ECHO Housing Names New Leadership Team
ECHO Housing Corporation today announces the appointments of two executives to newly created roles: Savannah Wood as Chief Executive Officer and Erik Tilkemeier as Chief Operating Officer.
Wood has been with ECHO Housing Corporation since 2018 in various roles, most recently as Assistant Director where she oversees policies, procedures, and staff for six federally funded homeless service programs. While at ECHO Housing, Wood has participated in the Leadership Everyone program, as well as attended the Next Generation Leadership Academy and the Indiana Housing & Community Development Authority’s Strategic Management for Community Development Executives course.
Throughout her career, Wood has had extensive experience working with federal, state, and local agencies and funders on implementing and monitoring grants and their policy and administration requirements. Prior to ECHO Housing, Wood worked for the State of Indiana as Disabled Veteran Outreach Program Specialist and the U.S. Department of the Army as an Intelligence Supervisor, Writer, and Instructor.
Wood is an Evansville native and has a Bachelor of Arts in Intelligence Analysis from American Military University. She is a veteran of the United States Army, having served three tours of duty in Iraq and a deployment following Hurricane Katrina.
Tilkemeier was most recently Director of Economic & Urban Development for the City Heights Community Development Corporation (CHCDC) in San Diego, California. He brings decades of experience in real estate development, property management, affordable housing, economic development, and community development corporation leadership.
Among his accomplishments at CHCDC, Tilkemeier led pre-development planning for 117 units of affordable housing and 15,000 square feet of community serving commercial space, assisted in doubling the organization’s funding and impact from 2019 to 2022, and advocated for equitable housing policies at the local, regional, state, and federal levels.
Tilkemeier has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Utah.
ECHO Housing works in collaboration with other Evansville-area agencies in an effort to end homelessness. It works to creates safe, sustainable, and affordable housing and provides supportive services to those it helps house.
“We couldn’t have been more fortunate to have found the combined skills of Savannah and Erik to take ECHO Housing into the future. With these new leaders guiding the way, we will be positioned to better serve those seeking permanent housing, as well as provide enhanced supportive services to those who we have already placed,” said Board of Directors Chairman Dane Chandler. “With their combined records of successful leadership, we’re thrilled to have Savannah move into the CEO role and have Erik join our hardworking team as COO. Their collective strengths strategically position us for our next phase of service.”
Outgoing ECHO Executive Director Chris Metz, who departs to begin work toward a doctoral degree, couldn’t be more pleased with the appointments. “I have worked directly with Savannah for the past four years and know first-hand that her passion for ECHO’s mission and her work ethic are second to none. Combined with Erik’s years of experience in property management and development, I am confident ECHO Housing, and more importantly those it serves, is in good hands.”
Since its founding in 1991, ECHO Housing has assisted hundreds of men, women, children, and veterans transition to, and maintain, permanent housing annually. Chandler is confident Wood and Tilkemeier will ensure that vital work continues. “Our expanded executive team brings decades of invaluable expertise to ECHO Housing and will allow us to increase the capacity to meet our vision which is to create a community where everyone has a place to call home.”
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ECHO Housing Corporation is a community non-profit established 1991; our mission is to create and sustain affordable housing, to provide supportive services and to promote community and economic development. EHC envisions communities where everyone has a place to call home and the opportunity to thrive. Our organization is guided by five core values: advocacy, empathy, innovation, integrity and accountability.
