For Immediate Release
June 17, 2005
Contact: Becky Fleischauer, NeighborWorks America, 202-220-2360 or 202-270-9350; bfleischauer@nw.org
NeighborWorks® America Welcomes New Chief Operating Officer
Washington, D.C. – NeighborWorks America announced today that Eileen Fitzgerald will assume the role of Chief Operating Officer effective June 20. Ms Fitzgerald, who brings almost 20 years of experience in housing and community development to this position, will oversee NeighborWorks America’s divisions of Field Operations, National Initiatives and Applied Research, Training, Organizational Assessment, and Finance and Administration.
“Ms. Fitzgerald brings a unique blend of strategic leadership, business development and policy expertise,” said Ken Wade, NeighborWorks America CEO. “As we triple the number of homeownership education counselors certified across the nation, strengthen our network of NeighborWorks organizations nationwide, and continually fuel innovations in housing and community development, her leadership and savvy will be invaluable.”
Fitzgerald comes to NeighborWorks America from the Fannie Mae Foundation where she was responsible for program development, strategic management, and alliance and relationship management with key Foundation partners as the Senior Director of National Initiatives.. She has also served as the Acting Executive Director and Vice President of Program Operations at the McAuley Institute, a national nonprofit intermediary committed to improving the housing conditions of women and families through community-based efforts. She also served as the Chief Investment Officer for Single Family Finance at the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust, an investment company with $4.5 billion in assets from hundreds of pension funds. There, she was responsible for the development and rollout of HIT HOME, a home mortgage program for union members.
From 1994 – 2000, Fitzgerald worked in the US Department of Agriculture’s Rural Housing Service as the Associate Administrator and Acting Administrator, where she was responsible for program development, management and oversight, and legislative strategy. She served in both Virginia and Maryland state governments and is a graduate of Fordham University in New York and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.
“I am honored to join NeighborWorks America – an organization with an unparalleled track record in achieving results in affordable housing and community development and an unwavering commitment to fueling innovations to do even better,” Fitzgerald said.
Sparked by 1978 legislation, NeighborWorks America created the NeighborWorks network of community development nonprofits charged with closing the homeownership gap among whites and non-whites; improving financial literacy; empowering families to get the most out of the homebuying process; and using community development strategies to improve safety and build wealth. As a result, the NeighborWorks network has been able to:
• Invest $8.5 billion in America’s communities in the last five years alone;
• Stem a rising tide of foreclosures in numerous communities;
• Help minority families achieve homeownership at four times the rate of conventional lenders;
• Educate and counsel homeowners, reducing mortgage default rates by 30 percent;
• Create the nation’s largest force of certified homeownership education counselors, educating more than 500,000 homebuyers;
• Forge private-sector partnerships that revitalize communities and provide affordable rental housing and development loans; and
• Mobilize hundreds of thousands of volunteers to revitalize neighborhoods.
About the NeighborWorks Network
The NeighborWorks network is a nationwide network of more than 235 community development organizations working in nearly 2,700 urban, suburban and rural communities across America. These organizations engage in revitalization strategies that strengthen communities and transform lives. NeighborWorks America provides financial support, technical assistance and training for the NeighborWorks network. In the last five years alone, NeighborWorks organizations have generated more than $8.5 billion in reinvestment and helped more than 500,000 families of modest means purchase or improve their homes or secure safe, decent rental or mutual housing.
