Project for Pride in Living announces new CEO as the nonprofit’s longtime leader retires

Affordable housing nonprofit Project for Pride in Living (PPL) has tapped community developer Karla Henderson to become its next chief executive.

Henderson, who joined the 52-year-old organization in March as the head of housing stability and real estate development, will succeed Paul Williams effective Jan. 6. Williams, a St. Paul native, is retiring after 11 years as CEO.

Henderson will take the helm of the 200-employee entity known for creating 1,600 affordable housing units across 119 properties in the Twin Cities. A large part of the job will involve fundraising and stitching together complex and hefty contributions from corporations, foundations and governments.

PPL currently creates housing and provides supportive services for 2,700 low-income individuals and families.

As CEO, Henderson will also oversee PPL’s other missions, which include job training, supporting low-income tenants and running two alternative high schools in Minneapolis, MERC and Loring Nicollet.

“I am honored to take on the role of CEO at PPL,” Henderson said in a news release. “It’s both exciting and comforting to lead an incredible team and leverage our collective strengths to deliver stable housing [and] grow career skills to drive personal and collective wealth as we build stronger communities.”

Before joining PPL, the Detroit native was a managing director at Volte, a business strategy firm in Michigan. She moved to Minnesota to become the community development director for the city of Bloomington. There, she headed neighborhood empowerment efforts and created “Hatch Bloomington,” a private-public partnership that procured fresh investments to support local small businesses.

Since joining PPL, she has launched its new “RE-Seed Program,” which plans to fix and then sell 83 of PPL’s smallest apartment complexes. PPL is selling the buildings, collectively worth about $50 million, to local and budding property developers PPL is training. When the program launched in September, Henderson said the goal was to ensure the entrepreneurs had the skills needed to manage properties, set sufficient rents and comply with tax and real estate laws while also making a profit.

By selling PPL’s smallest properties Henderson hopes to tackle larger housing projects, such as the $66 million Opportunity Crossing apartment complex PPL started building in June by Minneapolis’ Nicollet Avenue and Lake Street. Support for that project comes from Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank, the city, Hennepin County and scores of others.

Going forward, PPL hopes to continue its mission of developing hundreds of new housing units each year as it addresses the homelessness crisis in the Twin Cities.

PPL Board Chair Tanya Bell said Henderson is up to the task.

“We are thrilled to appoint Karla to lead PPL as our next CEO,” Bell said in a statement. “Her dedication to community development and broad leadership skills have been an asset to the PPL leadership team. Her extensive experience and passion for driving results align perfectly with our mission to provide transformative, affordable housing and career-readiness services. We are confident that under her leadership, PPL will continue to innovate and thrive.”