executive team
Home Forward is led by a CEO, who oversees all of its programs and its 300+ employees. The CEO implements board-approved policies and programs, and directly supervises three officers and two department heads.
Ivory Mathews
Executive Director
Ivory N. Mathews has dedicated more than 20 years of her professional career to the work of providing equitable housing solutions and supportive services to families. As Executive Director of the largest provider of affordable housing in Oregon, she oversees an annual budget of $198M, serving 15,000 households; a team of 300 plus employees; a housing portfolio of more than 6,300 apartments;
and the administration of a variety of rent assistance programs, including 8,900 Housing Choice Vouchers, a short-term rent assistance program that consolidates funding from several different sources and provides assistance through 19 social service partners; and partnerships with more than 100 community organizations.
Under Mathews’ leadership, Home Forward continues fostering cooperation and partnerships among a collection of external constituencies and stakeholders, including federal, state, and local government officials; private and non-profit agencies; jurisdictional partners; housing clientele; and the community as a whole. She also continues the implementation of Home Forward’s vision, mission, strategies, policies, and operational objectives, towards its evolution to a diverse, anti-racist, equitable, and inclusive organization. In addition, she continues to lead the work of attracting, developing, managing, and retaining an effective, diverse workforce.
Prior to joining Home Forward, Mathews was the Chief Executive Officer for Columbia Housing and Cayce Housing in South Carolina. She currently serves as the Vice Chair of the Legislative Network Advisory Committee for the National Association of Housing & Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO) and is on the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities (CLPHA) board.
Mathews holds a master’s degree in Counseling & Psychology from Troy University, a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Newberry College, and several nationally recognized certifications in the affordable housing arena. She is a Riley Institute Diversity Leadership Initiative Fellow and has recently been named Top 20 Dynamic CEOs for 2021 by The CEO Publication. Mathews was also named as one of the 50 Most Influential in the Midlands by Columbia Business Monthly in 2020 and 2021.
She is happily married for 20 years to Donnie Mathews; they are the proud parents of two children, Mahogany, 17 and Dalton, 12.
