KYC’s CEO Announcement

August 23, 2018

After a com­pre­hen­sive nation­wide search, Ken­neth Young Center’s Board of Direc­tors is pleased to announce our selec­tion of Grace Hong Duf­fin as our next Pres­i­dent and Chief Exec­u­tive Offi­cer. Effec­tive imme­di­ate­ly, Grace will lead KYC’s mis­sion and strat­e­gy to ensure our growth and con­tin­ued suc­cess. Grace joined KYC in March 2016 as Chief Oper­at­ing Offi­cer, work­ing close­ly with the Exec­u­tive Lead­er­ship team and the Board of Direc­tors to build effi­cien­cies and new busi­ness oppor­tu­ni­ties for KYC.

In part­ner­ship with exec­u­tive search firm Kit­tle­man and Asso­ciates, KYC con­duct­ed a thor­ough search over the last three months, receiv­ing over a hun­dred appli­ca­tions nation­wide. Can­di­dates were care­ful­ly vet­ted and top can­di­dates were inter­viewed mul­ti­ple times by KYC’s Board of Directors. 

Grace is a strate­gic leader, with sig­nif­i­cant expe­ri­ence work­ing at the State of Illi­nois in var­i­ous roles includ­ing Senior Pol­i­cy Advi­sor for the Office of the Gov­er­nor and Chief of Staff for the Depart­ment of Human Ser­vices. Grace also pre­vi­ous­ly worked as a Cook Coun­ty Assis­tant State’s Attor­ney for 8 years help­ing vic­tims and com­mu­ni­ties impact­ed by crime. 

Togeth­er with her under­grad­u­ate degree from North­west­ern Uni­ver­si­ty, her law degree from IIT Chica­go-Kent Col­lege of Law, and an advanced grad­u­ate degree from The John F. Kennedy School of Gov­ern­ment at Har­vard Uni­ver­si­ty, Grace’s expe­ri­ence, exper­tise, inno­va­tion, and dri­ven pas­sion for build­ing KYC’s long-term sus­tain­abil­i­ty and growth set her apart as the ide­al candidate. 

KYC would like to thank and rec­og­nize Don­na Mori­ar­ty for serv­ing as Inter­im Pres­i­dent and Chief Exec­u­tive Offi­cer for the past three months. Mov­ing for­ward, Don­na plans to con­tin­ue to serve the agency as a vol­un­teer. Don­na, we are extra­or­di­nar­i­ly grate­ful for your wis­dom, kind­ness, sup­port, and pas­sion­ate com­mit­ment for KYC. Your ded­i­cat­ed ser­vice gave our Board of Direc­tors the time to iden­ti­fy and secure the right leader for our future suc­cess. Thank you for all you have done and con­tin­ue to do for KYC. 

Please join KYC in con­grat­u­lat­ing Grace on her new role and expand­ed leadership! 

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