Habitat for Humanity CEO to speak about Authentic Servant Leadership

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Jonathon Reckford, CEO, Habitat for Humanity, will speak to faculty, staff and students about Authentic Servant Leadership. His presentation will be held at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, April 27, in the Reynolds Center Auditorium at the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas.

On Aug. 4, 2005, Reckford was unanimously elected chief executive officer for Habitat Humanity by the International Board of Directors. Reckford has professional experience ranging from Wall Street to church ministry, and a global view shaped by living, traveling and doing mission work internationally. With this experience, he brings a well mixed blend of passion for serving those in need and the business skills required to lead an international nonprofit organization whose work continually earns its supporters’ trust and respect.

He began his professional career as a financial analyst from 1984-86 at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in New York. After that he worked for the Olympic Organizing Committee in Seoul, Korea, to prepare for the 1998 Olympic Games. With his lifelong interest and experience in competitive rowing discovered, he was asked to coach the Korean national rowing team.

Throughout his career he has worked for many different companies including, Marriott Corp.; Disney; Circuit City Stores Inc.; and Musicland, which was acquired by Best Buy Inc. in 2001.

All of these different opportunities eventually led him to a growing sense of personal calling to start working on something more mission-related and take what he learned in the business world and apply it to the not-for-profit world.

Reckford holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master of Business Administration from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.