The YWCA Evanston/North Shore has named Cherese Ledet as its new chief executive officer.
Ledet will join the YW on March 6, succeeding Karen Singer, who will retire as CEO after 18 years.
Board Chair Shabnum Sanghvi says Ledet, who has worked since 2004 with the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, is a strategic nonprofit leader with a strong record of impacting communities through service.
Sanghvi says that in her most recent role as chief community development and equity officer for the Chicago organization, Ledet focused on identifying and reducing health, social and financial disparities while advancing equitable and healthy communities.
“At a pivotal moment when the rights of women, families, people of color and other marginalized populations are under ever greater threat, I am ready to harness the power of the YWCA and its community of partners and supporters to lead the organization into its next chapter,” Ledet said in a statement.
Ledet is a certified US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Housing Compliance Manager and a graduate of Y-USA’s Multicultural Executive Development Institute.
She earned her a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Chicago State University.
She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Top Ladies of Distinction, Inc. – Will County Black Diamond Chapter, the National Housing Network and is the sponsor of the YMCA’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Team.
“I am confident that Cherese’s management experience, financially driven strategic leadership and equity lens will make her successful as she leads our mission, to eliminate racism and empower women, into the future,” Singer, the outgoing CEO, said.