NEW ORLEANS – Today, the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center (GNOFHAC) announces a nationwide search for a new executive director. James Perry, the current Executive Director, informed the board of directors of his intention to resign his role in early 2015. Perry, who has led the Center since 2005, will transition into an advisory capacity.

Over the last 10 years, GNOFHAC has become a national leader in the fair housing movement. The organization’s resources have been deliberately focused on high-impact, innovative litigation designed to root out discrimination. The effort has earned more than $500 million in monetary relief for victims of discrimination. Recent, notable GNOFHAC successes include: near decade long litigation against St. Bernard Parish that yielded a federal consent decree and four contempt of court findings requiring Parish officials to rescind exclusionary ordinances and grant building permits to affordable housing developers; and a $62 million legal settlement and creation of a $470 million grant program benefitting thousands of Katrina affected Louisiana homeowners, geared to resolve allegations of racial discrimination in the Road Home grant program.

Board president, Tracy Lea appointed a search committee to spearhead the executive director recruitment effort. The committee includes GNOFHAC board members: Shakti Belway, Attorney and Independent Consultant; Lauren Bierbaum, PhD, Senior Research Analyst, CREDO at Stanford University; Jeremy Hunnewell, CPA, Founder and Managing Director, EMH Strategy; Tracy Lea, AIA, Principal, Eskew+Dumez+Ripple; Nick Marshall, AIA, Principal, Chase Marshall Architects.

President Lea stated, “We are excited and very pleased with Mr. Perry’s committed and bold leadership over the past nine years.” Lea continued, “And while the Center will miss Mr. Perry, we are confident that we can recruit a replacement capable of not only sustaining, but building on our successes.”

The Board has retained the services of The Hawkins Company, a Los Angeles based executive search firm with experience working in New Orleans, to lead the executive director search process.

Inquiries about the executive director recruitment should be directed to Ms. Brett Byers of The Hawkins Company. Ms. Byers can be reached at 323-403-8279 or brett@thehawkinscompany.com.

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The Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center (GNOFHAC) is a private, non-profit civil rights organization that was established in 1995 to eradicate housing discrimination throughout the greater New Orleans area through education, investigation, and enforcement activities. GNOFHAC is dedicated to fighting housing discrimination not only because it is illegal, but also because it is a divisive force that perpetuates poverty, segregation, ignorance, fear and hatred. GNOFHAC programmatic strategy includes: Enforcement, Education, Homeownership Protection, and Policy. The activities described in this release were privately funded.