{"id":2454673,"date":"2020-02-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-18T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=321053"},"modified":"2020-02-18T07:54:32","modified_gmt":"2020-02-18T14:54:32","slug":"gail-schwartz-takes-helm-of-habitat-for-humanity-from-scott-gilbert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/gail-schwartz-takes-helm-of-habitat-for-humanity-from-scott-gilbert\/","title":{"rendered":"Gail Schwartz takes helm of Habitat for Humanity from Scott Gilbert"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Scott Gilbert will step down as president of Habitat for Humanity Roaring Fork today. He will be replaced by Gail Schwartz as interim president. They joked Monday that the future is so bright, they had to wear shades.<\/strong>
Scott Condon\/The Aspen Times<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

After 15 years of dogged effort and a lengthy list of accomplishments with Habitat for Humanity Roaring Fork, Scott Gilbert will step down Tuesday as president of the nonprofit organization.<\/p>\n

Former state senator and Willits resident Gail Schwartz will be appointed as interim president, Gilbert said Monday. Schwartz is currently chair of the Habitat chapter\u2019s board of directors. She joined the board six months ago at Gilbert\u2019s request and became chair one month ago.<\/p>\n

Gilbert said Schwartz has been a valuable resource for him as Habitat navigated the politics of affordable housing in the Roaring Fork Valley and state of Colorado. She has credibility in the valley as \u201csomeone who makes things happen, someone with experience in affordable housing. There are very few people who I have as much respect and admiration for as Gail,\u201d Gilbert said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be honest, I\u2019m a pretty demanding guy,\u201d he continued. \u201cMy standards are pretty high. I push myself as hard as anybody. To think someone might come in and not have my commitment scared me. I\u2019ll trust my baby to Gail and support her in every way possible. I\u2019m ecstatic.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cHabitat is not just building one house at a time. It is being part of the solution to this housing crisis, not just in this valley but statewide.\u201d \u2014 Gail Schwartz<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

Gilbert, 66, retired from a career in advertising at age 50, then got heavily involved in Habitat for Humanity Roaring Fork, first as a volunteer on the board of directors and soon after as president. He said the job is extremely time consuming and he was ready to step back. He voluntarily sought the reduction to a part-time role, but wanted to keep the duties he enjoys the most.<\/p>\n

The chapter has experienced immense growth under his leadership (see factbox, page A8). It has drawn regional attention for its Basalt Vista project<\/a>, a collaborative effort with the Roaring Fork School District, Holy Cross Energy and the governments of Pitkin County and Basalt and the Community Office of Resource Efficiency. When completed in two years, Basalt Vista will provide 27 units of affordable housing and be net zero in energy use<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gilbert said the chapter graduated from a homebuilder to a developer and convener with the project.<\/p>\n

Schwartz labeled Basalt Vista the \u201cbeta site for net zero homes.\u201d The project is showing that the Roaring Fork chapter can be a leading innovator in the broader organization\u2019s mission to provide quality housing for people in need.<\/p>\n

\u201cOK, now let\u2019s bring it to scale,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The Habitat board will work on finding a permanent replacement president in the \u201cnear future,\u201d according to a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m an interim,\u201d Schwartz said. \u201cWe need to define the role and find the person that best fits our needs, (assess) where the talent is within the rest of the staff then we\u2019ll take whatever time it takes.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she would consider applying for the permanent position.<\/p>\n

Gilbert will remain as a part-time adviser to the board. He will continue to lead fundraising, public relations and maintain relationships with key strategic partners.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s my wingman,\u201d Schwartz said.<\/p>\n

Schwartz, 70, is prepared for a steep learning curve. It was something she experienced when she became a state senator<\/a> in 2007. She won re-election to a second four-year term and served until 2015. Schwartz failed to unseat U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton in a battle for the 3rd Congressional District seat in 2016. She ran as a Democrat.<\/p>\n

Schwartz also served a University of Colorado Regent from 2001 to \u201907 and was the interim director and director of development for the Aspen-Pitkin County Housing Authority in its formative years in the late 1970s and early 1980s.<\/p>\n

She also has served on numerous nonprofit organizations\u2019 boards in the Roaring Fork Valley, recently completing a six-year term on the Aspen Community Foundation board.<\/p>\n

In the private sector, she worked with a firm called Sno-engineering, which worked on feasibility plans and design of ski areas such as Deer Valley and Blackcomb.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve managed businesses. I\u2019ve managed staff,\u201d Schwartz said. \u201cI understand some of the policy issues. In particular, I have devoted so much of my time to housing.<\/p>\n

\u201cHabitat is not just building one house at a time,\u201d she continued. \u201cIt is being part of the solution to this housing crisis, not just in this valley but statewide. We can lead the state with a lot of innovation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gilbert said Habitat is fortunate because there are so many cases when an organization changes leadership because something is broken. In this case, the organization is strong and in the middle of a signature project with Basalt Vista.<\/p>\n

Schwartz said it will be important for her to be sensitive to the people and culture at Habitat.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only is it convening and building homes, but it\u2019s 50 employees and a Habitat ReStore that helps people have wonderful jobs at a living wage in this valley and also helping homeowners have quality home goods and live in a respectable way,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Without getting into specific possibilities, Schwartz said there are roughly 10 potential projects that Habitat is exploring. The key is finding land.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re aware of where the possibilities are,\u201d Schwartz said. \u201cThere is land in the public sector.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she is eager to sink her teeth into one of the most important community issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is such a wonderful fit, intellectually, emotionally and continues my desire to serve and make sure we can do better,\u201d Schwartz said. \u201cWe always know that we can do better.\u201d<\/p>\n

scondon@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scott Gilbert will step down as president of Habitat for Humanity Roaring Fork today. He will be replaced by Gail Schwartz as interim president. They joked Monday that the future is so bright, they had to wear shades.Scott Condon\/The Aspen Times After 15 years of dogged effort and a lengthy list of accomplishments with Habitat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2454673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 15:04:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2454673"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2454682,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454673\/revisions\/2454682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2454673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2454673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2454673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}