Ivory Mathews

Ivory N. Mathews is a nationally recognized affordable housing executive whose career spans nearly three decades of transformational leadership across five states — South Carolina, Georgia, Ohio, Oregon, and beyond. In May 2026, she founded Ivory N. Mathews Consulting, LLC in Columbia, South Carolina, where she serves as President/CEO, providing tailored executive advisory services to housing authorities, boards, and mission-driven organizations navigating organizational change, and strategic growth. Her firm is grounded in real-world executive leadership rather than theory alone, guiding leaders through pivotal moments with confidence, practical strategy, and subject matter expertise.

She brings nearly three decades of executive leadership in affordable housing, most recently as Chief Executive Officer of Home Forward in Portland, Oregon — the state’s largest provider of affordable housing — where she managed a $350 million budget, a portfolio of more than 7,000 apartments, and a workforce of 370 serving 18,000 households. She previously led Columbia Housing in South Carolina, where she issued $859 million in tax-exempt bonds to preserve and produce 3,465 units of affordable housing, and served as Executive Director of the housing authorities of Greenville and Aiken. Mathews also served as Deputy Executive Director of Lucas Metropolitan Housing Authority in Toledo, Ohio. 

Mathews currently serves as Senior Vice President of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO) and sits on the Board of Governors of the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities. Across her career, she has contributed to more than $500 million in affordable housing development and earned 46 NAHRO Merit Awards, the 2022 NAHRO Advocacy Award, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary’s Award for service to homeless veterans.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Newberry College, Newberry SC and a Master’s of Science in Psychological Foundations of Education from Troy University, Augusta, GA.