CEO, Tony Keenan announces decision to move to next challenge

1 March 2018

Statement from Neil Chatfield –  Chair, Launch Housing

After three years of leading Launch Housing Tony Keenan has decided to leave the role to pursue new opportunities and will leave the organisation on 25 May this year.

Tony has been the driving force in our mission to end homelessness. In addition to being the inaugural CEO of Launch Housing, he was previously the CEO of Hanover at the time of its merger with HomeGround, a position he held for over nine years.

The depth of experience and sector knowledge, combined with a great passion to improve the lives of our clients made Tony a great choice to lead the bold aspirations which were established for Launch Housing.

Over the past three years under Tony’s leadership we have built an outstanding platform from which to serve our client base, through optimising our resources to increase the supply of housing, implementing a strong research and advocacy base, and restructuring our teams to focus on the ever growing needs of our clients.

On behalf of the Board and the entire Launch Housing organisation we are thankful for the major contribution which Tony has made and we wish him well in his future endeavours.

As Tony has kindly agreed to facilitate a smooth transition to a new CEO, he will continue as our CEO for the next few months and we will therefore have the opportunity to acknowledge Tony’s efforts during that time.

As a result of Tony’s decision to leave the organisation, the Board will undertake an external search for a new CEO. The external search will commence as soon as possible, as our Deputy CEO and Chief Operating Officer, Heather Holst, has advised the Board that she does not seek the CEO role as she considers her best contribution is to continue her focus on developing the combination of services and housing that is so unique to Launch Housing.

The Board looks forward to keeping you all updated with the recruitment process as we continue to grow the organisation’s capability to ensure we best meet the needs of our clients.