Deidre Schmidt has been named president and CEO of CommonBond Communities, a leading affordable housing developer headquartered in St. Paul, Minn.
She becomes only the third CEO in the nonprofit’s 43-year history, taking over for Paul Fate, who is retiring.
Schmidt is principal owner of One Roof Global Consulting. During her career, she has held leadership roles at Brighton Development Corp., National Equity Fund, Artspace Projects, and the Affordable Housing Institute. She is a lecturer on housing and urbanization at Harvard University.
Iin her most recent role as professional consultant, Schmidt has helped global entities develop policies and strategies regarding housing development and management, rental subsidies, urban planning, and risk assessment.
“Ms. Schmidt has a prolific career bringing together individuals, organizations, and corporations to develop solutions regarding affordable housing,” says Tom Jasper, chairman of the board of CommonBond. “In addition, she is highly regarded for her industry expertise both locally and globally. Ms. Schmidt is the perfect choice at this unique time in the industry to steward CommonBond’s significant legacy of service to the regional community.”
She will assume her role as CEO on Oct. 6.
The largest nonprofit provider of affordable homes in the Upper Midwest, CommonBond has been building and sustaining homes with services to families, seniors, and individuals with disabilities since 1971.
The firm is a Top 50 affordable housing developer, ranking No. 37 on this year's AHF list.
