Photo: Courtesy Chapman Partnership

Symeria Hudson (MBA 1997) never expected to find herself leading a nonprofit. She began her career with 25 years in the corporate world, the first 10 years in consumer goods and then 15 in the medical technology sector. From 2016 to 2018, Hudson was president of global franchises and innovation at ConvaTec, helping to prepare the $1.8 billion, London-based company to go public. After its successful IPO, in 2018, Hudson took some time off to travel with her husband but fully expected to return to the med tech sector after a year-long break. That’s when the recruiter from Chapman Partnership called. The homeless-services nonprofit was looking for a CEO.

Chapman Partnership has provided shelter and other resources to the unhoused population of Miami-Dade County, Florida, since 1995. The nonprofit currently runs two facilities in the county—a total of about 800 beds—offering access to housing and medical, educational, and other social services. Hudson had recently relocated to Miami when the recruiter’s call came. While she was broadly supportive of Chapman’s mission, Hudson recalls telling the recruiter, “I don’t do nonprofit. I’m not interested.”

Yet Hudson couldn’t stop thinking about the opportunity. The problem of homelessness in Miami-Dade had improved over the previous two decades. In 1996, there were an estimated 8,000 people in the area without stable housing (a figure that includes both those who are unsheltered and those who have temporary shelter). In 2019, there were about 3,700. “But one person on the streets is one too many,” says Hudson.

Hudson has one particular person in mind when she said that: Uncle Billy, her mother’s brother. When Hudson was a child, Billy would call the family in Huntsville, Alabama, each week to relate his adventures in Southern California. It was a long time before the family learned that Billy, who had mental health issues, was living on the streets of Pasadena. Hudson recalls not even knowing what “homeless” meant when her mother explained the situation to the children. For decades, the family tried to help Billy, succeeding in getting him off the streets only near the end of his life.

“I did some soul searching,” after the recruiter’s call, Hudson says. She realized that a position at Chapman Partnership would be “an incredible way to honor Uncle Billy and an incredible way to make a difference.” Hudson joined the organization as CEO in 2019. Now, “everybody knows Uncle Billy here at Chapman Partnership,” she says.

Hudson has brought both her personal understanding of the plight of homelessness and her business knowledge to the organization. Those combined perspectives led her to focus on innovation in her first several years in the role. “I wouldn’t say ‘innovation’ is a dirty word in nonprofits, but it is one that is not spoken often,” she observes. Hudson wants Chapman to be a leader in embracing new ways to empower people and break the cycle of homelessness.

One such innovation is already underway: In early 2020, Chapman introduced its Social Enterprise Academy, an intensive job-skills training program for residents. Despite the obstacles presented by the pandemic, about 30 people have graduated from the academy’s first program, a construction and carpentry certification. Chapman plans to add nursing and entrepreneurship options next.

Hudson is also exploring innovations on the fundraising side, such as allowing donors to donate stock or cryptocurrency. “The more we can diversify our options to give, the more likely it will be that more organizations and individuals will want to invest in Chapman Partnership,” she says.

But while Hudson has brought new ideas from the for-profit world to Chapman Partnership, she’s also learned a lot from the nonprofit organization, too. “More than ever, my work is about building relationships—with the board, the donors, and the community,” she explains, noting that it’s also improved her own sense of self. “In the corporate world, people didn’t always get a chance to know the real and authentic Symeria. Now I feel like the real me. The real Symeria shows up every single day.”

Post a Comment