Doug Kenshol: Executive Director
COUNTRY CLUB HILLS, IL – South Suburban PADS (Public Action to Deliver Shelter) has selected Douglas A. Kenshol as Executive Director. Kenshol brings nearly 20 years of experience in affordable housing, community development and nonprofit start-up leadership to his new position. South Suburban PADS (SSPADS) provides services and housing for individuals and families experiencing homelessness in Chicago’s south suburbs.
Kenshol comes to SSPADS from Mercy Housing Lakefront where as Regional Vice President for Resource Development he secured gifts totaling more than $20 million. With its sister companies, Mercy Housing Lakefront will have developed or preserved nearly 9,000 affordable homes for 16,000 people in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin by the end of 2017. Prior to joining Mercy Housing Lakefront, Kenshol served as Chicago Regional Manager of KLC School Partnerships where he managed education quality for more than 20,000 low-income children and provided start-up leadership to create an online math tutoring program.
Previously, Kenshol was Chief Operating Officer at The Resurrection Project where he provided overall leadership to market and manage 150 affordable apartments, two day care facilities, a loan fund, and homeownership counseling services. He has also served as CEO of the Urban Enterprise Fund where he launched the nation’s first welfare-to-work fund, a community development financial institution providing investments to grow job-creating social enterprises.
Earlier in his career, Kenshol served as a Fulbright Scholar and Co-Founder of the Upper West Science Foundation in Ghana, a Physics and Chemistry teacher at Chicago’s Academy of the Sacred Heart, and a high school teacher and Peace Corps trainer in Ghana.
Kenshol received an MBA from Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management, an MA from The American University, and a BA from Carleton College.
Since its opening in 1990, SSPADS has served over 15,000 men, women and children and provided over 500,000 shelter nights. In addition to the shelter network, SSPADS now manages 83 owned rental units and manages another 50 or so leased permanent supportive housing units, of which 77 are located in SSPADS’s Country Club Hills Wellness Center. To bolster housing stability, supportive services are provided and include an on-site primary health care program, employment services comprised of job readiness, a culinary arts training program and placement in living wage jobs with a career path. For more information, visit www.sspads.org.
