Lydia Stazen

Executive Director 

Ruff Institute of Global Homelessness


Lydia has dedicated her career to building a world where all people have a place to call home and a strong foundation upon which they can build the lives they envision for themselves. Lydia has held executive leadership roles in anti-poverty organizations across the Midwest United States, focusing on housing, employment, education, and policy advocacy.


Immediately prior to joining the Ruff Institute for Global Homelessness, Lydia served as Vice Chancellor of Advancement and President of the City Colleges of Chicago Foundation, where key achievements included establishing a major fund for student basic needs emergencies and securing funding for a college-wide response for students experiencing homelessness. She also served for several years as Vice President of All Chicago Making Homelessness History, where she was instrumental in integrating homeless data with medical data to help patients experiencing homelessness access housing services.


Lydia has served as Board Member for Facing Forward to End Homelessness and was a “Greater Good” fellow at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in 2015. She has been a featured panelist at the Association for Fundraising Professional’s Midwest Conference, and is a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE). 

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