Debbie Olson

Assistant Executive Director Chief of Staff @Illinois Housing Development Authority

Debbie serves as the Assistant Executive Director/Chief of Staff of the Illinois Housing Development Authority, a quasi-governmental self-supporting mission-driven lender. As the 2nd-in-charge of the agency, she heads operations and administration of the 15-department, 300+ person team. The Authority has financed over $2.9 billion in asset-based loans including single-family homes and multi-family buildings. Manages a $58M annual budget.During her tenure, the Authority has helped over families purchase their first home, apartment units have been financed, and lending has increased to over $100M annually. She has led the growth of core Authority programs; developed goals, policies and initiatives impacting the agency and the state of Illinois; and has increased customer focus internally and externally. She has assisted in the development of two, two-year strategic plans to focus the Authority’s lending activities, technology and cultural transformation. Under her leadership of organizational structure change, core program efficiencies have resulted. She has led organizational culture change through initiatives including a continuous improvement and operational efficiency program; an internal leadership development program; internal team and culture training; employee engagement and teambuilding activities; and increased external training opportunities for all staff.