The Board of Commissioners of the Seattle Housing Authority has named Rod Brandon as Executive Director, to replace Andrew Lofton who will retire on May 7 after 17 years with SHA.

Brandon has served as SHA’s Director of Housing Operations since 2010, leading the agency’s largest department with approximately 400 staff serving more than 17,000 residents in approximately 8,500 housing units. He has extensive career experience in creating innovative policies and programs, building critical partnerships, managing large projects, operations and budgets, and developing diverse workforces.

Prior to joining SHA, Brandon served in leadership positions in the public sector including Director of Sustainability and Environmental Services for King County Executive Ron Sims, Assistant King County Executive and Deputy Chief of Staff for City of Seattle Mayor Norm Rice.

“We consulted widely with our staff and community, including our tenants, on the experience and characteristics they would like to see in a new executive director and conducted a thorough, open and considered national search,” said SHA Board Chair Paul Purcell. “While we saw some excellent candidates from around the country, we selected Rod not because he is already a senior leader with SHA but because he is clearly the right person to take the agency forward.”

Brandon is deeply committed to the mission and values of SHA. “It has been tremendously rewarding to me over the past 10 years to get to know our residents and help build a suite of services to ensure they have safe, decent housing and opportunities through education, employment, health care, social activities, youth development and other programs,” he said. “The need for affordable housing and services is far from met in Seattle and I’m excited to build on our progress and valuable partnerships as we pursue a vision to expand housing opportunities, promote quality communities and improve more lives.”