Love Is In the Mortar Joints | Jonathan Reckford, CEO, Habitat for Humanity International

Excited by this latest episode with Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International. Jonathan and I ran into each other when the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project came to Austin a few weeks ago. My family's connection with Habitat for Humanity came when my late wife, Maureen, was getting her Masters at the University of Texas School of Architecture. They had a design competition in one of her classes, and Maureen and her teams' design was chosen. I remember how much joy it brought her to be on that build site each day throughout the semester.Just like Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat for Humanity, once said "love is in the mortar joints." It is that same spirit of love that infuses Team Powdered Donut™. As President Carter once said, "my faith demands that I do whatever I can wherever I am whenever I can for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference." We each have that same ability to take our one thing to make a difference. I thoroughly enjoyed talking with Jonathan about his career, his faith and how he came to Habitat for Humanity and thrilled to have him as a guest on the podcast.Who is Jonathan Reckford?Jonathan Reckford is chief executive officer of Habitat for Humanity International, a global Christian housing organization that has helped more than 62 million people construct, rehabilitate or preserve their homes. Since 2005, when he took the top leadership position, local Habitat organizations in all 50 states and in more than 70 countries have grown from serving 125,000 individuals each year to helping more than 3 million people last year build strength, stability and self-reliance through shelter.After graduating from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill where he was a Morehead Scholar, Jonathan worked as a financial analyst at Goldman Sachs. He was also the recipient of a Henry Luce Scholarship, which enabled him to do marketing work for the Seoul Olympic Organizing Committee and coach the Korean rowing team in preparation for the 1988 Olympics.He earned his Master of Business Administration degree from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business before spending the first part of his career in the for-profit sector, including executive and managerial positions at Marriott, The Walt Disney Co., and Best Buy. While serving as executive pastor at Christ Presbyterian Church near Minneapolis, Minnesota, he was recruited for the CEO position at Habitat.Jonathan is the chair of Leadership 18, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Global Future Council on the Future of Cities for the World Economic Forum, and a board member of the Barron Collier Companies.Named the most influential nonprofit leader in America in 2017 by The NonProfit Times, Jonathan is the author of Our Better Angels: Seven Simple Virtues That Will Change Your Life and the World.He and his wife, Ashley, have three children and live in Atlanta.