Jennifer Hawkins is President & CEO of Avesta Housing, a leading nonprofit developer, owner, and operator of affordable housing headquartered in Portland, Maine. Avesta’s mission is to improve lives and strengthen communities by promoting and providing quality, affordable homes for people in need across Maine and New Hampshire.
Jen has more than 20 years of leadership experience in housing and community development. Her career spans San Francisco, New York City, Boston, Rhode Island, and now northern New England, where she has led place-based development efforts at the intersection of health and housing. Jen is driven by a commitment to address the root causes for housing insecurity while tackling the system changes required to remedy the country’s housing shortage.
Before joining Avesta, Jen served as CEO of One Neighborhood Builders in Providence, Rhode Island, where she led a period of transformative growth, pioneered innovative housing development initiatives, and aligned housing policy with health equity and economic mobility outcomes.
Jen holds a BA from Connecticut College, an MPA from New York University, and executive leadership certificates from the Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Business School. She lives in Portland, Maine, and in Smithfield, Rhode Island, with her husband and adult daughter.
