JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville Housing Authority (JHA) has appointed an acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) after an "emergency board" meeting was held Friday, according to a news release.
JHA has appointed Vanessa Dunn as the agency's acting CEO for a 60-day period, the release states.
Dunn, who had been serving as JHA's Chief Operating Officer (COO) for nearly two years, replaced Dwayne Alexander who resigned.
Alexander told First Coast News in a sit down on Feb. 1, that he feels like he was "pushed out" as CEO by Mayor Donna Deegan's administration. In his resignation letter, Alexander said he felt the mayor's administration is "improperly pushing me out through the BOC [Board of Commissioners] based on the comments made by some of the BOC in the past two months and its actions."
"I can only judge based on my performance, and my performance was stellar," Alexander said.
Alexander said he received a high grade in his most recent performance review. But, feels like he wasn’t treated as someone who performed at a high level.
As for Dunn, prior to joining JHA, she served as executive director of the Washington Housing Authority in Washington, N.C., the release states. She also served as director of housing services for the Housing Authority of the County of Wake in North Carolina, according to JHA. Furthermore, Dunn earned a bachelor's degree from Johnson C. Smith University and a Master of Public Administration from North Carolina Central University.
The JHA board will meet "in the coming weeks" to begin the process of selecting its next CEO, according to the release.
"I want to thank my fellow board members for coming together today on short notice to address this leadership issue," JHA Vice Chair Heather Horovitz said in the release. "And I also want to thank Vanessa Dunn for her willingness to step up and lead the Authority at a time when we have so many exciting projects ahead of us."