Habitat for Humanity International CEO Jonathan Reckford received the 2024 Administrator of the Year Award from the Romney Institute of Public Service and Ethics at the BYU Marriott School of Business, an award which recognizes an outstanding man or woman who has achieved distinction for management in the public or nonprofit sector. Even though Reckford has found his vocation in public service, his journey to becoming the CEO of one of the largest charitable organizations in the United States was unconventional—and longer than one might expect.
Reckford’s journey began when he was a child, learning from the example of his grandmother Millicent Fenwick, a New Jersey congresswoman and civil rights activist. “She encouraged me at a young age to care for the lost and left out in the world. She was my first career role model,” Reckford says.
Wishing to follow his grandmother into public service, Reckford planned to go to law school. “I thought that’s what you did to go into politics. But I realized I wasn’t interested in practicing law,” Reckford says. He needed a new plan, and without having a finance or accounting background, he talked his way into a financial analyst position at Goldman Sachs. But the more time he spent on Wall Street, the more he felt like something was missing. Reckford recalls, “I was working all the time and was not living my personal values. I learned a ton, but I was not happy.”
Reckford searched for fresh perspective and new opportunities, and he received a scholarship from the Henry Luce Foundation that allowed him to work in Asia for a year. He stepped away from the financial sector to work on marketing the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympic Games and was unexpectedly offered the opportunity to coach the Korean Olympic rowing team.
The unfamiliar cultural landscape of South Korea and distance from home helped Reckford refocus. “This was pre-digital, so there was no internet, no email, no contact other than slow letters back and forth across the world. And that year gave me the time and space to reflect on the kind of life I wanted to lead,” Reckford says.
When he returned to the US, rejuvenated and recentered on his faith and values, Reckford enrolled in Stanford University’s MBA program with a focus on public and nonprofit management. “My new hypothesis was that I could learn the skills in the business world that I could then bring to a mission that mattered,” Reckford says.
After graduating, Reckford spent the next 13 years in the private sector and eventually moved into high-level positions at Marriott, Disney, Circuit City, and Best Buy. But in 2002 Best Buy merged with another company and Reckford was handed a choice: stay and negotiate a new role or step down.
Reckford was committed to the dream of bringing his skills to the nonprofit sector, so he stepped down and decided to go in a different direction—literally. With his family’s blessing and the funds from a severance package, he took a mission trip to Uttar Pradesh, a state in northern India. There he worked with the impoverished and ostracized Bhangi people, who reside on the lowest level of the Indian social class system.
Serving in India changed Reckford’s life as he felt touched by the power of “divine irritation”—a phrase coined by Clarence Jordan, the spiritual father of Habitat for Humanity International. “It’s when God fills you with such a sense of urgency that you simply cannot look away,” Reckford explains. “It’s an overpowering call to respond.”
Fueled with a new sense of purpose and passion for global poverty issues, Reckford returned to the US. “I turned down a couple of great business jobs and almost got a couple of nonprofit jobs. Then suddenly all the doors closed,” Reckford says.
So Reckford became a stay-at-home dad, coaching sports and chaperoning field trips, all while looking for his chance to make a difference. He volunteered vigorously in his community and used his corporate skills to help local churches grow. When the local Presbyterian church called and asked if he would be willing to serve as their executive pastor, he decided to do it—even though many advised him not to. “My wife and I prayed about it and felt like God was telling us this was what we needed to do,” Reckford says.
Two years into his position at the Presbyterian church, Reckford was offered the job as CEO of Habitat for Humanity International. “It was when I wasn’t looking that Habitat came calling, Reckford says. “I often say you can see God’s fingerprints so much more clearly in the rearview mirror. The time I spent waiting and serving my church was the perfect complement to all my corporate work to be ready for Habitat.”
Now Reckford has served as the CEO for almost two decades and has impacted countless lives along the way. Since Reckford took his position in 2005, Habitat for Humanity International has grown from serving 125,000 individuals each year to help more than 13.4 million people last year in all 50 states and in more than 70 countries. He was named the most influential nonprofit leader in 2017 by the NonProfit Times and has authored several books. “It has been an amazing journey, but I feel like once I got to Habitat, I really had found my calling and have just loved being a part of this mission,” Reckford says.
As he accepted the 2024 Administrator of the Year Award, Reckford encouraged BYU Marriott students and faculty to look for their moment of divine inspiration: “Focus on your character, choose the right role models, and relish the joy of discovering your purpose, no matter how long it takes or where it takes you. As the pastor Henry Blackaby said: ‘If you’re not sure what to do, look for where God is at work and go join Him there.’”
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Written by Shay Putman and Sarah Griffin Anderson