President & CEO – Minnesota Homeownership Center
Helping Minnesotans Achieve Sustainable Homeownership
The Minnesota Homeownership Center (the Center) in St. Paul, MN seeks a dynamic and strategic President & CEO who is committed to advancing the Center’s mission to promote and advance successful homeownership in Minnesota, with an emphasis on serving those facing the greatest barriers to homeownership—namely, lower income households and communities of color.
The Organization
For more than 30 years, the Center has been helping Minnesotans achieve sustainable homeownership and secure the wealth-building benefits that ownership provides. The Center is a U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Intermediary providing homebuyer education and counseling via a network of homeownership advisors and educators embedded in community-based organizations across the state.
Homeownership is the number one-way families build wealth in America. However, households of color were systemically barred from ownership for generations via racial deed covenants and redlining. While these overt practices have largely been set aside, their destructive impacts remain. Minnesota’s racial homeownership gap is one of the largest in the country today. The Minnesota Homeownership Center is dedicated to changing this. Since 1993, the Center has helped more than 100,000 households to buy and keep their homes.
Core Values and Beliefs
- Cooperation – We conduct our work in partnership with others.
- Purpose – We strive for intentional meaning and direction.
- Commitment – We hold ourselves accountable.
- Equity – We promote and facilitate inclusion and engagement.
- Innovation – We embrace novel ideas and methods.
We Believe…
- that equitable access to homeownership is essential to strong communities and creates opportunities for generations to come.
- that intentionally engaging diverse stakeholders is vital to eliminating the homeownership gap in Minnesota.
- that individual and organizational growth are key to providing culturally responsive home buying and ownership programs and services.
- that working cooperatively and leveraging the strengths of our network expands our capacity to increase homeownership in Minnesota.
- in being a leading voice for equitable and sustainable homeownership.
The Center’s Work
Today, the Center sits at the crux of society’s work to dismantle the effects of past racism and systemic injustice, which left us with staggering racial homeownership and wealth gaps. The Center serves as a recognized and respected policy thought leader, a powerful and appreciated player in industry circles, and a beacon for lower-income households as they pursue homeownership and its wealth-building potential for themselves and their families. Significant accomplishments include:
- Playing a key role in the development of National Industry Standards for Homebuyer Education and
- Overseeing the development and launch of the Framework® online homebuyer education enterprise with fellow founding partner Housing Partnership
- Earning status as a HUD
- Helping to prevent nearly 40,000 foreclosures in Minnesota, with a combined preservation of more than $3.2 billion in community
- Working with Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity and Minnesota Realtors® to successfully secure more than $100 million in state funding for the establishment of the First-Generation Homebuyers Community Down Payment Assistance Fund (launching in 2024).
Headquartered in St. Paul, the Center has an estimated annual budget of approximately $2.5 million and net assets of $12 million. Governed by a twenty-person Board of Directors from all over Minnesota, the Center employs nine staff members. For more information, please visit the Center’s website at https://www.hocmn.org/.
Organizational Transition
The Center is in an important transition period. After 17 years of service, the current Center President will be retiring in Summer 2024. To effectively plan for this transition, the Center’s Executive Committee has been working through a leadership succession plan for the last several months.
The Position
Reporting to the Board of Directors, the President & CEO works collaboratively within the organization and across the networks of partners in Minnesota, providing leadership to sustain the Center’s vision to close the racial homeownership gap in the state. The Center has propelled bold and innovative solutions framed through the 2020 – 2024 Strategic Plan: Go Bold. Go Home. The Board will look to the CEO to build on accomplishments and impact shaped through the current plan and collaboratively lead internally and externally to envision, plan for, and implement new innovations and strategies to eliminate the racial gap in homeownership across Minnesota.
Key Priorities
Impact
- Build on the Center’s history of work to facilitate equitable access to successful and sustainable homeownership, propel bold and innovative solutions, and deliver results that contribute to closing the racial homeownership gap in Minnesota.
- Leverage the Center’s commitment to engaging diverse partners and hearing diverse perspectives in advancing a human-centered design approach to systems change.
Relationship Building
- Develop, strengthen, and steward inclusive and collegial relationships across industry sectors; mobilize advocates; and influence innovation through cross-sector partnerships.
- Sustain the passion for and dedication to mission impact by building on the culture of trust, shared leadership, and inclusiveness with the staff and Board to advance mission.
Vision & Planning
- Understand and support the implementation of near-term strategies through 2024 to sustain impact through the current plan’s three directives: empower customers, transform traditional industry practices, and drive advocacy efforts.
- Collaborate with the Board and staff to lead and implement a new long-term planning process that aligns with the Center’s vision, reflects the current homeownership landscape in the state, and develops innovative solutions through the Center’s roles as funder, capacity-builder, innovator, and advocate.
Key Responsibilities
The President & CEO, working collaboratively with a talented, high performing 9-person staff, will lead the Center’s work externally to bridge industry sectors, develop and sustain cross-sector partnerships, influence advocacy, and advance transformational practices and strategies. Primary responsibilities include:
- Serving as a thought leader on homeownership issues, programming, and policy.
- Leading with a racial equity lens, work with the Board and staff to affirm the future vision of the Center and develop strategies to achieve that vision.
- Representing the Center, serving as liaison to community partners, speaking with legislative leaders, and providing external communication (meetings with community partners, media, speaking engagements, and advocacy/legislative testimony opportunities).
- Cultivating, stewarding, and strengthening relationships across sectors and identifying opportunities for new strategies with partnerships that will advance the goal of closing the racial homeownership gap in the state.
- Maintaining a working knowledge of the political and economic landscape impacting equitable access to successful and sustainable homeownership to identify innovative strategies for the Center’s work.
- Fostering and inspiring a diverse, equitable, and inclusive work environment that advances leadership development.
Experience and Attributes
Successful candidates for this position will demonstrate an ability to quickly integrate into the organization and understand the Center’s work and role in impacting the affordable homeownership
landscape in Minnesota. The Center is seeking candidates with a variety of experience and attributes with emphasis on the following:
Background & Experience
- 10+ years of experience with progressive responsibility in affordable housing, homeownership, and/or community development.
- Passion and deep commitment to understanding the systemic barriers to homeownership; commitment to racial equity and justice.
- Demonstrated experience working with community partners (agencies, businesses, and nonprofits) and ability to maintain partnerships with diverse organizations and individuals.
- Grounded understanding of the homeownership space; working knowledge of regulatory environment, real estate lending, housing counseling, and/or products, processes, and services provided by housing industry participants for homeownership.
- Proven nonprofit leadership and management experience in an organization of similar scale and mission.
- Familiarity and experience working within Minnesota’s homeownership ecosystem a plus.
Skills & Attributes
- Deep understanding of and commitment to racial equity and justice; racial equity fluency and experience incorporating a racial equity lens into all aspects of an organization and in work with community partners.
- Strategic, visionary, and innovative mindset; proven experience with managing organizational growth, including strategic planning and oversight.
- Experience managing organization growth with solid fiscal management.
- Fundraising experience, including a demonstrated ability to engage with philanthropic, government, and corporate funders; experience monetizing programs and services to grow fee for service and revenue opportunities.
- Exceptional written and oral communications skills and style, including listening, articulating key messages, and engaging in difficult conversations. Effective public speaker with the ability and experience to speak to media, as well as experience advocating and testifying in front of large audiences.
- Authentic and effective relationship builder; skilled at connecting and working with diverse partners across industries and stakeholders (government, private/businesses, nonprofits, and board); exceptional interpersonal and collaboration skills.
- Experienced team leader with a commitment to staff leadership development and empowerment; mission-oriented leader who can balance strategy and action.
- Experience working with or serving on a nonprofit board.
Benefits and Perks
The Center has established a salary range of $170,000 – $200,000 and offers a comprehensive benefits package including health, dental, life, and unemployment insurance; paid holidays (10) and paid time off; 401(k) retirement; and reimbursement for job training and professional development opportunities.
Equal Opportunity Employer
Minnesota Homeownership Center will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of age, ancestry, color, creed, disability, familial status, marital status, national origin, public assistance status, race, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual or affection orientation.
Application Process
To apply, upload resume and cover letter which conveys your interest in this leadership opportunity by clicking here. Please contact Shreya Mahatwo if you experience technical difficulties submitting your materials or if you are a qualified candidate with a disability and require an accommodation to complete your application. No other application materials will be reviewed at this time. Resume reviews begin immediately.
For other inquiries, contact Adrienne O’Rourke or Karen Schuler.