Rosa Estrada is the Executive Director of Saint Mary’s Communities, Inc. (SMCI), a Virginia-based non-profit with a 50-year legacy dedicated to affordable housing, including senior affordable housing in Northern Virginia.
Recognized as a visionary and collaborative leader, Rosa has built a 28-year career at the intersection of community impact, policy, and complex real estate with experience spanning affordable multifamily and senior housing, public-private partnerships, and large-scale mixed-use development.
In prior roles, Rosa served as Regional Vice President of Development for the Mid-Atlantic Region and Puerto Rico at The Michaels Organization and Director of Real Estate Development at Wesley Housing. Before her work with Wesley, Rosa was the principal and founder of The Strada Group, a housing advisory services firm working with public housing authorities and developer clients. Rosa’s journey also includes public-sector experience, having served as Assistant Commissioner for Development at Baltimore Housing as well as at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), where she worked on the groundbreaking HOPE VI program.
Throughout her career, Rosa has demonstrated deep expertise in real estate finance, strategic planning, stakeholder engagement, and partnership development. She is also deeply committed to advancing equity and environmental sustainability within the housing development sector.
Rosa graduated magna cum laude from DePaul University with a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies, with minors in Economics and Spanish, and holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of Pittsburgh with a concentration in Urban Planning.