At IEM, Kera serves as Director of Disaster Recovery, where she applies her deep knowledge of federal funding and policy to support clients in designing and implementing innovative, equitable, and effective long-term recovery programs. With more than 15 years of cross-sector leadership, Kera brings a rare blend of federal, nonprofit, and private-sector expertise to disaster recovery and community development challenges.

As Deputy Assistant Secretary for Grant Programs at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Disaster Recovery, she led a 200+ person team, overseeing a grant portfolio of nearly $5 billion annually across 1,200 grantees and $10 billion in supplemental funding for pandemic recovery. In this position, she was responsible for HUD’s $111 billion CDBG-DR portfolio and the publication of the 2024 Universal Notice. Kera also designed and launched two groundbreaking competitive grant programs—the $235 million PRICE Competition to revitalize manufactured housing communities and the $185 million PRO Housing initiative to accelerate affordable housing solutions nationwide. She has managed NOFA development, competition launch, application review, and grant awards.

Throughout her federal tenure, she led transformational policy efforts in environmental justice, housing supply, and disaster mitigation, championing regulatory reform, interagency collaboration, and stakeholder engagement. As Chief of Staff and Senior Policy Advisor within HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development, she also helped shape national strategies on homelessness, energy efficiency, and land use reform.

Before entering public service, Kera was a senior executive and consultant in the housing, hospitality, and real estate sectors. She built and scaled startup operations, developed award-winning adaptive reuse projects, and advised clients on land use, marketing, permitting, and investment strategy—earning media attention in over 20 countries.

Her background also includes leading national organizing and public engagement campaigns across 15+ states, where she built regional teams, implemented data-driven field strategies, and empowered local communities to participate in democratic processes. A passionate advocate for equity and service, she has spent over a decade working with faith-based and nonprofit organizations to support at-risk populations and foster community resilience.