Ryan Dowd, the former executive director of Hesed House, is returning in February to take back the leadership reins of the Aurora homeless shelter.
He will be replacing Michael Cobb, who resigned earlier this month.
The Hesed House Board of Trustees made the announcement Friday afternoon, while also thanking Cobb for his service to the employees and guests of the shelter.
“We believe (Dowd) is the right leader who possesses the vision and experience to guide us as we move forward with the goal of becoming one of the premier anti-poverty organizations fighting to end homelessness in the Fox River Valley,” said Board Chairman John Ball.
Cobb had taken over from Dowd in August of 2013, after Dowd, who had been at Hesed House for 14 years and its executive director for nine, resigned to start his own not-for-profit organization in Washington, D.C.
Dowd started at Hesed House as a volunteer at age 13, and continued in various staff roles throughout his years studying at North Central College and law school at Northern Illinois University.
Dowd left Hesed House to follow his dream of founding the Center for Faith and Human Rights, where he focused on assisting activists in repressive countries.
Most recently he served as executive director at Ayuda, serving vulnerable immigrants in Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland with legal, social and language services.
After Cobb’s resignation and learning of Dowd’s availability, the former executive director was brought to Aurora for interviews with the board, staff and executive committee in charge of finding a new leader, said Ball.
“If you know Ryan, then you know how he can take over your heart,” Ball said, adding that, by the end of the day, the committee knew they “could look for another year and not find someone more fitting for the job.”
“He can hit the ground running,” said Ball, adding that the decision was a “slam dunk.”
According to the press release, Ryan also returns to Hesed House at a time when Illinois “budget uncertainty is putting considerable pressure” on many not-for-profits throughout the state. Currently, Hesed House is still awaiting more than $250,000 of state funds “that may never come.”
In a phone interview Friday afternoon between unloading his truck after moving his family back to Aurora, Dowd said it wasn’t until he had gotten out and “experienced the rest of the world, literally in this case,” that he realized “what a special place Hesed House is.”
“The spirit here is unique,” he said of the shelter.
He also addressed the difficult time not-for-profits have in serving vulnerable families, again noting how much this community cares for the poorest of the poor.
“The rest of the world,” he said, “is just not up to that standard.”
In the press release, Sister Rose Marie Lorentzen, who founded Hesed House, expressed how grateful she was for his return in helping to “build a world less rigid, more just … indeed, a Hesed kind of place.”
Until Dowd begins his duties next month, current Associate Director Neil McMenamin will continue to serve as interim director of Hesed House.
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