Habitat for Humanity International is pleased to welcome Tjada D'Oyen McKenna as the global housing ministry's chief operating officer. McKenna will begin her new role with the organization Nov. 2.

McKenna was most recently the deputy coordinator of development for Feed the Future, the U.S. Government's global hunger and food security initiative, and the assistant to the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development's Bureau for Food Security in Washington, D.C. Prior to that, she held management positions at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, McKinsey & Company, American Express and GE Consumer Finance.

"It is an honor and privilege to join Habitat for Humanity International in this exciting role," said McKenna. "I have always had a heart for service and am excited to use my gifts and talents in this capacity to help Habitat realize its vision of a world where everyone has a decent place to live."

As COO, McKenna will lead the operational execution of our ambitious new strategic plan to advance Habitat's mission, grow capacity and increase global impact. To foster overall growth and development opportunities within the organization, McKenna will bring together global program, operational strategies and delivery across Habitat's network of 1,400 U.S. affiliates and more than 70 country programs in Canada; Europe, Middle East and Africa; Latin America and the Caribbean; and Asia-Pacific.

"After completing a thorough and dedicated search, the board and I are thrilled to announce Tjada D'Oyen McKenna's appointment as chief operating officer," said Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International. "We look forward to working with Tjada and believe her dynamic leadership skills, expertise and accomplishments in program implementation, strategy development and innovation will add tremendously to the work Habitat is doing around the world to alleviate poverty housing."

McKenna earned a bachelor's degree in government from Harvard College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.