Former housing head for suburban Chicago county named PHA's VP for housing operations
The administration on Tuesday announced that a public-housing executive from the Chicago suburbs will be the new head of PHA's housing operations.
David Northern Sr., former executive director and CEO of the Lake County Housing Authority in Illinois, will be an executive vice president at the Philadelphia Housing Authority, overseeing "conventional developments, scattered site housing and tax credit sites," according to a press release.
His salary is $155,000.
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Here's the city's release:
"The Philadelphia Housing Authority has hired an award-winning executive to manage its housing operations. David A. Northern, Sr. has been named Executive Vice President - Housing Operations; he will oversee PHA's public housing programs, including conventional developments, scattered site housing and tax credit sites. He has over fifteen years of leadership experience in public housing and has received numerous awards for his skill in budgeting, expense control, grants, contract administration, and coalition-building.
Mr. Northern is the former Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Lake County Housing Authority (LCHA), which serves Chicago's northern suburbs. During his 11-year career there, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development assessed the agency's Housing Choice Voucher program as a high performer for four consecutive years. Under Mr. Northern's leadership, LCHA also expanded services while receiving many awards for stellar performance.
"PHA is fortunate to have a person with the achievements and energy of David Northern managing the agency's core business." said Kelvin Jeremiah, Acting President and Chief Executive Officer. "David boasts a great track record and has demonstrated a strong commitment to affordable housing. We are happy to welcome him to the PHA family."
Under Northern, LCHA received five consecutive years of unqualified audit findings, earned 18 unique Awards of Merit from the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO) between 2008 and 2012. He was also nationally recognized with the Champion in Housing Award for 2010 from Nan McKay & Associates, Inc. (NMA), the industry leader in providing performance improvement solutions including training, consulting, and products to subsidized housing agencies.
Mr. Northern started as Deputy Executive Director at LCHA in 2002 and, in that role, successfully obtained funding grants totaling $116,000. He built agency relationships to designate LCHA as an inspector for Hurricane Katrina and established a partnership that led to a HUD Shelter Plus Care Program that provided more than $1 million in funding over five years. He was named Executive Director of LCHA in 2008.
Prior to working in Lake County, Northern served as Director of Capital Improvements for the City of East Chicago Housing and Community Development agency, which operates public housing in northwest Indiana.
David Northern graduated from Ball State University in Indiana with a degree in accounting in 1993 and obtained a Master of Public Affairs degree from Indiana University Northwest in 2003. Ball State University named him the "Graduate of the Last Decade" (the G.O.L.D Award). He was also named one of the Most Influential African Americans of Lake County, IL for three different years. Northern has been featured in several media publications including Ebony Magazine's "30 Leaders Who Are 30 and Under" editorial as well as the Who's Who In Black Chicago magazine on several occasions.
Mr. Northern's annual salary at PHA is $155,000.