Peña Search Seeking Chief Strategy Officer for Housing Forward

October 30, 2026 – Peña Search was recently retained by Housing Forward to lead in its hunt for a chief strategy officer. Travis Hillier is leading the assignment. Reporting to the president and CEO, the chief strategy officer will serve as Housing Forward’s chief strategist and a member of the executive leadership team. The CSO will oversee the teams responsible for exit pathways, crisis response, and data management & reporting and will provide strategic leadership for system planning, implementation, performance, and continuous improvement across the All Neighbors Coalition.

Working in close partnership with the chief operations officer, the CSO will ensure strong alignment between communitywide strategy and operational execution. Together, the two leaders will identify emerging challenges, performance gaps, and opportunities for improvement and maintain shared accountability for achieving measurable outcomes across the regional homeless response system.

The successful candidate will bring exceptional systems thinking, facilitative leadership, political acumen, and the ability to lead complex change in an environment where collaboration and consensus are essential. Knowledge of homelessness or another complex human services system will be important, but equally critical will be the ability to challenge conventional thinking, translate data and evidence into strategy, navigate competing interests, and move diverse stakeholders toward action and measurable results, according to the job specification.

For an accomplished leader in the homelessness or broader human services field, the position offers an unusual opportunity to help lead a nationally recognized system at a moment of significant possibility. Housing Forward is entering its next chapter with an ambitious goal of ensuring that no one in Dallas and Collin Counties is forced to sleep outside. The CSO will have the opportunity to help design, strengthen, and scale the strategies necessary to achieve that vision and, in doing so, contribute to a model of coordinated homeless response with relevance well beyond North Texas.

Candidates should have 10 or more years of executive leadership experience in strategic planning, systems transformation, organizational strategy, public policy, or community planning. They must have experience leading communitywide initiatives involving multiple public and private partners as well as a record of navigating complex political and organizational environments with credibility, diplomacy, and sound judgment while advancing strategic priorities. Experience in homelessness is preferred, or other complex human service systems is need. In attrition, at least three to five years of non-profit experience in a leadership role is strongly preferred.

A mission-driven executive who leads with humility and is deeply committed to making homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring across Dallas and Collin Counties. A collaborative leader who thrives in an ambitious, fast-moving environment; engages and develops others, builds strong teams, and translates vision into results.

Proven Search Firm

Headquartered in Dallas, Peña Search’s specialties include: non-profit organizations, mission-driven organizations, foundations, higher education, independent schools, religious organizations and educational institutions, human services organizations, museums, collective impact organizations, professional and trade associations, art culture and humanities organizations, environment and animal welfare organizations, fundraising, chief financial officers, chief executive officers, healthcare organizations, chief development officers, and advocacy organizations.

Peña Search Assists To Be Like Me with the Recruitment of Executive Director

Peña Search recently assisted in the recruitment of Lauren Rowe as the new executive for To Be Like Me (TBLM) in Dallas, TX. Travis Hillier, Carlos González Peña, and Thaise Pereira led the assignment. She replaces To Be Like Me founder Hollis Owens, who has served as executive director since 2018 and initiated the search for her replacement last year. “I started To Be Like Me while working as a physical therapist for people with disabilities,” Ms. Owens said. “My tiny idea to foster understanding and empathy has grown beyond all my expectations. It became clear that we needed to find a leader with the executive experience to manage the exciting growth ahead. I have tremendous confidence in Lauren.”

“Lauren is an inspiring and results-driven leader whose passion for advocacy and community engagement aligns perfectly with our mission,” said Tom Erickson, board chair of To Be Like Me. “Her experience in building out infrastructure for rapidly growing organizations is what really made her stand out in our search.”

Holly Sherman Peña is founder and CEO of Peña Search. Over a 20-year career in recruiting, she has a track record of successful, high-level placements across the United States and in Mexico. Currently, Ms. Peña leads many of the CEO-level searches while also managing and assisting team members. She also practiced law for seven years, focusing on cross-border transactions and trade.

Mr. Hillier joined Peña Search in 2015. He conducts and supports searches at many different levels, and is committed to finding and placing the right leaders that will have a demonstrable impact in their communities and organizations. Mr. Hillier has search experience across a broad array of sectors and positions, bringing expertise to searches on behalf of educational organizations, those with religious affinities or affiliations, and agencies with international programmatic or fundraising components. He has also carved out a niche on the Peña Search team for his skill identifying development officers.

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media

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