Jonathan Reckford

Jonathan T.M. Reckford is chief executive officer of Habitat for Humanity International, a global Christian housing organization that has helped more than 59 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 13.4 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.

Follow Jonathan on Twitter @JReckford and on Instagram @JReckford.