Telesis

Marilyn Melkonian is the president and founded Telesis Corporation in 1985. She has over 30 years of experience in housing policy, neighborhood regeneration, planning, development, and finance. She serves on several boards, including the Eisenhower Foundation, the Brookings Institute’s Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy, and Common Cause. She founded the National Housing Trust in 1987 and currently serves as its chair. Former positions include Deputy Assistant Secretary for Housing at the Department of Housing and Urban Development under President Carter; General Counsel for Lucasfilm Ltd; and counsel to the architecture firm of John Carl Warnecke & Associates. She practiced law for 15 years in New York and Washington, D.C. and is a graduate of Stanford University Law School.

Prior to joining Telesis in 1998, Georgia worked in the legislative and executive branches of government. She has national and international public affairs experience, including implementation of legislative and managerial programs, conducting media relations, and coordinating conference and travel projects. She has a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from the University of Pittsburgh.

Schuyler is Deputy General Counsel at Telesis Corporation. In this role, she represents the interests of Telesis and its affiliates in real estate, affordable and tax credit transactions, as well as in their day-to-day operations. Prior to joining Telesis in 2020, Schuyler worked as an associate at the law firm of Katten Muchin Roseman LLP, where she represented developers and owners in all types of real estate matters, including affordable housing and commercial transactions. Prior to joining Katten, Schuyler worked as an associate at the law firm of Reno & Cavanaugh, PLLC, where she represented owners and public housing authorities in the development of affordable housing. Schuyler is a Governing Committee Member for the American Bar Association Affordable Housing and Community Development Forum and is also Co-Chair of the HUD Practice Committee for the Forum. She is a graduate of Tufts University and American University Washington College of Law.

Laura recently returned to Telesis after serving as Executive Director of Lantern Community Services, a supportive housing nonprofit, and Chief Program Officer at Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, a New York-based settlement house serving 20,000 people annually. Laura has a longstanding commitment to high-impact projects that bring change to low-income and distressed communities. While at Telesis previously, Laura led the redevelopment East Hills in Pittsburgh and laid the foundation for the Barclay regeneration in Baltimore. In 2007, she served as Deputy Commissioner of New York’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Laura serves as Vice Chair of Women in Housing and Finance in New York. Laura earned her A.B. from Princeton and her J.D. from Georgetown.

Bertrand has extensive experience in commercial and residential real estate development and finance, including affordable housing. His developments include single family and multifamily housing, rental and homeownership; office, retail and mixed use complexes; new construction and substantial rehabilitation; and land development. He has arranged debt and equity financing utilizing private and public sources, FHA insurance, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac credit enhancements, private offerings, and a variety of public subsidies and tax credits. Many of his projects have involved working with residents and their representatives. Bert’s work as an attorney has included both private practice, as a partner in a large law firm, and public service, as executive assistant to the Federal Housing Commissioner and general counsel of the California Department of Housing and Community Development.

George Weidenfeller is Executive Vice President/General Counsel at Telesis Corporation. In that capacity, he is responsible for legal representation of Telesis relating to the nationwide finance, development, and management of affordable and mixed-used housing projects. Activities include new construction and/or substantial rehabilitation, as well as a variety of funding sources, including FHA, GSEs and the newly enacted Opportunity Zones. George comes to Telesis with considerable experience in both the public and private sectors.

Immediately prior to joining Telesis, George was in house Counsel at the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust (HIT). In that capacity, his focus was on the finance, development, construction and/or rehabilitation of multifamily and single family housing.  He was particularly involved in transactions involving HUD and FHA, as well as projects involving the Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit programs and the GSEs.

Prior to joining HIT, George was a Partner in the law firm of Reno & Cavanaugh, PLLC.  He represented owners, developers, managers, lenders, and public housing authorities on residential development; FHA transactions; asset management; program, regulatory and fair housing enforcement; Federal procurement, ethics, and personnel law. George was previously a member of the Goulston and Storrs Real Estate group, with a particular focus on Affordable Housing and Economic Development. 

George served for over 16 years as Deputy General Counsel and Acting General Counsel, in the HUD Office of General Counsel in Washington D.C., under six HUD Secretaries.  During that period, he provided substantive legal advice on all HUD programs, supervised a staff of over 700 professionals and managed a budget over $75,000,000.  Before becoming Deputy General Counsel, he was Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Housing, Assistant General Counsel for Assisted Housing and a staff attorney for HUD in Boston and Boston Redevelopment Authority.

George is Chair of the American Bar Association Affordable Housing and Community Development Forum Governing Committee; is a member of the ULI Workforce Housing Council, is on the National Housing Conference Board of Trustees and is on the Board of Directors of both the National Housing and Rehabilitation Association and the National Leased Housing Association.

He holds a BA from the University of Massachusetts, JD from Suffolk Law, MPA from the University of Southern California, and an MLT (Tax) from Georgetown Law.