New York, NY – June 24, 2024 – CohnReznick LLP, one of the leading advisory, assurance, and tax firms in the United States, today announced that Jessie Handforth Kome has joined the firm as a Director in its Government and Public Sector Advisory practice. Based in the Washington, DC area, Kome has almost four decades of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) leadership experience focused on community development, neighborhood stabilization, disaster recovery, and program innovation.

Kome has been involved extensively with the HUD Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG) and joins CohnReznick after serving as Director of HUD’s Office of Block Grant Assistance. Kome’s executive-level CDBG experience includes overseeing a multi-billion-dollar portfolio of grant and loan guarantees for community and economic development, affordable housing, Consolidated Plan, and resilience.

Kome has also overseen major long-term disaster recovery grant programs including the Section 108 loan guarantee program, lower Manhattan program ($3.483 billion), and Gulf Coast program ($19 billion). She is adept at resolving complex policy issues, developing and implementing program budgets, negotiating grant-management performance metrics, and overseeing major mixed financial/grant performance management IT systems.

“As a firm that has been at the forefront of government-funded community development programs, we understand both the complexity of programs like CDBG and the tremendous impact they can have in assisting low-income and disadvantaged communities,” said Frank Banda, Managing Partner – Government and Public Sector Advisory. “As one of the key architects involved in developing, iterating, and launching the multi-billion-dollar CDBG Disaster Recovery and Neighborhood Stabilization Programs, Jessie brings unmatched experience and skills to CohnReznick and our Government Advisory practice.”

Adds Banda, “As CohnReznick continues to focus on providing government agencies with technical support, compliance and reporting, and program management resources, having Jessie on our team significantly deepens of our hands-on government experience, knowledge, and bench strength.” 

Kome earned a Master of Regional Planning degree in city and regional planning, and a BA in International Studies, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.