Marc Dones (they/them pronouns) is the CEO of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA), a new government agency that began operations in 2021, as the COVID-19 pandemic was affecting many of the issues surrounding homelessness. Marc has deep experience in social justice policy, racial equity training, and systems transformation. Prior to serving at the KCRHA, Marc was the founder and Executive Director of the National Innovation Service, a consulting firm that helps governments redesign their approaches to supporting marginalized populations. Marc has also held leadership roles in social impact, policy and program design, and continuous improvement at the Center for Social Innovation (C4 Innovations), and is a faculty member at the School of Visual Arts. Marc holds a degree from NYU in Psychiatric Anthropology.

This year marks Kelly King Horne’s twentieth anniversary of working at Homeward, the planning agency that supports the network of homeless service providers that deliver coordinated and compassionate solutions to homelessness in the Richmond, VA region. She has served as the Executive Director of Homeward since 2007 and worked in various collaborative roles with Homeward and the United Way of Greater Richmond & Petersburg from 2003 to 2007. Since 2018, Kelly has served on the Leadership Council for the National Alliance to End Homelessness, a national leader in addressing homelessness. From 1995 to 2003, Kelly worked in Europe and the former Soviet Union with Habitat for Humanity International and with the Peace Corps. Kelly received her M.A. in Religious Studies from Stanford University in 1993 and her B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies from the American University in Washington, D.C. In 2015, she earned a Certificate in Business Excellence from Columbia Business School.

Martha J. Kegel is an attorney who for 20 years has served as Executive Director of UNITY of Greater New Orleans, an award-winning collaborative of 60 agencies providing housing and services to prevent, reduce and end homelessness in the New Orleans area. Since 2007, the UNITY collaborative has spearheaded efforts that have reduced homelessness by more than 90 percent by implementing an evidence-based Housing First approach. During the first two years of the Covid pandemic, UNITY coordinated an initiative that assisted 1013 people to leave the streets and move into hotels and apartments. That effort resulted in a 34 percent reduction in street homelessness in two years despite soaring rents; on average New Orleans tenants pay 61 percent of their income on rent – one of the highest rates in the nation. Ms. Kegel is a graduate of Stanford Law School, where she was an editor of the Stanford Law Review, and served as law clerk for the chief judge of the federal 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. She formerly directed a legal services project for people experiencing homelessness, served as Executive Director of the Louisiana ACLU and Associate Director of the Northern California ACLU, and has taught disability law at the Tulane University School of Social Work and constitutional law and poverty law at Loyola College of Law. She was awarded the Louisiana State Bar Association’s Career Public Interest Award.

Ana Rausch is a results-driven executive with more than 22 years of experience leading supportive housing organizations. With a focus on project management and system change implementation, Ana currently serves as Vice President of Program Operations for the Coalition for the Homeless, the lead agency for the TX-700 Continuum of Care (aka, The Way Home). In this role, she leads the agency’s HMIS & Program Ops Teams and has led in the development and implementation of nationally-recognized programs and strategies that has led to a 63% reduction in homelessness in 10 years. In addition, she implemented The Way Home’s Coordinated Access system, spearheaded the revised and improved methodology used during the CoC’s Homeless Count, and helped develop the CoC’s Encampment Response Strategy. Ana is originally from Brazil and lives in the northwest Houston area. She has been featured in numerous media articles and holds both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in psychology.

Mary Simons has served as the Executive Director/CEO of the Open Doors Homeless Coalition in Gulfport, Mississippi, since 2013. Open Doors Homeless Coalition is the HMIS lead, Coordinated Entry lead, and Continuum of Care collaborative applicant for the six coastal counties of Mississippi. Ms. Simons holds a Master’s Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy with an emphasis in systems theory. She has dedicated the last 22 years to serving persons who are most vulnerable in our community by creating partnerships that result in the development of stable housing opportunities and wrap-around services. From 2001-2004 she worked in 23 counties of Tennessee to increase housing opportunities for persons living with mental illness as a Regional Housing Facilitator in the Creating Homes Initiative. As an independent consultant from 2004-2013, she successfully implemented over 30 housing programs in the southeast in partnership with developers, government agencies, and nonprofits organizations using evidence-based strategies.