Jennifer Skinner will be assuming the executive director position at The Society of St. Vincent de Paul, St. Therese Conference. She is taking over from Dave Ringle, who has served in the position for the last five and a half years.
Ringle joined the St. Vincent board of directors in 2018 after retiring from a 32-year teaching career. He took over as the director suddenly after the unexpected passing of Dan Austin, who had directed St. Vincent for more than 20 years.
Skinner has been working as deputy director alongside Ringle for the last year and a half, gaining an understanding of the workings of the organization.
“I think she’s going to be able to step into the role and continue our valuable services much more easily and with much less stress than when I took over the organization, and it’s my hope that we have a smooth leadership transition,” Ringle said.
During his time as director, Ringle has led St. Vincent in providing many important resources for Juneau’s growing homeless population.
“I joined an organization that was struggling and we have been able to accomplish several large improvements,” he said.
Originally from California, Skinner has worked as a licensed psychiatric technician for the California Department of Corrections. She began working for REACH Inc. in Juneau in 2016. She also worked at Family Promise of Juneau before beginning work at St. Vincent.
Skinner said she remains dedicated to the continual learning process.
“I feel like the nature of this sector that I’m in definitely provides opportunity for learning and understanding, and I absolutely love the times that I get to interact with our neighbors and our clients that we support, because I always learn something,” Skinner said.
During his time as the executive director of St. Vincent, Ringle has completed a $1.5 million capital improvement campaign, saving 55 units of low-income housing. St. Vincent currently manages 101 apartments for low-income households and operates aid programs to prevent households from falling into homelessness.
St. Vincent has also operated the emergency warming shelter, which provides crucial services to people experiencing homelessness during Juneau’s coldest months.
“For every person we housed at the warming shelter, we put three people who would otherwise be homeless into low-income housing, and the long-term solution to homelessness is finding housing for the dramatically increased number of people who are homeless within our community,” Ringle said.
Ringle will not be leaving St. Vincent entirely. After a bike trip and family reunion, he will return as a special projects coordinator.
“I’m feeling the effects of having sprinted for five years with the various crises we’ve had, and I’m looking forward to slowing down a little bit, but I’m also looking forward to transitioning and keeping work that we do that’s so valuable being successful within Juneau,” he said.
As executive director, Skinner hopes to continue being innovative in helping to meet the community’s needs.
“I’m just excited for the opportunity and to be able to serve our community and our most vulnerable populations with grace and dignity and hopefully build programming that serves the needs of our sector,” she said.
Contact Natalie Buttner at natalie.buttner@juneauempire.com.
