Habitat For Humanity CEO Jonathan Reckford Will Give Commencement Address

Housing nonprofit has had transformational growth under Reckford’s leadership.

March 27, 2024

| by GSB Staff
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Jonathan T.M. Reckford

Jonathan T.M. Reckford | Courtesy of Habitat for Humanity

Jonathan T.M. Reckford, MBA ’89, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International, will give the commencement address at the Stanford Graduate School of Business diploma ceremony on June 15, 2024.

“Jonathan is a shining model of responsible leadership and the power of bringing management strengths to civil service,” says Stanford GSB Dean Jonathan Levin. “I can’t wait to hear his words of wisdom during Commencement weekend.”

Reckford has led Habitat for Humanity since 2005. The housing organization has helped more than 59 million people construct, rehabilitate, or preserve their homes. Since Reckford took the top leadership position, local Habitat organizations in all 50 states and in more than 70 countries have grown from serving 125,000 individuals each year to helping more than 13.4 million in 2023.

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Reckford was named the most influential nonprofit leader in America in 2017 by The NonProfit Times.

Prior to his time with Habitat, Reckford had executive and managerial positions at Marriott, Disney, and Best Buy. He was recruited for the CEO position at Habitat while serving as executive pastor at Christ Presbyterian Church near Minneapolis, Minn.

After graduating from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill where he was a Morehead Scholar, Reckford worked as a financial analyst at Goldman Sachs. He was also the recipient of a Henry Luce Scholarship, which enabled him to do marketing work for the Seoul Olympic Organizing Committee and coach the Korean rowing team in preparation for the 1988 Olympics. He earned his MBA from Stanford GSB in 1989.

Reckford is the chair of Leadership 18, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Global Future Council on the Future of Cities for the World Economic Forum, and a board member of the Barron Collier Companies.

Named the most influential nonprofit leader in America in 2017 by The NonProfit Times, Reckford is the author of Our Better Angels: Seven Simple Virtues That Will Change Your Life and the World.

He and his wife, Ashley, have three children and live in Atlanta.

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