael can be reached at [email protected].

Penny Lasnetski

HCCP

Senior Compliance Officer

Penny joined Costello Property Management as a Property Manager in 2000 and moved to Costello Compliance in 2004. For almost two decades she has overseen the State reporting for all the Tax Credit and HOME properties that Costello manages. Another of her primary duties is the review for Federal and State compliance of all new Tax Credit and HOME funded lease-up tenant files. She is also responsible for reviewing a good portion of Costello’s new move-ins. Due in large part to Penny’s diligence, there have been no major Federal, State, or Investor compliance findings on any of the files in which Costello has been involved.
Penny has extensive experience in regulatory compliance in the health and housing industries. Penny has a Bachelor of Science in Health Science.

Penny can be reached at [email protected].

Theresa Luden

HCCP

Subsidy Process Manager

Theresa joined the Costello Companies in 2008. She oversees subsidy processing for HUD and Rural Development rental programs and is also a HUD EIV Coordinator. She provides these services for both Costello and external service bureau clients. She also contributes significantly to staff training and maintenance of Costello’s internal software system. In all her roles, Theresa demonstrates high proficiency in several technological and compliance systems and can effectively convey these requirements to others. Theresa has ensured that there has been no significant loss in rental subsidy for any property that she assists.

Theresa came to Costello from a strong bookkeeping and accounting background and has gained extensive expertise and experience running housing subsidy programs. She also has several housing program designations.

Theresa can be reached at [email protected].

Tera Mehrer

HCCP

Senior Trainer & Compliance Officer

Tera joined the Costello Companies in 2009. She trains Costello staff every day and has presented to groups, of over 150 people with wholly positive reviews. She served as both a Site and Regional Manager for Costello for five years. Using the knowledge, she gained in these positions, she transitioned to the Compliance department as a file reviewer and Trainer in 2014. She assists in spearheading internal regulatory and software training and reviews files for a major segment of Costello’s portfolio and clients.

Tera is a licensed property manager in the state of South Dakota and has several specialized certifications in tax credits, HOME, and various affordable housing programs. Years of work in both site and regional management give her a very thorough understanding of all phases of property management and how these interact with regulatory compliance. Bachelor of Science degree in Consumer Affairs.

Tera can be reached at [email protected].

Tasha Dahl

HCCP

Compliance Officer/Trainer

Tasha trains Costello staff every day, including groups of several dozen people, and she is specifically requested again, which speaks to her enjoyable and knowledgeable presentations. Tasha has been in property management since 2009 and has managed both conventional and affordable housing properties. Tasha joined Costello in 2013 and oversaw several properties, including conducting a successful tax credit and HOME lease-up. She transitioned to the Compliance department at the start of 2016 and has provided regulatory and software training to members throughout the Costello portfolio. She also provides extensive support to both the file review and subsidy processing services.

Tasha’s knowledge and experience in site management contribute greatly to her ability to work with Costello staff and ensure that they receive an excellent education. Tasha has a Bachelor of Science degree.

Tasha can be reached at [email protected].

Julie Westhoff

HCCP

Training Coordinator and Compliance Officer

Julie joined Costello Property Management in 2007 as a part-time leasing agent. She quickly moved from that position to a full-time property manager overseeing several properties within CPM's tax credit and HOME-funded portfolio. In addition to managing her properties, from 2008-2010 she trained new property managers in the field. At the end of 2010, she transitioned to regional manager. This position gave her a new level of experience and knowledge in affordable housing programs. Julie took a hiatus from CPM to finish her education as a paralegal and worked in the legal field before returning to CPM in 2018 as a Regional Manager. In the fall of 2019, she followed her passion and transitioned to the Compliance Department as a file reviewer and trainer.

Julie is a licensed property manager in the state of South Dakota. Her years of onsite and regional management have given her extensive experience in tax credit, HOME, and other affordable housing programs. Julie has a Batchelor of Science degree in Paralegal.

Julie can be reached at [email protected].

Lori Dunn

HCCP

Special Projects Coordinator

Lori Dunn has over 3 decades of experience in the housing industry. Currently, she serves as the Special Projects Coordinator for Costello Companies. Among other duties, she calculates utility allowances and baselines for all the housing programs that Costello manages and serves as the LEP Coordinator.  She has worked as a Site Manager, Compliance File Reviewer, a State Auditor for multi-family housing programs, a Rent-up Director for several Acquisition/Rehab projects, and also worked for Rural Development in their housing division for over four years. She brings her years of experience as a private and federal employee to bear on all Costello products and systems that she manages.  

Lori can be reached at [email protected].

Theodore Schmidt

HCCP

Assistant Compliance Officer

Theodore joined Costello Companies in July of 2015. He has managed several properties with varying combinations and layers of RD, HUD, LIHTC, and HOME programs. Besides reviewing files with Costello Compliance, he also assists with advertising, marketing, maintenance, technical help, and office assistance for the other properties within his region. In 2019 he was awarded Costello’s “Innovation Award” and has maintained occupancy over 95% at multiple properties for several years.

Theodore came to Costello with a decade of supervisory, management, and business background. In addition to gaining years of site-level experience with all the most common housing programs; he has designations as a Site Compliance Specialist, Fair Housing Specialist, and HCCP. Theodore has a Bachelor of Science degree in Speech Communication.

Theodore can be reached at [email protected].

Holly Tott

Application Processing Specialist | Costello Property Management. 

Holly joined Costello Property Management in 2018 as a full time Residential Rental Agent. In 2020 she transitioned to and helped develop a totally new department with Costello our first Application Processing Specialist. She manages a centralized application system for many properties and is developing a more efficient process. This has resulted in a substantial decrease in the time it takes to process applications and vacancy loss for our property management operations. Her role requires considerable compliance knowledge and Holly is a valuable junior member of our Compliance Team. 

Holly can be reached at [email protected]. 

Sarah Morrison

Application Processing Specialist | Costello Property Management. 

Bio coming soon.

Teri Rubino

Manager | LKH Compliance Department

Teri joined Lewis, Kirkeby, Hall (LKH) Property Management  Compliance office in 2010 (LKH is a division of Costello Property Management). She began handling all Tax Credit and HOME properties and eventually moved into Section 8 and Rural Development compliance duties. She is also the HUD EIV Coordinator and processes subsidy for HUD and Rural Development, processes Recertifications, and is in charge of all audits. Her experience with the affordable housing industry along with extensive training has gained her extensive expertise in the programs she works with.

Teri worked in property management for three years as assistant site manager prior to coming to L.K.H. Management's Compliance Department and this gave her insight for training site staff. Teri has an Associate of Science degree.

Teri can be reached at [email protected].

Jenny Hanssen

Assistant Controller | Costello Companies

Jenny joined Costello Companies in 2007, as a staff accountant focusing on property accounting. Four years later, she began assisting with the company financials and then, eventually, was promoted to Assistant Controller, in 2013. She prepares the financials for 13 companies, as well as the day-to-day operations for those companies. In addition to these duties, she also handles the accounting for the Development company and all the invoicing and accounts receivables/payables for Costello Compliance.

As Assistant Controller, Jenny also oversees Accounts Payable and Payroll for all the companies. She assists the owners, CFO, and CEO with anything they need. She is a great leader and has proven to be a trusted employee.

Jenny has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration and Accounting.

Jenny can be reached at [email protected]

...and Our Other Owners