Ann Oliva is OrgCode's Leader in Residence
At our first Leadership Academy in 2015, OrgCode brought together a cohort of professionals dedicated to ending homelessness to learn more about how to be authentic, thoughtful and successful leaders in their communities. In addition to two days of content presented by Iain, we heard from a couple of guest speakers – including Ann Oliva, who took time away from her day job at HUD to talk to the cohort about her leadership journey. In 2016, Ann came back to talk to the new group, and in those two years she fell in love with the idea of helping other professionals hone their leadership skills and therefore get one step closer to reaching their goals. Earlier this year, Ann announced she was leaving HUD to decompress and reflect for a few months before rejoining our collective work towards ending homelessness.
OrgCode is pleased to announce that, beginning this month, Ann will be joining us in a formal capacity as a Leader in Residence, and will be consulting with OrgCode on our professional development and coaching projects. Please join me in welcoming Ann to the team!
If you have been living under a rock (or another country), Ann’s tenure with HUD represents one of the most innovative and transformative eras, leaving an indelible mark on how we think about and respond to homelessness. Through her leadership as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Special Needs at HUD, and in the previous positions she held at HUD in her ten year commitment to the federal agency, without a doubt Ann was instrumental in steering communities towards ending homelessness.
The merry misfits of OrgCode are happy to have Ann with us a Leader in Residence. In the theme of leadership development and coaching, Ann is able to provide new service offerings to OrgCode clients old and new:
Leadership training and mentoring: if your community is looking for an onsite coach and facilitator to help you work through barriers and focus on positive change, with remote coaching and mentoring before, after or between visits, then we would encourage to reach out to see how Ann can assist you. Further, through Ann, OrgCode offers a second coach in addition to Iain to work one on one with leaders through individualized coaching. Ann would be of specific benefit to senior executives and managers in non-profits, board chairs, and emerging women leaders.
Intersection between strategic thinking, management and leadership on goals to end homelessness: Leadership and management require related but not identical skill sets, and it can be tricky to navigate between the two. It becomes more difficult when combined with the need for strategic thinking and problem solving. All of these skills are necessary for meeting desired goals. Helping goal-oriented individuals, organizations or communities understand how to create a vision, develop a robust and innovative plan, navigate difficult decisions and priorities, understand risk and execute the plan can make a significant impact on the success towards a specific goal. If this is where your community is at and need some individualized attention to get you through, then Ann would be of specific value to you.
Sharing the thoughts in her head: Look for Ann to produce blog posts, white papers, and articles with OrgCode, sharing the knowledge she already has and testing new ideas and innovations. Ann will also make presentations at the local and national level on homelessness with a broad range of interested parties. It is entirely possible Ann and Iain will start a podcast too.
Ann is a bold, brave thinker. She operates through a lens of social justice. She calls it as she sees it. She wants to end homelessness and knows how to help communities get there. If you are interested in seeing how Ann can be of service to your community in leadership training and mentoring, strategic thinking, and/or, managing the goals of ending homelessness, please reach out to info@OrgCode.com
